Thirty-two students engaged in the first-ever trading competition hosted by the School of Business and Economics (SoBE).
Rotman Interactive Trader offers students a hands-on way to learn about trading stocks, bonds and other derivatives. Practice in trading is a great way to learn and hone their skills, and the competitive students gained two hours of it on Monday evening.
Under competition, stress levels increase and many participants learned that with increased stress, performance can also decrease.
“This mimics real trading, said accounting and finance faculty Mark Adam. “Once traders move from practicing to trading real money, their winning trades drop, sometimes as much as 15-20%.”
Third-year finance student Lucas Treadwell won the competition, earning $664,000 in the simulation which mimics a real-life trading environment.
“I realized I needed to change my strategy after the first round, you have to be able to adapt to any situation.”
Pictured from left: Accounting and finance faculty, Mark Adam, competition winner, Lucas Treadwell and SoBE Dean, Mike Henry.
“They teach us in class that the market is rational,” commented Adam Trudel, a finance and accounting major in his fourth year. “One of the biggest things I learned is that the market is not rational. The traders trade on whims.”
There were three prizes awarded to those who made the most amount of money. The participant who lost the most was given the trading trooper award—which was given to a student who lost 2 million.
There was a serious atmosphere in the computer lab during the event but students had a lot of fun—especially afterwards at MATCH Eatery & Public House, where they were hosted by SoBE, treated to appetizers and the awards ceremony was carried out in a light-hearted fashion.
“You could have heard a pin drop in the computer lab when trading was happening,” added Adam. “After the competition was over, the most asked question was, ‘are we trading again this Monday?’ The answer, yes, IB 2004 at 6pm.”
View the photo awards ceremony photo album.
For more information:
Mark Adam, Accounting & Finance, 250-828-5222, madam@tru.ca
