CMC Markets National University Trading Challenge

CMC Markets National University Trading Challenge “launch pad” for trading and investment careers

Auckland, Monday, 26 September 2016

University of Auckland Engineering student, Jmin Joon has scooped up first place at the CMC Markets National University Trading Challenge.

Hosted in association with the University of Auckland’s Management Consulting Club (MCC), the annual competition gives students the opportunity to gain real world trading experience by allowing them to put their investment theory to the test. This year’s competition attracted 150 student teams, with teams ranging from one to two participants.

All teams were given a $10,000 virtual fund to trade in a range of financial derivative instruments, including currency, commodity and global indices via the CMC Markets online platform. The competition ran for four weeks with all students competing to secure the highest return on investment.

Prior to the event, each of the 150 teams underwent a training session to familiarise themselves with the platform. After the first week, teams were given the option to ‘reset’ their account balance to $10,000 as they learned to navigate their way around the platform and the challenges of trading.

Jmin Joon made an impressive 885% return on investment. He puts the success down to taking calculated risks by trading with huge volumes in the early stages of the competition, a strategy that paid off as it gave him a good head start due to being able to buy back within the first week.

“I mainly traded in currencies, commodities and binaries and used the ‘shoulders to shoulders’ method in the first week of the competition, after that, I traded in smaller volumes. A lot of the trading methods I used such as Bollinger Bands, Stochastic Oscillator and the Heiken-Ashi method came from reading the trade industry news.

“This competition taught me how to take calculated risks, not to be afraid to try something new and the importance of emotional control – mistakes can happen, but it’s best not to dwell on these and to keep moving forward. Not only was this a great educational experience for me, but it was also a lot of fun and I’m keen to enter next year’s competition also,” says Jmin Jot.

Kar Yew Lee, Finance Events Lead of the University of Auckland Management Consulting Club (MCC) said, “Most of our students have never experienced trading first hand. We see this competition as a vital educational tool for many students as they catch a glimpse of the trading world.

“Having access to professional traders for live tutorials was invaluable and a great way to foster the emerging talent coming through. Not only that, but these students could experience the thrill of seeing portfolio fluctuations, without actually putting their own money at risk. This competition is truly a fantastic way for students to launch their trading and investment careers. We are very grateful for CMC Markets continuous support over the years” he adds.

Chris Smith, General Manager at CMC Markets New Zealand, says, “We have been partnering with the MCC for the last five years and are proud to continue our involvement with this educational initiative. Providing these students access to our innovative trading platform, to trade in a range of financial products, gives them a strong basis in which to apply their investment philosophy and use it in a practical environment. As the next generation of derivatives traders, stockbrokers and investors, these students certainly have a bright future ahead and we are only happy to lend our support.”

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