High school students to compete in stock market simulation

FORT COLLINS — More than 600 local high school students will participate Thursday in the Junior Achievement-Rocky Mountain Stock Market Challenge, a hands-on, high-tech and immersive simulation that introduces students to the fundamentals of stocks, the impact of world events on the stock market, long-term investing, and how investors make decisions and diversify their portfolios.

After completing classroom programs that teach them about investing, the role of the stock market in the economy and how to be financially responsible, the students will get to apply what they learned by competing in the challenge to see which team can grow its initial $500,000 investment into the largest net worth mock stock portfolio. Every 60 seconds in real life equates to one full day of trading, creating the same urgency and intensity investors would have on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

During the event, volunteers assume the roles of floor traders and press-release runners. Floor traders enter team trades into handheld personal digital assistants, which are immediately transferred to giant trading screens for all participants to see. Press release runners distribute news, which guides participants’ decisions on the stocks they wish to buy or sell.

The top three winning teams will be awarded trophies.

Sponsors enable Junior Achievement to provide the student event to participating schools at no cost. The event is also supported by a corporate fundraising version of the challenge, which will be held Wednesday at the Drake Center, 802 W. Drake Road in Fort Collins.

The student event will be held from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. at the Drake Center.

This article was first published by BizWest, an independent news organization, and is published under a license agreement. © 2024 BizWest Media LLC.

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