March 26th, 2012:

A MESSAGE FROM CBaSE:

REAL Students, REAL Projects, and REAL Impact. CBaSE is in the business of providing opportunity through transformational learning. We are committed to offering our students engaging, applied and experiential learning opportunities.

At this time we would like to share our Fall 2012 Course Offerings:

MGMT*4050: Students work in interdisciplinary teams of 2-5 with real world businesses of all sizes across all sectors to provide sustainable solutions to economic, social and environmental issues. It's what we like to call experiential learning. It's fluid, it's volatile and it's REAL.

MGMT*4020: An interdisciplinary product development course that combines management, food science and human health and nutrition majors. Students develop new products, services and business ventures for the agriculture and food industries.

Contact cbase@uoguelph.ca for more information or Emily Bremner at 519-824-4120 x53798.

More detailed course information can be accessed here, and the MGMT*4050 application form here.

March 11th, 2012:

The EFA sent a team this past weekend to the 2012 McGill Trading Competition. The event gathered over 200 delegates from 15 different universities across Canada to compete in high-intensity stock and option trading. As the only University of Guelph team, up against 49 opponents, we were able to post impressive yields with a minimal margin of error. Our four team members, Rick Armstrong, Juan Salguero, Ben Ames, and Derek Manuge used both technical analysis (Black-Scholes valuation, risk analysis, etc.) and fundamental news to predict accurate price movements throughout the day. However, they were edged out by teams from McGill and Queens, whose high frequency trading strategy gained profits beyond what they were able to attain.

After the first 2 quarters of trading, the EFA team were the leaders on the trading floor -with profits exceeding 65% of their initial capital investment. Despite this incredible portfolio size, a one-second trade decision resulted in a lack of stock volatility, and the amount invested didn't appreciate to the levels expected by the team. By executing their trade, the team would have won the competition. Instead, the stock GPW boosted to levels almost double the price of the quarter before, and other traders were able to reap the rewards of holding this position. At the end of the year, the EFA placed 10th. Full results are available here.

Regardless, the EFA team was able to end after four quarters of trading with an average portfolio value of $326,508; an increase of 63.25% in capital. Congratulations to the winners, FPHEC, who yielded $470,562, and a big thank you to the McGill Investment Club for running this amazing event.



The team transactions can be accessed here.

For last month's news updates, please click here.