The New York Mercantile Exchange Commodities Challenge” invites college students to participate in its annual trading competition, “Back to the Futures.” The competition will expand to include as many as 20 schools, grouped to invite regional rivalries. They will fight for big prize money and internships in a mock-trading competition that mirrors the high-stakes dynamics of trading commodities futures contracts. The concept is to devise a competition that more closely resembles the experience of a real-life energy trader and risk manager that would include both the trader employed by an energy company as well as the trader on the floor of the exchange. This two-tiered competition will give students an introduction to the full spectrum of the trading experience, from being a customer initiating a trade by making a decision to being the floor broker who fills the customer’s order. It will give the participants a cohesive introduction to the world of energy trading and hedging in a real world setting.
The Student Finance Association at the University of Houston will host an Open Outcry competition, which will be held on the main campus in the Bauer School of Business. The students at the university have hosted this type of competition for the past four years. The competition will be held on a Saturday in the main foyer of the Bauer School of Business. Individuals from each of the participating universities will be eligible to participate in this segment and prizes will be awarded to individuals based upon criteria pertaining to execution of trades in a pit versus the team approach taken in the previous segment. The committee will provide specialized training to the universities participating in the Open Outcry segment, familiarizing the students with the correct methods for trading. In addition, all trading materials, the same as those used by professional floor brokers, will be provided by the exchange. However, students will be judged for executing trades similar to floor brokers executing for customers instead of for generating profits as in the first segment. During the training sessions, instructors will explain the rules for judging as well as the methods for executing the trades. The top three “traders,” awarded prizes for first, second and third place, will be chosen for their ability to complete the steps of executing orders on a trading floor.
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