Lerner student team wins trading competition
ON THE GREEN | A team of seniors competing in the University Trading Challenge, a realistic capital markets trading competition for full-time students pursuing degrees in finance, economics and business, took home first-place honors during a case study presentation at Baruch College in December.
Alex Bondroff, Andrew Gaulin, Andrew Goldberg and Joanna Kane—all in the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics—tackled three different challenges to demonstrate their ability to analyze, strategize, make decisions and give presentations regarding trading.
During the competition, the teams worked their way through a Long Term Trading Challenge, a Short Term Trading Challenge and a Case Study Challenge, with each area designed to highlight products or strategies exclusive to the capital markets.
In the Long Term Challenge, students had 30 days to compete by managing an online portfolio using simulation software. The Short Term Trading Challenge took place on site at Baruch College, with student teams challenged to use a real-time trading simulator.
The competition ended with the Case Study Challenge, where each team was given a case and data set with the task of formulating a financial strategy as a solution. Specifically, students had to analyze the financial and non-financial risks associated with running a gold mining company. They then recommended appropriate hedging strategies and determined the appropriate capital structure to use to finance expansion.
Bondroff, Gaulin, Goldberg and Kane took first place in the case study presentation based on their recommendation, which involved the use of derivatives to reduce the company's exposure to risks associated with currency and interest rate volatility. The team also proposed a combination of debt and equity financing to generate the capital needed for expansion.
The other competitors represented Tulane, Northeastern, Syracuse, Princeton and Hofstra universities; the universities of Laval, Virginia, Minnesota and Pennsylvania; Baruch College; Rotman University of Toronto; and New York University Polytechnic Institute.
