OSTC Brighton v Sussex Trading Challenge

The OSTC Trading Challenge provides a unique opportunity to trade, in a virtual environment, through futures derivatives in a number of products including; commodities, equities and fixed income. The prices, the news, the winning and the losing are real; the positions, profits and losses are imaginary. The Trading Challenge teaches students to make decisions under pressure, take calculated risks and experience the excitement of the trading floor.

Sam Baker, Brighton graduate and Managing Director of the Brighton branch of OSTC

Each student had unlimited funds to invest during three months of virtual trading. The student with the highest portfolio at the closing bell won a trophy. As players were bombarded with information from live news feeds, the pressure to build a winning portfolio created a fast-moving and exciting event.

The event was organised by Sam Baker, Managing Director of the Brighton branch of OSTC, a financial trading company which operates a specialised, fast and secure trading environment in financial markets around the world. Sam started working for the company after graduating from Brighton Business School in 2003.

Sam said: “As a Business School alumni it’s been great to come back and work with the university. It’s a fantastic opportunity for students to get a feel for what being a trader is like. It also gives us a window to see the students that are really interested in a career as a trader and to then offer them the opportunity to become one.”

“This year, the University of Brighton reclaimed the OSTC trophy from the University of Sussex. The game brings out the natural rivalry between the two universities and motivates the students to trade. Brighton were hungry for the win after losing last year and came out all guns blazing. A great victory making myself, an ex Brighton Uni student, proud.”

“The game is a great taster for students that want to learn about trading the worlds markets. It also serves as a great recruitment tool for us at OSTC.”

Mitch Deeks, President of the University’s Investment and Trading Society said of his team’s success, “It was brilliant to win the trophy back from Sussex. We rode our luck with a few wayward traders, but everybody in the team managed their positions well towards the back end of the competition and we stormed home victorious.”

Brighton Business School’s state of the art trading room

The competition took place in the University’s trading room. Brighton Business School is one of just a handful of UK universities that has a fully equipped real-time trading room which helps recreate the pressure of a trading floor.

The OSTC will be launching a new international challenge on 10th March 2014 and the university’s team will begin preparation in early February. All wannabe traders are encouraged to get involved by joining the University’s Investment and Trading Society.

See website for more details about our undergraduate and postgraduate Finance and Investment courses.