Advise professor, You are only cheating yourself. If you win the competition, good chance your technique will be discused and the truth will come out. You will have learned nothing and lose the respect of your professor. Honesty is always the best policy.
That moral dilemma has been around for ever. Whether or not you want to screw your peers and get rich or remain a peer, because there will be consequences if you are caught out. Examine yourself and see if you are a natural born cheat and how much so imho. Where will it be - The Hamptons with a guilty conscience or The Bronx , with no dosh ? Think on it, 'cos it will set you on that path for life, probably.
Do the right thing and inform the professor _and_ the others about the flaw. This is also important for your own ego, self-respect etc. Imagine you look 10 or 20 years later back to the situation... You have talent to find flaws in systems. You should start a career at the SEC or so...
HEY, this is not a moral issue. This person is playing a game and he found an anomaly that allows profits, the object of the game. He/she has not said they are being illegal, immoral, or unethical. They are taking advantage of the system provided to them. Others that have not found the anomaly are not working as hard and do not deserve to profit or know. My personal code of ethics does not permit to engage in pump and dump, but don't doubt for a minute that I will try to profit my strength by exploiting your weakness (and loss) in the market. You lose I win=zero sum. Now for those that say this person should own up, I say stop interpolating your own code of ethics or modus operandi. Hell, if it were me and I was aiming for a job on Wall Street, I'd blow this thing out of proportion with how great I was. It might just open closed doors (and legs).
So what would you do in this situation? See how many of your classmates you can corrupt. Offer your beat the system on the down low. Fool your professor into thinking the whole class or many of your class mates are stock trading genius. Fuck the professor, he probably chose the simulator, the professor represents the establisment, you are the capitlistic greedy mofo looking to exploit the system.
Said like a man somewhere between a true not caring too much Republican and the morals of the lukewarm mafia.
The OP did not say they were cheating. The OP did not say there were consequences for methods utilized. The OP did not say they were breaking rules. Should one feel guilty for profiting? If I sell a car, should I sell it at your desired price, my desired price, or what some third party says is not cheating? I recently sold a stock premarket for a nice profit. During the regular trading hours it never came close to my premarket price. I exploited those that bid a thin market up. Was I cheating? Were consequences sidestepped? Am I guilty?
Actually the OP directly asked what others would do, which directly addresses one's own personal code of ethics I highly doubt winning a competition without a detailed strategy would get you past the receptionist's desk. OP implied that he was cheating by his comment that he wants to paper trade without cheating. There are always consequences for the actions we take. OP is in college, one assumes he is striving to obtain an education. What education or benefit is derived by merely winning a contest. Those who failed the game attempting to actually trade may come away from the experience with a valuable lesson. The individual who merely racked up points by exploiting a software glitch walks away with zero knowledge. imho, wasted opportunity and time is a serious consequence Common Trait of successful traders: hard work, dedication and discipline Common Trait of unsuccessful traders: always looking for the short cuts and easy money
This would me my choice as well. At this point, the OP has no idea if the anomaly is something the instructor is aware of or not; it may be an integral part of the game. So there's no way to know if you're cheating or not. If you win, you can explain the edge you found and exploited.