These terms govern the use of RingSide. They are written in plain language. The version you accept at sign-up is sent to you with the confirmation email and is always available at ringsidetrading.com/terms.
1. Provider and scope
The provider is the operator named in the Imprint. These terms apply to the use of the website ringsidetrading.com and all functions offered through it. Differing terms of the user do not apply.
The platform is intended for consumers. If you use it for a business, the same terms apply unless mandatory law says otherwise.
3. Subject of the service
The platform provides a game of skill in which participants trade with virtual money in time boxed rounds and are compared with one another. It is based on real market data. There is no trading of real assets and no user assets are managed.
We provide no financial services, in particular no investment advice, investment brokerage or asset management. Nothing on the platform is a recommendation to buy or sell anything. See the risk notice.
4. Account and minimum age
An account is required for use. Use is permitted from the age of 18. By creating an account you confirm that you are 18 or older. If we learn that an account belongs to a person under 18, we close it. The details provided at sign-up must be accurate. Access credentials must be kept secret and not shared. One account per person is permitted.
You are responsible for what happens through your account unless you did not cause it and could not have prevented it. If you suspect that someone else has access to your account, change your password and tell us at contact@ringsidetrading.com.
5. Virtual balance (chips)
The balance consists of chips. Chips are not legal tender, not e money and not a cryptocurrency. They have no monetary value and cannot be bought, sold, transferred, converted into money or withdrawn. There is no claim to any particular balance or to its preservation.
A new account starts with 500 chips. If your balance falls below 100 chips, it is topped up to 100 chips once per day so that you can keep playing. Chips can also be collected through the daily bonus described in the section Rounds, league and settlement.
Chips and results can be corrected if they were obtained through a breach of these terms. Corrections follow the procedure in the section Sanctions and procedure. We may also reset balances, results and rankings at the end of a season or a beta phase, or when a game mechanic changes substantially. We announce such a reset in advance in the application or by email. A reset is part of the agreed features of the game and does not give rise to any claim.
6. Purse and tokens
Purse is an internal game account that records reward points. It has no monetary value, is not tradable, not transferable and cannot be withdrawn. Purse is awarded only in rounds played with real money. Real money play is switched off, so Purse currently cannot be earned.
There is no RingSide token. A token is an idea we may or may not pursue. It is not a promise, not an offer and not a commitment. It may never happen, and if it happens it may not take Purse balances into account. Nothing on the platform, in our roadmap or in our communication is an investment opportunity, and no Purse balance gives rise to any claim against us.
7. Rounds, league and settlement
The rules of rounds, stakes, start conditions and distribution of the pot are described under How it works and form part of these terms. The following rules apply in addition.
Daily bonus. Once per day you can collect a bonus in chips. The amount depends on how many days in a row you have collected it. It is 10 chips on the first day and rises in steps to 75 chips from the seventh day in a row, after which it stays at 75. If you miss a day, the series starts again at 10 chips. A new day begins at midnight in the time zone Europe/Berlin. The bonus has to be collected actively in the application and is not credited automatically. The daily bonus exists only in play money mode.
Rating (Elo). Each account has a rating number that changes with the results of rounds. After a round, every participant is compared with every other participant, and the rating rises or falls depending on the finishing order and the ratings of the opponents. League duels do not change this rating. The rating is a display value within the game and has no value outside it.
Settlement and ranking. Decisive for the result is the valuation of each portfolio at the moment the round ends. All open positions are closed at the price that applied at that moment, and open orders that have not been executed lapse. Participants who were not liquidated during the round rank above all participants who were liquidated. Among participants who were not liquidated, the higher closing value ranks higher. Among liquidated participants, the one who was liquidated later ranks higher. If a round has only one participant left who has not been liquidated, the round ends early and is settled at the prices of that moment.
Tie break. If two participants who were not liquidated finish with exactly the same closing value, the participant who joined the round earlier ranks higher. Technically the ranking uses the order of the participation records, which are created in the order in which participants join. If two participants were liquidated at exactly the same moment, the same rule applies.
Paid places. The number of paid places in a round is one third of the participants, rounded, and at least one. With one paid place the winner receives the whole net pot. With two paid places the shares are 65 and 35 percent. With three paid places the shares are 50, 30 and 20 percent. With more paid places the shares decrease evenly from first to last paid place. Rounding differences go to the first place.
Scheduled rounds. Besides the rounds you start yourself, we offer rounds at fixed times, for example at the London open at 08.00 London time and at the New York open at 09.30 New York time on weekdays, each 30 minutes long. Up to 200 participants can enter a scheduled round. Stake, trading capital and the share of the pot that goes to the provider are those of the 10 player round of the next shorter duration. A scheduled round starts at the announced time if at least 2 participants have entered. Otherwise it is cancelled and stakes are returned.
