A team of University of Calgary students has proven their prowess in the competitive world of finance, securing first place at the Rotman International Trading Competition (RITC).
The victory marks a significant achievement for the trading program at the Haskayne School of Business, solidifying its reputation for producing highly skilled and industry-ready graduates.
From left: Axel Han Kin Sang, Sam Vojtassak, Jonah Pandarinath, Mayankjot Singh, Gray Nguyen, George Hart RITC Organizing Committee
The RITC, hosted by the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, earlier this year, is a renowned annual event that brings together teams from across the globe to participate in simulated trading scenarios, testing their abilities in market making, sales and trading, and algorithmic trading.
For the UCalgary team, comprised of students from diverse academic backgrounds, the win was the culmination of months of rigorous preparation, teamwork, and a shared passion for the dynamic world of trading.
'Our objective was always to introduce students to the trading industry and see how they handle it,' says George Hart, BSc'76, Finance Trading Lab assistant and the team's mentor and instructor. Hart, who brought industry experience to the program, emphasized the competition's role in enhancing students' learning beyond the classroom.
'It wasn't always about competition. It was always: let's learn how to do this. And then, once they discovered that, hey, we kind of like this, competition helped us enhance what they learned.'
UCalgary challenge leads to international competition
For team members like Mayankjot Singh, a computer science student with minors in economics, math and statistics, the journey began with seeing a poster for UCalgary's BP Trading Competition.
"I didn't even know there was something related to commodity trading at that time," Singh says. That initial curiosity quickly turned into dedication, leading him to participate and excel in multiple internal competitions, ultimately paving the way to RITC. '[The] BP Competition just gives us a pathway, and then RITC is the main competition for the university on the international level.'
Samuel Vojtassak, a finance student with a minor in economics, speaking about the his experience in the trading lab, echoed this sentiment. 'It was a blessing in disguise,' Vojtassak says. 'It was the most fun I've ever had at school. I feel so immersed in it. I feel like time is flying by, and I don't want to stop.'
Victory a true team effort
The team's success was not solely due to individual talent, but also their exceptional collaborative spirit and strategic division of roles.
'We had different cases during the competition, so some of them would be more intensive on how well you would execute a trade, for example, and others are much more on how well you can code an algorithm,' Vojtassak says. Recognizing each member's strengths, they effectively distributed responsibilities. "Mayankjot, Jonah Pandarinath, and Mohammed Elshayib were very good at coding. And then it was Gray Nguyen, me, and Axel Han Kin Sang, who were more on the execution side.'
Motivation and dedication lead to team success at RITC
Singh credits the team's success to Hart's dedication and the foundation laid by Dr. Gordon Sick, BSc'71, PhD, who initiated the trading lab, for creating realistic and challenging practice cases. This rigourous training allowed team members to identify strengths and weaknesses and refine their skills, he says.
The students' inherent motivation was another key factor in their victory. 'The biggest thing that stood out to me was people who participated in this were there because they wanted to be, not because they had to be right,' says Hart. 'There's no credit for this; the only credit you get is you get to put it on your LinkedIn profile and your resume.'
Hart notes that, unlike some competing universities, UCalgary students participated purely out of passion and a desire to learn.
Looking ahead, both Singh and Vojtassak offer advice for future students interested in trading competitions. 'It'd be making friends, even though you're competing against them,' Vojtassak says.
Singh, meanwhile, stresses the importance of teamwork and collaboration: 'You need to know how to work with people. Even if you are the best scorer and the best trader in the world, and you don't know how to work with your team members, it's a team sport.'
