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NYMEX Open Outcry Trading Competition

On Friday April 27, 2007, an “Open Outcry” simulated trading competition was held at the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) trading floor. Participating students assumed the role of a pit trader, buying and selling crude oil futures contracts. Dr. Ahmet Karagozoglu, Associate Professor of Finance and Academic Director of the Trading Room at Hofstra University has announced that the first prize, $1000 cash and a prestigious summer internship at NYMEX, was awarded to Surbhi Kapoor, a Hofstra Finance MBA student. Sila Nazli Saylak, an MS in Finance student, and Tansel Alan, a Finance MBA student also both from Hofstra, won second and third place cash prizes. Three additional Hofstra Finance MBA students: Girish Bhalla, Anshul Shah and Deepak Chandela were among the competition’s 10 prize winners. A panel of judges made up of NYMEX officials and floor traders evaluated 30 student traders on their ability to execute trades. After two rounds of competition, judges identified the top 10 traders who then advanced to the final “money round” where individual winners received cash prizes. Friday’s trading competition was the final round of the 4th Annual NYMEX Commodity Challenge. Earlier this year, 21 teams participated in an electronic trading competition. In that competition, Hofstra’s team placed third. Dr. Ahmet Karagozoglu accompanied the students to the competition. Dr. Karagozoglu was very proud of but not surprised by his students’ success. He attributes students’ success to their motivation, dedication and hard work; to the knowledge they acquired in his Futures Markets course; and the several rounds of practice sessions students completed at Hofstra’s Trading Room. Dr. Karagozoglu noted after the first part of the NYMEX competition that students’ “success in the NYMEX Commodity Challenge proves that Hofstra students have what it takes to succeed in the complex world of trading in derivatives markets.” Once again, Hofstra students showed he is right.

Results of the NYMEX Open Outcry Simulated Trading Competition-April 27, 2007

Front row (left to right): Jackie Trahan, Anshul Shah, Girish Bhalla Middle Row (left to right): Dr. Ahmet Karagozoglu, Surbhi Kapoor, Sila Nazli Saylak Top Row (left to right): Deepak Chandela, Pavan Chada, Tansel Alan, Kalpesh Avlani NYMEX Commodities Challenge-Electronic Trading From March to April of 2007, two teams of graduate students from Hofstra’s Zarb School of Business competed against 36 other teams from 21 schools in the 4th Annual NYMEX Commodity Challenge. Student teams started off with $100,000 of trading allowance that they used to buy and sell natural gas and crude oil futures contracts. One Hofstra team placed third in the final part of the competition. Team supervisors, Finance Department Chairperson, Dr. Nancy White and Dr. Ahmet Karagozoglu, Academic Director of the Trading Room in the Zarb School are very proud of the students’ success. They attribute it to students’ ability to apply what they learned in this semester’s Futures Market class, access to the resources in the Trading Room at the Zarb School as well as to students’ dedication and hard work. Dr. Karagozoglu noted that their success in the NYMEX Commodity Challenge “proves that Hofstra students have what it takes to succeed in the complex world of trading in derivatives markets.” Final Rankings of Electronic Trading-April 12, 2007 1 Rice University 2 Rollins College 3 Hofstra University Participating Universities Columbia University George Washington University Harvard University Hofstra University Lehigh University Manhattan College New York University Ohio State University Rice University Rollins College Stanford University Texas A&M Texas State University University of Alberta, Canada University of California – Berkeley University of Connecticut University of Houston University of Michigan University of Texas – Austin University of Texas – Dallas Yale University