League. The league runs in seasons. A season lasts 7 matchdays of 24 hours each. Players are grouped into divisions of up to 8 players in tiers from Bronze to Diamond. A division is formed when at least 6 players have entered. Each matchday pairs you with one other player of your division for a 15 minute duel on a fixed set of instruments. Both players have the whole matchday to declare themselves ready. The duel starts when both are ready. A win counts 3 points, a draw 1 point and a loss 0 points. A duel is a draw if the two returns differ by less than 0.05 percentage points. If only one player declares ready within the matchday, that player wins by walkover and receives 3 points, and the duel counts as played for that player. If neither player declares ready, the matchday is void for both. The table is ordered by points, then wins, then cumulative return, then the direct comparison between the players concerned.
League stake and pot. Entering a season costs 100 chips, which go into the pot of your division. In play money mode no share of the pot goes to the provider. At the end of the season the pot is paid out to the top of the table with 50 percent for first place, 30 percent for second and 20 percent for third. Only players who have played at least 60 percent of their scheduled matchdays are eligible for the pot and for promotion. If fewer eligible players exist than pot places, the whole pot is distributed among the eligible players in the same proportions. If no player of a division reaches the quota, the pot of that division is not paid out. The top 2 of each division move up one tier and the bottom 2 move down one tier, except at the highest and lowest tier.
Cancellation of rounds. A round is cancelled and all stakes are returned if no verifiable price exists for the moment of settlement, if fewer than 2 participants with a portfolio are present when the round should start or be settled, if the creator of a private round cancels it before it has started, or if a technical fault on our side makes a correct settlement impossible. A cancelled round has no result, changes no rating and awards no points.
Disputes about results. If you believe that a result is wrong, for example because of a price error or a technical fault, tell us at contact@ringsidetrading.com within 5 working days after the round or season was settled, with the round and the reason. We check the case and reply with our reasoning. After these 5 working days a result is final unless it was obtained through a breach of these terms.
Resets and refunds. Season resets, beta resets, the return of stakes in cancelled rounds and the corrections described in these terms are agreed features of the game. They do not give rise to any claim for compensation.
8. Your content and public visibility
You provide content on the platform, in particular your username, your avatar, the social profile handles you enter, the note you write in your corner, the reactions you send during a round and the result cards you share. The following rules apply to this content.
- Your content must not infringe the rights of others, including copyright, trademark and personality rights.
- No insults, threats, harassment, discrimination or hate speech.
- No advertising, no spam and no links to third party offers.
- No financial recommendations, no investment tips and no claims about guaranteed returns.
- No personal data of other people, for example names, addresses or contact details of third parties.
- No brand names, company names or names of public persons that could create the impression that you act for them.
- No content that is illegal under German law.
Licence. You keep all rights in your content. You grant us a simple, non exclusive, revocable licence, free of charge, to display your content on the platform and in result cards for as long as you keep the content on the platform. The licence ends when you remove the content or delete your account, except for result cards that other users have already shared.
Public visibility. Results of rounds and seasons, your username, your rank, your return and your avatar are visible to everyone, including visitors without an account, in leaderboards, league tables and result cards. Friends also see whether you are online and the note in your corner. By using the platform you agree to this visibility. You can reduce it by choosing a username that does not identify you and by not uploading an avatar. See the privacy policy for the details and your rights.
Moderation. We check content when someone reports it and when we notice it ourselves. The check is done by a person, not by an automated system. If content breaks these rules or the law, we may remove it, rename an account or restrict the account as described in the section Sanctions and procedure. We tell the person concerned which content was affected, why, and how to object. You can report content at ringsidetrading.com/report or by email to contact@ringsidetrading.com. We confirm the receipt of a report and tell the reporting person what we decided.
9. Prohibited use
In particular, the following are prohibited.
- Multi accounting. Creating or using more than one account per person, including accounts in the name of other people, and using another person’s account.
- Collusion. Agreements between participants of the same round or season to the detriment of others. Examples are deliberately losing a duel so that another player wins, trading in opposite directions in two accounts in the same round, sharing one account to play around the clock, or coordinating entries so that a specific player wins the pot.
- Latency arbitrage and feed errors. Using delays between our price feed and other sources, or a wrong, frozen or stale price, to obtain a result that would not exist at the real market price. Such faults must be reported instead of used.
- Bots and automation. Using scripts, bots, browser extensions or other software to place trades, join rounds, collect bonuses or otherwise act on the platform without a person doing it by hand.
- Platform exploitation. Exploiting technical faults, race conditions or design flaws of the platform instead of reporting them, including manipulating requests, replaying requests or bypassing limits.
- Interfering with the availability or security of the platform, for example by overload, intrusion attempts or attacks on other users.
Access outside the user interface. The platform may be used only through the user interface we provide at ringsidetrading.com. Access through other software or direct calls to our servers is permitted only through an interface we have expressly released for this purpose and only within the limits we publish for it. Currently no such interface is released.
