Dear Traders, About six years ago Peoria Notre Dame High School began a project within our economics class dealing with futures trading. The lesson culminates with a mock pit trading experience (we then cover the migration to electronic markets and their pros and cons). In the class we cover the roles of hedging and speculating and provide a general overview of the futures markets and their history as risk management tools. Over the course of the last few years a number of you have been kind enough to join us in playing the role of a retail trader by placing orders in our mock exchange. I know a number of your are tremendously busy but I'd encourage you to give the project a look. We try to run all of our sections of senior economics students through the project so the trading takes place multiple times throughout the year. You do not have to commit to all the various sessions. Our first one is next Friday Oct 21 2:35 pm to 3:20 pm. If you have an interest I'd like to collect your email through the link below. Link to sign up if interested https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...FhBNVNrNjA2b1BLRjZMaGVWclkwS2c&hl=en_US#gid=0 Link to class video http://vimeo.com/3513666 Link to class project page http://www.comtrading.blogspot.com/ Much thanks.
just a thought on debate , and as an alternative motive of keeping the thread in view on here to help out with participants. Does anyone else see an issue with taking high school students and introducing them to potentially desire such a volatile career for their future? I mean its one thing if they choose this path, but influence can alter life's especially in the classroom. i do think its a very interesting project though and hope it goes well, so best of luck!
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I doubt the majority of the 10% as we call it has all gone through the supposedly top options for education, i know many that did not. but more importantly maybe some of these students would of chose a different path instead of taking the gamble of being in the 10%. It is one thing to be introduced to career options, and another to be influenced so dramatically to a predominantly commission based position that has wide positive to negative gaps financially, and in this world financial instability can lead to an unstable life. i think a brief introduction to trading , with a massive influx of money management would give a better lead to success. and who's to say what education is best anymore, seems some good programming skills gets you the most stable jobs in the industry these days. all in all im just saying we all know the greed and lust involved in trading, and alot of these students wont know if there being drawn to the gambling side of this world, or the constant need for mental self discovery and risk management.
the high school teachers need to tell them the truth that more than 90% of small traders lose. That will help them better prepare to seek H-I-G-H-E-R E-D-U-C-A-T-I-O-N and trade in the house after getting a degree.
As the teacher of the course and someone who used to work before going into education with an option market-making firm at the CBOT I would like to think we do an adequate job of explaining the risks of trading futures. In fact we encourage the students to understand the risk that trading on margin incurs and explain in class the risk this leverage creates. We strive to create a realistic understanding of the industry and the number of varied careers associates with the futures industry including the cash side of the agricultural markets. The main goal is merely to educate about the role futures markets play in risk management. The point of the open outcry exercise is to demonstrate first hand price discovery.
Your concern is very valid and the teachers work hard to explain the varied career paths in the futures industry and the real risks associated with them.