STOCK MARKET CHALLENGEMONEY MANAGEMENT

Welcome to the Stock Market Challenge! Investing in stocks can be an absolute blast. It can also be a ride on an emotional and financial roller coaster. Generally speaking, making money in the stock market is not a one shot deal! Money is made through a series of transactions over a long period of time. There will be both wins and losses and you need the patience and intelligence to make good decisions over the long haul! Unfortunately, this class only lasts for another month or so. That doesn’t give us much time, does it? We’d better jump in then… let’s see who can make the most money before the end of the semester!

Basic Parameters of the Challenge:

Each student will have $100,000 deposited into their Virtual Stock Exchange (VSE) account. All students must have their accounts created by Friday, December 13th, 2013. (Worth 10 points)

Spending Deadlines:

You must invest at least $25,000 in the market by Friday, December 20th,, 2013. (10 points) You must invest at least $50,000 in the market by Wednesday, January 8th, 2014. (10 points) You must invest at least 95% of your money by Monday, January 13th, 2013. (15 points)

This percentage must stay invested until the game ends! No “sitting on your cash” until the game ends!

Each student must purchase stock in at least ten different stocks/funds during the course of the challenge. You need to diversify a bit! (10 points).

Students may execute as many “buys” and “sells” as they deem necessary. You are allowed to sell short … we’ll learn more about what that means later!

Every student is responsible for completing a Stock Market Challenge journal. You will have to make one entry each week, which I will call a “Weekly Progress Report”. These entries will need to be at least two paragraphs long. You will use this space to give me the rundown on how your portfolio did that week. It should include a recap of what you bought and sold and what your rationale was. You can analyze your market performance and tell me your thoughts about what is going on in the game. You can also highlight how you’re integrating new things into your strategy as we cover them in class. This is not meant to be formal writing. It can be fun and it can read like a story. You should explain your ups and downs, what you are learning, whether you are having fun or not etc… Here are the approximate dates of the four weekly progress reports that I’ll be grading:

Opening Journal Entry: (5 points) – Friday, December 13th, 2013 Weekly Progress Report #1 (10 points) – Friday, December 20th, 2013 Weekly Progress Report #2 (10 points) – Friday, January 10th , 2014 Weekly Progress Report #3 (10 points) - Friday, January 17th, 2014 Final Game Summary (10 points) – to be written after the conclusion of the game and turned in with

your project the day of your final exam. Exams are Tuesday, January 21st – Thursday, January 23rd.

The challenge ends at market close on Friday, January 17th, 2014. A mighty reward (well, I’ll do my best anyway) will be given to the student who’s portfolio is worth the most amount of money at the end of the challenge. Final projects must be turned in to your instructor by the day of YOUR FINAL EXAM!. Projects will not be accepted after your final is over!

GOOD LUCK