Recap:On Saturday March 10th 2007, over 130 university students from Eastern Canada spent the day in the ballroom of the Holiday Inn hotel– frantically jostling for position and screaming in a simulated trading floor, making the generally classy room into a hectic and chaotic marketplace. These students were participating in the second annual McGill Trading Simulation hosted by the McGill Investment Club (“MIC”). Schools attending were McGill University, Concordia University, HEC Montreal, Université du Québec en Outaouais, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Université de Sherbrooke, Université de Montréal, Queen’s University, University of Ottawa, and York University.
The event replicated the proceedings of a real trading floor such as the New York Stock Exchange with all the seemingly requisite shouting and gesturing. A full fiscal year was simulated by four quarters during which participants traded common shares and options in ten fictitious companies. A market overview and company fundamentals were provided before the trading session. During the quarters, real-time stock and economic news created market volatility and were displayed on projectors that displayed up-to-the-second stock price information such as price, option quotes, 52-week high and lows as well as Year-to-Date stock price charts. Traders wrote their orders on tickets that were passed on to runners who then transmitted them to the two dozen trade processing volunteers on hand that inputted the trades into the computer-based system. This simulation was particularly thrilling as volatility was off the charts, much like the global markets of the past couple of weeks. With each trader starting off with a $200,000 portfolio, other simulations often will see the top traders generate $500,000 by the end of the year. The top traders at the McGill Trading Simulation came from UQTR, Université de Sherbrooke, and HEC, generating astounding returns to end off the simulation with over $4 million each.
Thank you to our sponsors!
- Desautels Faculty of Management of McGill University
- Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec
- Société Générale Corporate and Investment Banking
- Disnat
- Management Undergraduate Society
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