Queens College takes home top prize, students
from Columbia Law School and Kings College place second and third,
respectively
Three students from Queens College, City University of New York
turned in an impressive 427 percent total portfolio gain in four
weeks, outperforming nearly 930 other teams to win the fourth
annual thinkorswim Challenge by TD Ameritrade, Inc. This year’s
virtual trading competition had a record number of participants:
2,507 teams of students from 327 colleges and universities across
49 states.
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“The thinkorswim Challenge is an amazing opportunity for a
younger generation to learn about investing through practical
application,” said Lee McAdoo, managing director of education at TD
Ameritrade. “The competition is more than just learning to navigate
the markets, it gives students the opportunity to trade different
products in a virtual environment and teaches them to consider risk
management, portfolio allocation and diversification across sectors
and industries.”
Top Prize Goes to Team from Queens College
The team of three students from Queens College, who placed the
most trades during the competition- 942, took first place with a
427 percentage portfolio gain and an ending portfolio value of
$2,636,000. The team of Queens College undergraduate students
included: senior Max Fruchter, an economics and finance double
major; junior Shlomo Sandler, an accounting major; and junior
Daniel Baruch, an applied physics major. There were three teams
from Queens College competing in this year’s Challenge.
“What made the thinkorswim Challenge interesting was being able
to track our performance against other participating teams,” said
Daniel Baruch. “It was fun when we would perform better than other
schools locally and across the country.”
Similar to last year’s Challenge, participants in the 2017
Challenge showed a preference for options. All virtual trades
placed by the winning team were options trades, resulting in
“profits” of over $200,000 for underlying symbols including
Alphabet Inc. (GOOG), and Expedia Inc. (EXPE). A similar return was
seen from options trades on Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), which
accounted for five percent of the team’s overall trades. The Queens
College team was optimistic about the market overall and their
trading strategy, with 52 percent of trades being bullish.
“When deciding our trading strategy, we understood we needed to
have a higher risk appetite than normal with the competition being
only four weeks long. Trading options allowed us to push our risk
boundaries, while still properly managing our portfolio’s overall
risk,” said Max Fruchter. “Before the competition I had never
traded options, only equities with longer investment horizons. The
competition opened my eyes to new products, and I’ve since explored
trading options on my own.”
Each member of the Challenge's overall winning team – CUNY
Queens College – received $3,000 to be deposited into individual TD
Ameritrade brokerage accounts. As the school affiliated with the
overall winning team, Queens College received $30,000 from TD
Ameritrade for its role in educating students on the importance of
investing.
A staggering $1,300,000 in virtual trading profits separated the
competition’s overall winner from the second place team, which was
from Columbia Law School. With its 289 percent gain and a paper
portfolio valued at $1,947,000, the team brought in $20,000 for its
school and each team member won $2,000 deposited into individual TD
Ameritrade brokerage accounts. Third place went to a team of
undergraduate students from King’s College, which ended up with a
224 percent gain and a virtual portfolio value of $1,622,000. The
team won $10,000 for its school, and each team member won $1,000
for placing third in the competition overall, deposited into
individual TD Ameritrade brokerage accounts.
thinkorswim Challenge Trading Trends
Students placed a total of 38,600 paper trades in the 2017
competition – 1,900 per day – which is five percent higher than the
year prior. Once again, options made up a majority of student’s
trades at 77 percent followed by equities, which represented 21
percent of trades during the competition.
For the second year, students made more trades in the technology
sector than in any other sector. Tesla (TSLA) was the most
frequently traded stock followed by Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN),
while Netflix (NFLX) and Nvidia (NVDA) rounded out the top
five.
Challenge participants showed an increased interest in mobile
trading this year, with 41 percent of trades placed through a
mobile device during the 2017 Challenge, compared with 36 percent
the year prior.
Bringing Financial Literacy to the Next Generation
In a 2017 TD Ameritrade survey1, nearly a fifth of respondents
admitted that they did not know anything about the stock market or
investing, which could be the result of limited financial education
in high school and college. The same survey revealed that only nine
percent took a financial course in high school and seven percent
took a financial course in college.
TD Ameritrade’s thinkorswim Challenge is offered every year
through TD Ameritrade U, an educational program for professors and
college-run organizations that provides free access to virtual
trading through paperMoney® on the thinkorswim trading platform. TD
Ameritrade developed the program in 2014 to help students prepare
for the real world of personal finance by giving them the ability
to put classroom theory into real-life investing practice. The firm
believes that access to leading-edge investment resources and
education is the first step in helping young people form investing
habits that can last a lifetime.
“Through TD Ameritrade’s recent survey, we learned that more
than half of people wish they had learned about investing earlier
in life,” said McAdoo. “The thinkorswim Challenge is giving the
next generation the opportunity to learn about the markets and how
to invest, so they’re not at a disadvantage like so many are today.
We can help young people avoid having a lifetime of regret by
offering them a program that will give them real-time, real-world
trading experience.”
For the latest news and information about TD Ameritrade, follow
the Company on Twitter, @TDAmeritradePR.
Options involve risks and are not suitable for all investors.
Options trading privileges subject to TD Ameritrade review and
approval. Please read Characteristics and Risks of Standardized
Options before investing in options.
Supporting documentation for any claims, comparison, statistics,
or other technical data will be supplied upon request.
The paperMoney® application is for educational purposes only.
Successful virtual trading during one time period does not
guarantee successful investing of actual funds during a later time
period as market conditions change continuously.
Inclusion of actual symbols is for reference only and is not a
recommendation to buy, sell or hold any specific security.
The thinkorswim Challenge is subject to full Official Rules,
which are available at www.thinkorswimchallenge.com. For more
information about TD Ameritrade U or the thinkorswim Challenge,
visit www.tdameritradeu.com or www.thinkorswimchallenge.com.
Source: TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation
About TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation
Millions of investors and independent registered investment
advisors (RIAs) have turned to TD Ameritrade’s (Nasdaq:AMTD)
technology, people and education to help make investing and trading
easier to understand and do. Online or over the phone. In a branch
or with an independent RIA, first-timer or sophisticated trader,
our clients want to take control, and we help them decide how —
bringing Wall Street to Main Street for more than 40 years. TD
Ameritrade has time and again been recognized as a leader in
investment services. Please visit TD Ameritrade’s newsroom or
www.amtd.com for more information.
1. Online survey was conducted with 1,001 Americans age 18+ with
$10,000+ investible assets by True North Market Insights,
September 2017, on behalf of TD Ameritrade Holding
Corporation. TD Ameritrade and True North are
separate and unaffiliated firms and are not responsible for each
other’s services or policies.
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TD Ameritrade Holding CorporationFor Media:Christina
Goethe, 201-369-8510Corporate Communications Investor
Relationschristina.goethe@tdameritrade.comorFor Investors:Jeff
Goeser,
402-597-8464jeffrey.goeser@tdameritrade.com@TDAmeritradePR
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