CME Group Announces Rutgers University Wins 14th Annual Trading Challenge - Innovative Competition Aims To Educate & Inspire Next Generation Of Finance Professionals

CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced the winners of its 14^th annual CME Group Trading Challenge, including the first-place winners from Rutgers University. This is the first time in three years that the winning team has been from a university in the United States.

This year's competition saw record participation from nearly 600 teams, made up of more than 2,300 students from 35 countries around the world. The four-week electronic trading competition is open exclusively to teams of currently enrolled graduate and undergraduate students, offering them a chance to learn hands-on techniques for trading futures across all major asset classes on CQG's real-time professional trading platform. The trading challenge also helps educate the next generation of finance professionals on the significance of CME Group's global derivatives markets.

"We are pleased that a record number of university students from around the world have chosen to participate in our annual Trading Challenge," said Anita Liskey, CME Group's Managing Director of Corporate Marketing and Communications. "CME Group is committed to educating the next generation of finance professionals about the significance of derivatives markets in today's interconnected global economy."

"I am excited that our team's participation and commitment resulted in a first place win in this year's competition," said Ronnee Ades, advisor to the winning team from Rutgers University and Director of the Master of Quantitative Finance program Office of Career Management for Rutgers Business School. "The CME Group Trading Challenge is a great opportunity for students to gain hands-on experience with financial markets, and complements what they learn in our academic program."

"CQG is proud to partner with CME for the annual CME Group Trading Challenge," said Stan Yabroff, Product Specialist, CQG. "The Challenge continues our commitment of providing the next generation of traders and university students from around the world with real-time trading opportunities in a dynamic trading environment. We would like to honor the winning teams and congratulate the almost-600 teams that participated for continuing this great tradition."

Students on the following winning teams will receive a cash prize and are invited to attend a one-day market education conference at CME Group on April 7:

CME Group provides a wide range of risk management education around the world. In addition to interactive events like the Trading Challenge, CME Group offers a variety of educational tools, such as Futures Fundamentals, an innovative website that explains the role of futures markets in everyday life. The goal of the site is to make financial education an engaging experience for anyone, regardless of how well versed they are in the world of finance. Teachers can also find ready-made economics curriculum and online modules to help teach middle and high-school students how derivatives work through Discovery Education's Econ Essentials.

CME Group also recently launched the CME Institute, which offers a variety of free online courses designed to help investors at every level learn about futures and options markets. Whether an investor is brand new to the derivatives market, or an experienced trader looking to sharpen specific skills, the CME Institute courses will help deepen their knowledge and understanding of derivatives markets.

Students learned about market events by accessing live Dow Jones newsfeeds and The Hightower Report.