CME Group Names Top Five Teams Of 18th Annual University Trading Challenge

CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced the winners of its 18th annual University Trading Challenge, led by the University of Bogota Jorge Tadeo Lozano, who is the second consecutive Latin American team to top the global competition.

This year's four-week competition included 386 teams, comprised of more than 1,500 actively-enrolled graduate and undergraduate students from 24 countries. Students learned hands-on techniques for trading agriculture, energy, metals, equity indices, interest rates and foreign exchange futures contracts using CQG's real-time simulated electronic trading platform. Throughout the challenge, students also received live market updates through Dow Jones newsfeeds and The Hightower Report.

"It's an exciting time to learn about how derivatives markets are used to manage risk and capture opportunities across the global economy," said  Anita Liskey, CME Group Senior Managing Director of Global Brand Marketing and Communications. "Our annual competition provides a collaborative educational experience that is driven by global financial professionals and innovative technology. Each year, we are delighted to bring together students from all over the world to learn how to apply real-life trading strategies to everyday markets."

"Congratulations to all of the winners and to those who participated in this year's trading challenge," said  Ryan Moroney, President of CQG. "This competition offers students the unique opportunity to make trading decisions based on real-time CME Group data, along with analytics, real-time news feed and commentary from CQG, and executed with CQG's premier trade routing technology. CQG remains committed to educating the next generation of derivatives traders."

"The CME Group University Trading Challenge is an excellent way to learn about derivatives markets and develop skills that can be put into practice in the future," said the first-place team from the University of Bogota Jorge Tadeo Lozano. "Trading through the CQG platform and having access to live market updates also helps students build an understanding on how these markets operate."

Students on the top five winning teams are eligible to receive a cash prize and are invited to attend an exclusive one-day, virtual market education event this month.

CME Group provides a wide range of risk management education, including its CME Institute education hub, which offers detailed courses, webinars and videos on trading futures on options markets, as well as a trading simulator.

CME Group also partners with other industry organizations to offer educational tools, such as Futures Fundamentals, a one-stop educational resource to help learners of all levels understand futures markets and the role they play in everyday life.