on October 24 | in CAREERWISE, MONEYWISE | by admin | with No Comments

Ambitious traders can test their skills and interact within the trading environment with the help of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s virtual platforms and competitions that enable its winners more confidence to trade and even proved helpful in their careers.

One of these opportunities is brough by the JSE Investment Challenge Public Game, launched in 2013. Each participant in the game is given an imaginary sum of R1 000 000 to create a virtual portfolio of shares listed on the JSE. Share performance is then tracked and measured to determine a winner. This year’s players can also get a more authentic experience of trading on the exchange as trades will be made at a 15 minute time delay instead of at end-of-day prices.

“Our aim is to increase public participation on the JSE by showing that investing is something that anyone can do. The competition fulfils an important role in financial education and gives people a solid foundation for investing”, says Dudu Seme, Retail Development Officer at the JSE.

Past winners include Deon van der Merwe, who placed first last year. He grew his portfolio by 18 % (R180 000) from the virtual R1-million share portfolio and took home R30 000.  At the time, Deon was employed on a contract basis and was looking for permanent employment. “Participating in the contest gave me a competitive advantage in job interviews, I believe, because it showcased the interest and passion I have in trading and investment.”

Marlin Govender took third place after growing his portfolio by 13% (R130 000) and won R10 000: “Winning the third prize was a welcomed relief financially, I was trading forex at that point in time and having a global view helped me  choose the right stocks on the JSE. “What surprised me was that anyone can enter the game and win. This made me grow in confidence as I didn’t have to be an expert.”

Although registrations for this year’s Game are closed, investors can make use of the JSE’s virtual trading platform free of charge for a trial period of 30 days.

A popular opportunity for high school learners and university students is the JSE Investment Challenge, now in its 41st year, South Africa’s largest financial literacy initiative.In the Schools Challenge the winning teams across Income, Equity and Speculator portfolios receive prize money of R180 000.00. In the University Challenge the top three prizes are valued at R60 000.

This year, the teams have outperformed the JSE’s Top40 and All Share Indices as well as some of the country’s top fund managers.

Idris Seedat, Manager: CSI at the JSE says these novice traders have performed exceptionally well. “The winning teams have generated exceptional investment returns. Although the participants in the Investment Challenge trade in a risk-free environment because they hold virtual portfolios, the competition still requires them to weigh different investment options against each other and to manage their portfolios to maximize returns.”

The JSE Investment Challenge requires high school learners and university students to invest an imaginary sum of R1 million in JSE listed shares. The Challenge took place from 10 March to 26 September this year and the top performing teams managed to grow their portfolios by between 12% and 62%. In this period, the JSE’s All Share Index climbed by just over 4,1% and the Top40 Index by just over 3,4%.

“The Challenge hopes to increase financial literacy and knowledge of investment tools in South Africa. For us it is incredibly satisfying to see financial literacy being taken so seriously. The high level of participation shows that the annual competition for school learners and university students is making an impact and changing the financial landscape of South Africa. This year’s winners have shown excellent teamwork, initiative and are an outstanding example of what we aim to achieve with this project,” concludes Seedat.

Registrations for next year’s challenge commence again inJanuary next year.  To register for 2015, each team will be required to pay a fee of R120 per team per portfolio entered for schools and R150 per team for Universities. To find out more about next year’s Challenge visit: http://schools.jse.co.za or http://university.jse.co.za and the interactive mobisite: http://schools.jse.co.za/mobile or http://university.jse.co.za/mobile or contact the Investment Challenge Co-ordinators on 011 – 520 7116/ 7344/ 7168. For further information, registration forms and interaction visit the Facebook and Twitter pages:

For more information:

Schools Challenge

The schools challenge is targeted at secondary school learners.

• Any South African secondary school may enter one or more teams.
• Team members must be in grades 8, 9, 10 or 11 to be eligible to participate (it is recommended that learners in grades 8 and 9 participate in the income game).
• Grade 12 learners may also participate with the permission of the school principal.
• A team must consist of four members only.
• Each school must have a supervising teacher or mentor.

The JSE Investment Challenge is the largest financial literacy initiative in South Africa. This annual competition which will be running in its 42nd year in 2015 is open to all South African high school learners as well as students from universities and independent colleges with the aim to educate them on the ins and outs of trading on the stock market. The winners have gained exposure and experience on financial and life skills such as budgeting, economic research and team work. This in turn assists the learners in deciding on their future career paths.

University Challenge

The university challenge is targeted at all tertiary institutions.

All university students are eligible, but they must be currently registered with the same institution and may form teams – irrespective of field of study of team members. Each participating team may not be less than two members or more than four members at a time.

To register go to: http://university.jse.co.za

To assist novice investors in learning more about financial markets and investing, the JSE is also hosting a series of  webinars focused on  developing a trading strategy; building a small and midcap-portfolio;, fundamental and technical analysis used for trading shares; and various sessions on the JSE’s different derivative products and how they can fit into investment portfolios.

View the full list and register here: www.jse.co.za/events

Videos of previous webinars can be viewed on YouTube:  .

For more information about the competition visit: https://virtualtradinggame.jse.co.za

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