Auckland, Otago, Massey and AUT students recently competed in the eleventh annual CMC Markets University of Auckland Trading Challenge. Third-year Commerce and Science student Karl Peng from UoA secured first place out of more than 150 teams.
The CMC Markets Trading Challenge takes place over four weeks, and concluded earlier this month. The annual competition, hosted in association with the University of Auckland’s Management Consulting Club (MCC), gives students the opportunity to experience real-world trading. Students were given an account with $250,000 of virtual money, and were given four weeks to maximise tier runs in a risk-free environment via the CMC Markets online trading platform.
UoA student Peng earned the top placing with an impressive return on investment (ROI) of 83.63% and a final account balance of $450,000. The student coming in second place had a 36.71% ROI, making Peng’s ROI 40% higher than his closest competitor. While Peng didn’t get to keep his $450,000 sum, he did walk away with $1000.
Peng says the competition was a great opportunity to practice trading tactics in real world markets. “Some of my main strategies included utilising both long and short positions, focusing on highly volatile products and mitigating risk by setting up my bottom line to lose.” If you’re considering trading yourself, Peng’s advice is to invest wisely. “This experience taught me some valuable lessons such as investing in a few products that I really understood, and not being greedy when accepting profits.”
Photo: CMC Markets General Manager Chris Smith and winner Karl Peng from the University of Auckland. Photo supplied by CMC Markets.