A team of undergraduate finance students from the University of Windsor’s Odette School of Business walked away with top honours from the 12th annual Rotman International Trading Competition (RITC) at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

The four-student team placed first among Canadian schools, second in North America and third in the world.

“RITC is the world’s largest trading simulation, so by doing well here, we know that we’re getting top-level education at Odette,” says Andrew Atkins, the team’s leader. “It really validates our program and the kinds of skills we are developing.”

Erdal Gunay, an associate professor and director of the Odette Financial Markets Lab, managed the team and attributes the win to last year’s introduction of a course in trading, which helped teach the necessary skills and also brought together a team dedicated to an unprecedented performance.

“The key is that these individuals worked very well together,” Gunay says. “They’re all different but they bring their talent and skills and hard work to the table. They joke around and they’re friends but they have success because each of them has something they are very good at.”

The competition took place in the Rotman Trading Lab and included such activities as electronic and outcry trading, as well as seminars with industry practitioners.

“This competition and the preparation involved gives our students real-world experience on a trading floor and helps them to develop the skills and critical thinking they will need in the working world,” says Allan Conway, dean at Odette.

The competition involved 300 student traders from Canadian and international schools, including the University of California, Berkeley; Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business; and the John Molson School of Business at Concordia University.