Interactive Brokers Collegiate Trading Olympiad

Interactive Brokers Collegiate Trading Olympiad

http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/general/education/IBTradingOlympiad.php?ib_entity=llc

Interactive Brokers Group, a worldwide leader in market making and broker-dealer services, is pleased to announce our third annual IB Collegiate Trading Olympiad, where students create and implement a real-time program trading application and attempt to generate the largest profit. This unique forum allows the future leaders in technology to compete for potential jobs and up to $100,000 in prize money. Interactive Brokers is sponsoring the Olympiad to highlight the growing need for tech savvy students in the financial industry, and to draw attention to this need in academia generally and particularly among students who are making important career choices.

Each week, the names of the competition's leaders will be posted to this page for viewing by students, the media, prospective employers and other interested parties. The students whose trading technology has generated the highest profits at the end of the competition will earn the following prizes:

	1st place prize, 1 student, $100,000
	2nd place prizes, 2 students, $50,000 each
	3rd place prizes, 10 students, $10,000 each
	Placing prizes, 100 students, $1,000 each

The Olympiad is open to any undergraduate or graduate student* with programming experience. Trades must be generated by computer algorithms. Students will compete using the same Interactive Brokers' Trader Workstation Application Program Interface (API) that professional traders use to create automated trading solutions. A multitude of programming languages including Java, C++, C, and Visual Basic may be utilized with our API. Student-created algorithms may trade US stocks, options, futures, Forex, or bonds as often as their programs require over the contest period and must make at least 25 trades. There is no cost to enter and participate in the Olympiad.

All applications must be completed and received by Monday December 31, 2007 at 11:59 PM (Eastern Time) to qualify for the contest. The competition will be limited to 2,000 students, and applications will be accepted on a first come, first serve basis. Students may enter test trades into the system after their application has been accepted, which will not be counted in the competition. Trading will commence on Monday January 7, 2008 at 12:01 AM (Eastern Time) and will run for 8 weeks concluding on Friday February 29, 2008 at 11:59 PM (Eastern Time).