Penn State Trading Strategy Competition

THE 2009 COMPETITION IS NOW COMPLETE. WE HOPE TO SEE YOU IN NEXT YEAR'S EVENT.

Results and details for the 2009 version are provided here.

New dates and information will be posted when the 2010 competition is announced.  If you would like to be added to the email list for the next competition, or have any other questions, you can reach us at TSComp@smeal.psu.edu.

__________________________________________________________________

Competition Dates: February 25  - March 20
Registration Deadline: February 24

Penn State’s 2009 Trading Strategy Competition provides you with the opportunity to test your skills at developing profitable trading strategies. You will gain exposure to the financial markets and technology, while competing against peers for cash prizes. No experience in trading is needed to participate. This competition is open to all students currently registered at a university.

The Competition

This competition requires you to construct automated trading strategies that you will then submit to execute trades in real time.  There are two parts to the competition. 

For Part 1, each competitor will choose one stock from the S&P 500 to trade during the entire competition. You will submit your strategy for your selected stock before the competition begins. Your strategy will then "run live" for the remainder of the competition.

Part 2 starts in the second week of the competition. For Part 2, you will have an assigned security to trade each week.  (See the "Competition Details" for dates and securities.)  All competitors will trade the same security during each of these weeks, the difference will be the strategies competitors select to trade the security. For each of the three weeks of Part 2, a strategy will "run live" from market open on Monday to market close Friday.

You will be able to submit a strategy anytime before its submission deadline. The submission deadline is 11:59 pm on the Sunday before the start of the strategy's trading period.  For example, a strategy starting on 3/02/09 must be submitted to the dropbox by 11:59 pm on 3/01/09. 

TradeStation

This competition is being held in conjunction with TradeStation Group. You will be given free access to TradeStation’s platform for strategy testing and trading. TradeStation’s platform allows you to develop, backtest, and optimize various trading strategies using a simple point and click approach. You can also use TradeStation to program more advanced and customized strategies if you’d like. Once you select a strategy using TradeStation you will upload it to us and see how it works. You will be able to download TradeStation’s software to your own computer or access it in the Smeal Trading Room. View more information about the trading room.

Prizes

Trophies and cash prizes will be awarded to the top finishers through the generosity of PNC Bank.

First Place - $1,000

Second Place - $500

Third Place - $250

A trophy will also be awarded to the university with the highest score.  "Competition Details" has more information on scoring.