Hello I was recently asked to organize an energy futures trading (natgas and crude) competition for Tulane University and the Tulane Energy Institute. The competition would involve an initial round of remote electronic trading among invited schools. The top performers will then be invited to the Tulane Trading Center to compete in a live competition. Currently Tulane is partnered with Reuters as well as Trading Technologies, however, I would like to see what everyone here thought about how to go about obtaining other sponsors that could potentially provide support. This week I will be reaching out to major desks at the larger oil companies in the U.S. but was wondering if there are any shops, CTAs, funds, etc...that I should be considering. You guys are always pretty darned sharp so any assistance is greatly appreciated! Also, here is a quick CNBC clip that aired a couple of years ago on the Tulane Trading Center: http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=615740234&play=1 PM's welcome!
1) Your school's endowment fund. 2) NYMEX, ICE and DME. 3) Interactive Brokers, TradeStation, Ninja, 4) Comb through the alumni directory and do a keyword search of occupations and employers with "trading", "oil", "gas" et al. 5) Tulane has a trading center? Damn, I hate you. When I was your age, I had to..........
From getting your MBA at Tulane in 2010 to organizing this. Must have a heckuva master's thesis program for Tulane MBAs...
Not quite sure what you mean since it exists the other way around. I was hired by the Tulane Energy Institute to work with them this summer and am organizing this competition BEFORE completing the MBA program in May 2010. Tulane currently has graduate courses on forward curve trading of natgas, crude, crack spreads, and derivatives. Algorithmic trading is taught as well. Know of any desks that I should contact? Tomorrow I have a strategy meeting to discuss sponsorships and should be able to provide more info later on this week as the marketing materials come together.
I suggest u stop that meaningless activity. Screen trading is replacing pit screaming. Why are they teaching pit screaming? Because the teacher was a former screamer who cannot transition to screen trading. If you have an outdated teacher, you have an outdated course. If you hire a World War II veteran at West Point, he will teach you how to throw a grenade at a German tank.
Thank you for your post. The link was from a story that was done 2 years ago. Basically CNBC came down near the beginning of the course during the one session where open outcry was taught. No real way to get around what CNBC wanted to film since they only gave a 3-day notice to their coming down. The way the course is taught begins with basic fundamentals, a short intro on open outcry, and then a transition to electronic trading, algo strategies, etc... Something about seeing people screaming orders made for better TV than a lecture about electronic trading against a live market. The competition will not feature any open outcry because it is clearly going the way of the dinosaur. Big, loud,...but dead.
Here is some more preliminary information: The 1st annual Tulane Trading Competition aims to reward sophistication and strategy. Comprised of 2 distinct phases, the competition is designed to test multiple aspects of what it takes to be a successful trader in the real world. Whereas most trading competitions reward traders simply with the best P/L figures, the Tulane Trading Competition seeks to go many steps further. At Tulane, traders and strategies are rewarded for their sustainability and risk management. Many competitions are futile because they reward excessive risk taking that has no place in a real setting. Trading is about employing discipline as opposed to leveraging a random positions and swinging for the fences. This is why the Tulane Trading Competition is unique. We aim to judge strategies based upon commonly used metrics such as maximum/minimum drawdown, winning percentage, standard deviation, and Sharpe ratios. Tulane raises the bar by using these metrics to judge overall performance of strategies that are more likely to be used on a real floor or desk. As mentioned before, the Tulane Trading Competition will be 2 distinct phases. Phase 1 will consist of remote electronic trading among top universities. Each competing university will be allowed to form 1 team of 4 student members. Tulane, along with its partners, will provide each team with the software necessary to remotely place electronic trades of natural gas and crude oil in the futures market. With a projected start date near the beginning of October, each university will have 1-week to practice their strategies and become acquainted with the trading software. After that time, each team will have 2-weeks to trade their positions against the live market. Upon completion of Phase 1, each teamâs performance will be analyzed against the metrics discussed earlier. The top-6 schools will then be invited to compete in a live competition (Phase2) to take place in the Tulane Trading Center in New Orleans on November 13, 2009. In Phase 2 all participants will be trading on an individual basis. While the top 6 teams are invited to compete, each team will split up its members for this phase so that the best individual traders can be identified. Phase 2 is actually 2-fold. Part (A) of the competition will begin with participants trading electronically against the live market. Part (B) will conclude the competition with traders trading against a series of scenarios developed from past market data. Tulane currently has the capability to take any series of market data and let students trade against past data in real time. Scenarios will be built to simulate various market conditions from flat markets to trending markets that are moving after key economic events take place. Subjecting traders to these scenarios will help identify those who are able to adapt to a myriad of market conditions. Upon completion of Phase 2 judges will review all trading against a set of pre-defined metrics. Once again, these are the metrics discussed earlier. The event concludes with an award ceremony and closing remarks. By adding sophistication to the trading competition, we hope to identify the types of traders that add thoughtfulness and awareness to trading desks across the country. ________________________________ Any schools come to mind that we should invite? We have a running list, but specific posts are welcome!