Organized by the Investment Management Club (IMC), a three-week-long Investment Portfolio Management Challenge gathers 24 AUBG students, who aspire to become investors and finance prodigies, for a hands-on strategic trading competition.
The event provided the participants with an opportunity to not only gain experience in trading but also to learn the fundamentals of technical analysis, risk management, and diversification strategies from the workshops held by industry experts.
The Market is Open
Having received $100,000 as a starting balance on a demo account of MarketWatch, each team of three people had to execute trading strategies and submit weekly reports with trade justifications and tactic outlines. On the final day, each team was expected to present an analysis of the results together with a trading strategy. Depending on the evaluation of the financial performance and the feasibility of the chosen strategy, the jury chose the top three teams and offered the first-place winners – Aleksandar Zemlyakov, Roman Antonenko, and Denis Milanov – an internship opportunity.
When reflecting on the event, Mihael Trifonov, a president of IMC, underlined the fact that the winning team, which consisted of first-year students only, was a notable example of how knowledge and experience were gained and applied outside of a classroom. “A lot of the skills we acquire are the result of self-directed learning and networking with people who have the same interests as you,” Mihael said. “All of these opportunities come within AUBG, and the quality-focused extracurricular club activities at university are the best proof.”
Mentors, Jurors, Sponsors
The mentors and jurors, who evaluated the teams’ financial performance and the depth and feasibility of their strategies, were Miroslav Arnaudov and Nikola Zhivkov, Senior Proprietary Traders at Mint Global; Tihomir Dyankov, CFA, Partner at Empower Capital Fund; Alexandrina Gyurova, Director of Trading, Listing and Membership at the Bulgarian Stock Exchange.
The event took place thanks to the kind support and generosity of the following sponsors: the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, Elana Investment, Mint Global, and Expat Capital.
