UPEI shines at Montreal Exchange’s Options Trading Simulation
Teams from the UPEI Faculty of Business had a tremendous showing at the eleventh annual Montreal Exchange’s Options Trading Simulation. The ten-week competition pitted more than 1,500 teams from 38 universities against each other in a simulated exchange. Teams from UPEI took third and twelfth places.
Teams are given a starting balance of a notional $100,000 and have 10 weeks to trade in financial securities to make money and complete mandatory strategies.
UPEI's top team was “Billy Capital,” made up of Sam Aulie and Marcus Power. The team placed third overall, securing UPEI’s best ever result in terms of rank and ending portfolio value. They finished the competition with $254,807.75, benefitting early from a well-timed “put option”—a financial instrument which makes money when the underlying share price drops.
“We made a lot of our money right before Andrew Left (an activist short seller) went on the news and talked about Shopify being a sham,” said Aulie. “After that, the share price dropped 20 per cent and we made our bulk of the money there.”
For their efforts, the team won $2,500 of real money.
UPEI’s second best showing came from “Corporate Panthers,” Kearah Davis, Rudolph Al Aswad, Caroline Carey, and Yohannes Yosefe. The team’s ending balance was $151,038. With 288 trades over the 10-week competition, it speaks to the intense level of engagement and decision-making capabilities of our students.
Congratulations!
The University of Prince Edward Island prides itself on people, excellence, and impact and is committed to assisting students reach their full potential in both the classroom and community. With roots stemming from two founding institutions—Prince of Wales College and Saint Dunstan’s University—UPEI has a reputation for academic excellence, research innovation, and creating positive impacts locally, nationally, and internationally. UPEI is the only degree granting institution in the province and is proud to be a key contributor to the growth and prosperity of Prince Edward Island.
