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
Hofstra students take all top 4 places in
NYMEX Open Outcry Trading Competition
click here for the photo gallery of the open outcry competition at NYMEX
Please click here for the video from the open outcry trading competition which was held on Friday April 27, 2007 at the New York Mercantile Exchange trading floor.
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
| 1 | Surbhi Kapoor | Hofstra University ($1,000 and summer internship at NYMEX) |
| 2 | Sila Nazli Saylak | Hofstra University ($850) |
| 3 | Tansel Alan | Hofstra University ($600) |
| 4 | Girish Bhalla | Hofstra University ($600) |
| 5 | Ted Koly | Quinnipiac University ($200) |
| 6 | James Williamson | University of Richmond ($200) |
| 7 | Anshul Shah | Hofstra University ($100) |
| 8 | Deepak Chandela | Hofstra University ($100) |
| 9 | Jacob Sheridan | Rollins College ($100) |
| 10 | Douglas Viloria | Columbia University ($100) |
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
Hofstra team ranks #3 in the NYMEX Futures Trading Competition
The 4th Annual NYMEX Commodity Challenge
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.”
On April 27, 2007, Hofstra teams will participate in one of the two “Open Outcry” live trading competition to be hosted at Columbia University (other being hosted at the University of Houston). NYMEX will award cash prices to the top performers in these competitions. In addition, the winner of each Open Outcry competition will be offered a summer internship at NYMEX, with NYMEX picking up all travel and housing expenses.
Final Rankings: 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