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Bloomberg Trading Challenge

The document provides information about Bloomberg's first global trading challenge competition that will take place from October to November 2021. It invites university students to form teams to manage a virtual $1 million portfolio investing in global equities. The top performing team based on returns will win prizes. The competition aims to provide a real-world simulation of portfolio management. Key details around registration, eligible investments, timeline and scoring are provided.

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Arjun Talwar
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
326 views

Bloomberg Trading Challenge

The document provides information about Bloomberg's first global trading challenge competition that will take place from October to November 2021. It invites university students to form teams to manage a virtual $1 million portfolio investing in global equities. The top performing team based on returns will win prizes. The competition aims to provide a real-world simulation of portfolio management. Key details around registration, eligible investments, timeline and scoring are provided.

Uploaded by

Arjun Talwar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Bloomberg Trading Challenge Global Analytics FAQ

Introductions and Who’s Who

What is the Global Trading Challenge?


We are proud to announce our first truly Global Bloomberg Trading Challenge.
Regional Bloomberg Trading Challenges have become a fixture for many universities around the
world, and this is the first time we will invite all 1,000 Bloomberg university clients into
competition. Student teams will have a virtual $1 million to invest in equities.

Why are we doing this?


Trading challenges are very popular with students and professors; they provide a real-time, real world
simulation of portfolio construction and monitoring. Professors use them to illustrate
portfolio theory, and students enjoy the competitive nature.

What are the key dates?

Registration Opens: September 7th 2021


Registration Closes: September 27th 2021
Training Sessions: Sep 28 - Oct 3rd 2021
Competition Begins: October 4th 2021
Competition Ends: November 19th 2021
Results Announced: November 23rd 2021

Registration and Eligibility

Can Anyone Participate?


The trading challenge is an invitation-only event for our education customers.
Universities with 1 or 2 billables may submit one team.
Universities with 3 billables or more in a lab ("ELP Partner universities") can submit as many teams as they
like.

How can universities sign up?


Registration will be done via a web landing page and web-form.

What is the team format?


Each team must have a minimum of 3 members and a maximum of 5, plus a faculty advisor. Each team
must have a CAPTAIN.
Universities with 1-2 terminals can have one team,
Universities with more than 3 can have as many teams
The Competition Itself

How will the Trading Challenge Work?


• If you're familiar with previous trading challenges, the format will be quite familiar.
• It will run on our {TMSG<go>} trade-idea messaging platform, which allows us to track
trades and provide real-time monitor of performance. We will create a notional network for
each team with 1MM USD to invest.
• The Team Captain will submit trades into TMSG<go> and all participants will be able to
see their live ranking.
• The Team Captain can close winning or losing trades during the competition.
• The Challenge ends on November 19th, at which point no new trades will be accepted.
• Winners will be announced on November 23rd, with prizes awarded thereafter.

What are Eligible Investments?


Teams can invest long-only in any cash equity within the Bloomberg World Large, Mid and Small Cap
index
{WLS index<go>}. This includes 11,700 members, and performance will be measured against this index.
Warrants, Perps, ETFs and ETPs are not included in this index, and so are automatically disallowed.

Winners and Prizes

How will the winning teams be decided?


The competition will run for approximately five weeks.
The winning team will be determined by Time Weight Relative Return; if there is a tie, we will use Relative
P&L as a decider. Both of these fields are defined in TMSG. We will evaluate the results from November
19th and announce the winners on November 23rd.

What are the prizes? There are 7 prizes on offer:


The Global Grand Prize includes a gift basket for each team member, including an iPad Pro.
Bloomberg will also make a donation to a charity of their choice.
There are 5 non-monetary Best-in-Region Prizes in the following regions:
• North America
• South & Central America
• Europe (including Russian federation)
• Middle East & Africa (including Turkey)
• Asia (including Central, South, East Asia and Australasia)
Finally there is a thematic prizes: Best Single Trade
Winners of non-monetary prizes will receive a paper certificate to display in their lab, and digital
certificates to include in Resumes/ LinkedIn.
FAQs and Queries

Is my country/university eligible to participate?


Yes! The Challenge is available in all countries where we offer a Bloomberg for Education lab. If
you're an existing Bloomberg customer and have received an invitation from us, you are eligible
to participate.

Do I need a Bloomberg Terminal to participate?


Yes, you do. The competition is going to be run on the Bloomberg Trade Idea Messaging
platform (“TMSG”) so you will need access to a Bloomberg Terminal, and at least one Bloomberg user
login for the team Captain.

I run an investing/finance student club - can we enter as a team?


Yes! The competition is offered to your university; you can enter a team made up of club
members under their name. Please note you'll need to find a faculty member to support your
application, and the captain must have a Bloomberg login name.

I am a professor teaching a finance class - can I enter my whole class as a team?


Yes! There is tremendous teaching value in monitoring and discussing the performance of your
portfolio over the seven weeks of the competition. Please note that you can only include a
maximum of five student names as team members, but there is no philosophical objection to
using the team as a classroom motivator. Alternatively, you could split the class and enter multiple teams.

We have 1 terminal in the library but want to enter two teams- how can we do this?
Non-ELP universities (i.e., less than 3 terminals) can only submit one team; we suggest you talk to your
faculty adviser to determine how to make up a team. In the case where two separate teams apply from a
non-ELP university, we will refer it to the stated faculty member(s) to determine which team should
compete.

Is there a Presentation Round?


In previous regional Challenges we included a presentation round, where shortlisted teams were invited
to a Bloomberg office to present their investment thesis to a panel. Considering this being the first Global
Trading Challenge, etc., we have determined it fairest to select winners only on quantitative grounds;
there won't be a qualitative component.

Will we need to Travel to a Bloomberg Office?


In some regional competitions, the finalists were invited to a Bloomberg office for the final
rounds. Owing to the global nature of this competition, and the shifting travel rules because of
the pandemic, this year's competition will be virtual-only.

Can I invest in Fixed Income or Commodities?


No, all investments must be long-only cash equity.

Can I go Short?
No, all investments must be long-only cash equity.
Can I just sit on cash?
Conceptually yes, but we discourage it - this is a trading challenge!

I disagree with TMSG's calculations... My professor/textbook/Investopedia article says


different!
The Global Trading Challenge is powered by TMSG. All its calculations are defined in the Help
Pages, and these definitions are consistently applied to all teams. TMSG is an industry tool widely used
and accepted by our commercial clients around the world. We understand there may be elements you
don't agree with, but participation in the competition signifies your agreement with our Terms and
Conditions of the Challenge, which specify that our calculations and determinations are final. And in the
final analysis - Please remember it's only a game. Why not turn your calculations into a teachable
classroom moment?

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