Author: Tara Daley
Since Oct. 15, 32 Occidental students have competitively traded stocks online as part of a virtual stock exchange organized by the Blyth Fund.
The Blyth Fund is a 14-person board of students vested with the task of managing a six-figure portion of Occidental’s endowment. While the Blyth Fund is responsible for a tangible sum, the funds invested in this virtual stock exchange competition are purely simulated.
Though this is the first year the Blyth Fund is hosting such a competition, the idea of a virtual investing challenge sparked in the spring of 2008. The now-defunct Economics Club sponsored a stock competition with a similar premise, and Blyth Fund directors decided to adopt the program as part of this year’s curriculum.
“We wanted to provide students who pay attention to business news and the markets an opportunity to put their interests to work through a campus competition,” said Blyth Fund Secretary Chris Suzdak (junior), one of the chief organizers of the competition.
Suzdak explained that the first annual stock competition is a month-long endeavor for Occidental students, in which participants are to buy and sell stocks at their own personal discretion starting with a $100,000 virtual portfolio. The virtual stock trading competition will run until Nov. 15. The winner will receive a $25 cash card and the title of top Occidental investor.
When it began, the competition was open to all Occidental students. With a range of academic interests, a shared ambition and an enthusiastic approach toward investing, the 32 participants bring a diversity of specialties and strategies to the contest.
“We’ve had students from every class and a variety of majors sign up. Investing isn’t just about economics or finance. In fact, most investors have a specialty in an outside field in which they can bring insight while researching companies in related industries,” Suzdak said.
Economics major and Mathematics minor Andrew Imthurn (sophomore) is one of the competition’s participants. He said he was drawn to the challenge by a standing interest in the stock market and current events.
“I have invested some of my own money and I simply enjoy following the stock market, so when I heard about the Oxy stock competition I knew I wanted to participate.”
The brevity of the competition has forced participants to engage in a variety of investing tactics, many of them distinctly different from the fund’s usual approaches. “A month-long trading window requires a different strategy than the long-term view we use in the Blyth Fund,” Blyth Fund President RJ Infantino (senior) said.
An adaptive technique is key to this kind of short-term investing. “Some competitors are trying to gain an advantage by trading more volatile stocks like emerging market small caps, while others are buying companies just before earnings are released and selling them immediately after,” Infantino said.
Imthurn is adopting a creative strategy that is both “speculative” and “aggressive.””I have focused on companies that have been releasing their earnings this month, while at the same time making sure I have a diversified portfolio,” Imthurn said. “It’s been working well.”
Opening the competition to the entire campus is key to stimulating interest in finance and investing – a move which members hope will fill next year’s Blyth Fund with passionate and diverse candidates. “One of our main goals this year is to increase the visibility and the accessibility of the Blyth Fund,” Infantino said.
“Blyth Fund’s two primary goals since its inception in 1977 have been education and asset preservation. This year, we want to work on reaching out to the rest of campus so everyone knows what we actually do and how we operate,” Suzdak said.
The virtual stock exchange competition is just one way the Blyth Fund hopes to increase its presence on campus. The board is also hosting open meetings on Monday evenings at 8:30 p.m. in the library for any member of the college community interested in learning more about the Blyth Fund.
“We hope that these open meetings and this virtual stock competition will attract students interested in investing and motivate them to apply for the open spots on the Fund in the spring when the seniors graduate,” Suzdak said.
Infantino also hopes that the stock competition, open meetings and a website redesign, along with additional programming, will expose interested students to the Fund and encourage them to apply.
As for this year, the Fund is hitting its target precisely. “The competition has been a huge success,” Infantino said
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