Stock Market Challenge gives students the opportunity to experience the excitement of dealing on a live stock market trading floor in competition with other regional schools. They trade in company stocks and foreign exchange just like brokers do on trading floors and on-line all over the world every day.
Each team of five begins the game with a fund of shares and euros. The object of the game is to maximise the team’s fund value by buying and selling shares in the nine listed companies, and by trading in the euro.
The game is divided into five days, a Monday to Friday in the life of a market, with each day lasting around twenty minutes. The team is made up of five players: Finance Manager, Investment Analyst, Media Analyst, Floor Trader (Buyer) and Floor Trader (Seller). The winning team is the one with the highest total value of shares, euros and cash at the close of trading.
Buying and selling
Teams trade in the listed companies and the euro at the prices displayed on screen. Buying and selling takes place at the central trading pit. Company shares are bought and sold in certificates of 1,000, which is the price quoted on screen.
The euro is bought and sold at its sterling exchange rate. When euros are bought, the amount of sterling you have is multiplied by the exchange rate to calculate the amount in euros. This amount is written on a bill of exchange, which can be converted back into sterling at any time. When euros are sold, are given pounds in return for the bill of exchange at the current rate
News and information
Throughout the game teams receive information affecting the companies’ and the euro’s performance and price. Decisions about which investments to make will be based on this information.
The information comes from:
• a daily financial newspaper • TV news bulletins • radio news bulletins • news flashes
Further information
See the event in action on Alliance Manchester Business School’s YouTube channel.
Risk Assessment (University of Manchester)
Team discussions