Dee Ferris, former accountant, short term stock trader and full-time homemaker from Texas is the latest winner of our TradingMarkets Up or Down Stock Contest

Ms. Ferris takes home $1,000 in cash for being the top stock picker for the month of April.*

"I only made a few picks in March," Dee recalled in an e-mail in response to the news of her winning the Up or Down Stock Contest. "I think I got 2 out of 7."

Fortunately for her, things turned around quickly in April.

"In April, I started off right," she said. "I would check the current price of each stock, and look at the stock’s price graph for 5 days, 3 months, etc."

Dee Ferris said that she also read news stories about the companies whose stocks were being voted “Up or Down” by hundreds of contest participants across the country. And she says her background in accounting helped when it came to studying financial statements from the companies, and finding out which companies were really making money and which companies were drowning in debt.

"Sometimes after my research it looked like the stock could really go either way," said Dee. "I just had to trust my instincts sometimes."

Dee said that she learned about the TradingMarkets Up or Down Stock Contest while doing research on some stocks she was considering buying. "I saw a headline 'TradingMarkets: 7 Stocks You Need to Know.'" I read the article and at the bottom was the question: "Do you think (this stock) will be up or down?"

The TradingMarkets Up or Down Stock Contest lets players guess every day on whether the Stock of the Day will close higher or lower in two days’ time. Contestants can win $1,000 each month they make the most correct predictions. A total of $11,000 in prize money will be awarded to our top stock pickers.

Not wanting to let Dee give away too many of her secrets for stock picking success--after all, there’s money still to be won--we asked her instead what advice she would give on how NOT to win the contest. Dee got the joke entirely and answered with a perfectly tongue-in-cheek response:

"Well, you can’t win if you don’t play. Nevermind that it doesn’t cost anything to register or to play and that the odds of winning the lottery are probably worse."

From all of us at TradingMarkets, congratulations to Dee Ferris, our TradingMarkets Up or Down Stock Contest top stock picker for the month of April.

*Award subject to verification of eligibility.