If you discover a fault, please tell us at contact@ringsidetrading.com. We do not sanction reports made in good faith.
10. Sanctions and procedure
If you breach these terms, we may take the following measures. We choose the measure that matches the breach, taking into account its severity, whether it was repeated and the damage caused to other users.
- A warning.
- Correction of results and balances that were obtained through the breach, including the removal of results from leaderboards and the return of stakes to the other participants.
- A temporary suspension of the account for a stated period.
- Termination of the contract and closure of the account.
Procedure. Before we take a measure, we send you an email that names the facts we rely on, the rule of these terms or the law that was breached, and the measure we intend to take. You have 14 days from receipt to respond. We review your response and send you a reasoned reply. Only then does the measure take effect, with the exception of the cases below.
Severe cases. If a breach is severe, we may suspend the account immediately and provisionally. Severe cases are attacks on the platform or on other users, fraud, the use of the platform for criminal purposes and illegal content. In these cases we inform you of the facts and the rule breached without undue delay after the suspension, and you can respond within 14 days. We then review the suspension and either lift it or confirm it with reasons.
Termination for cause. We terminate the contract for cause only after a prior warning that named the breach, unless the breach is severe in the sense above or a warning would be pointless. The reasons for a termination are always given in writing by email.
Evidence. We keep the data on which a measure rests, such as trade logs, timestamps and connection data, for as long as a dispute about the measure is possible. You can ask us at any time for the facts behind a measure and challenge the measure by email to contact@ringsidetrading.com. Your right to go to court remains unaffected.
11. Availability
The platform is under active development. There is no entitlement to uninterrupted availability. Maintenance, updates and faults can interrupt the service. We try to announce planned maintenance in advance and to keep interruptions short. Rounds affected by an interruption are settled or cancelled according to the section Rounds, league and settlement.
12. External and affiliate links
The platform may contain links to third party offerings. Some of these may be affiliate links. If you follow such a link and use the third party’s offering, we may receive a commission. This does not change the price for you and does not affect how rounds run or are settled. Links of this kind are marked as advertising where required. Following them is always voluntary, and using the platform never depends on it.
13. Term and termination
The contract runs for an indefinite period. You may end it at any time without giving reasons by deleting your account in the account settings or by email to contact@ringsidetrading.com. Before you delete your account you can export your data in the account settings.
We may end the contract with 30 days notice by email to the address of your account. Before the end of the notice period you can export your data. If we discontinue the whole service, we announce this at least 30 days in advance by email and in the application. Chips, Purse, ratings and results have no value and are not compensated when the contract ends.
Termination for cause follows the section Sanctions and procedure. The statutory right of both sides to terminate for cause remains unaffected.
14. Liability
We are liable without limitation for intent and gross negligence, and for damage arising from injury to life, body or health. For ordinary negligence we are liable only for breach of a material contractual duty, meaning a duty whose fulfilment makes the proper performance of the contract possible in the first place and on whose fulfilment you may regularly rely, and limited to the foreseeable damage typical of the contract. As the service is provided without a price and without real monetary value, there is in particular no liability for the loss of chips, Purse, ratings or results. Mandatory statutory liability, including liability under the German Product Liability Act, remains unaffected.
15. Changes to these terms
We may change these terms only for one of the following reasons. A change in the law or in case law that affects these terms. A requirement of security or of the protection of users. The closing of a gap in these terms that has become apparent. New or changed functions of the platform that need a rule. We never change the main subject of the service or the relation between what we provide and what you provide under this clause.
We announce every change at least 30 days before it takes effect by email to the address of your account and in the application, together with the new version date and a description of what changes and why.
For changes that affect your rights or duties in a substantial way, we ask you for your active agreement at your next login. Silence is not agreement. If you do not agree, you can keep using the platform under the version you accepted until you end the contract or until we end it with 30 days notice as described in the section Term and termination. Changes that only correct wording, add functions without new duties for you, or implement mandatory law take effect after the announcement period without a separate agreement, and you can object to them and end the contract at any time.
Changes to the game. We may change the digital service beyond what is needed to keep it in conformity with the contract, for example by adding or removing modes, changing stakes, pot shares, bonuses or league rules, only for a valid reason. Valid reasons are the adaptation to a new technical environment, a higher number of users, changes in the law, security, the removal of a mechanic that is being abused, and the improvement of the game for the users as a whole. Such a change is free of charge for you. We inform you about it clearly and in good time by email or in the application. If a change impairs your access to or your use of the service more than insignificantly, we tell you so at least 30 days before the change takes effect, and you may end the contract free of charge within 30 days of receiving that information or of the change, whichever is later.
16. Final provisions
The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. If you are a consumer with your habitual residence in another state, the mandatory consumer protection provisions of that state remain unaffected.
We are neither willing nor obliged to take part in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board under the German Act on Alternative Dispute Resolution in Consumer Matters.
Questions about these terms can be sent to contact@ringsidetrading.com.