The 12th annual CMC Markets University of Auckland Trading Competition has just wrapped up, with fourth-year Optometry students Seung Min Song and Charles Yao teaming up to take first place. The duo finished with a whopping 81.42% return on investment (ROI).
The runners-up were second-year Accounting and Finance student Clare Yip with a 58.88% ROI and second-year Finance and Business Analytics student Nick Parkes with a 38% ROI.
Over 100 teams competed in the competition this year, which was held in collaboration with the University of Auckland Case Club (UACC). Competitors are allocated virtual funds which they invest in real-world markets such as crypto-currencies, gold and silver, and shares.
This year’s competition ran for just two weeks, which meant the winning team’s strategy involved “tak[ing] huge positions rather than smaller trades.”
Impressively, it was their first year in the competition for both runners-up Clare Yip and Nick Parkes. Yip also won a spot prize for the most diversified portfolio. “I’d never invested before,” says Yip, “but I got used to the platform and process pretty quickly!” Yip plans on using some of the skills she’s learned in the competition in her own future investments, and Parkes notes he aims to “improve upon third place next year”.
Donovan Rea, Specialised Events Lead at UACC notes the competition is “a great way for students to apply their learnings from class to the real-life markets… We saw some well-timed big trades in equities and currency, as well as some clever risk management.”
Though it sounds intimidating, Yip and Parkes show you don’t have to be a seasoned finance bro to get involved. Rea added “It’s also been great seeing students with minimal finance knowledge getting involved.”
