The Bond University ASX Sharemarket Game kicked-off again on the 16th August, with an estimated 40,000 high school students from around Australia expected to take part this year.
The game involves students in grades 7-12 trading $50,000 in hypothetical cash on the Australian sharemarket, buying and selling shares online with the aim of creating a healthy profit.
A prize pool of $25,000 is on offer for the students or student teams with the highest returns at the end of the 10-week competition.
As understanding the sharemarket is no easy feat, Bond University is helping students by offering a range of support services throughout the competition. Players can chat online in real-time with a dedicated Finance Tutor or other participating students from schools around Australia, post their questions on a discussion board and receive weekly newsletters with hints and tips.
This year’s Finance Tutor is Adrian Gepp, who himself participated in the ASX Sharemarket Game when he was in high school.
Mr Gepp recently visited Gold Coast high school St Hilda’s College to introduce their year 10 classes to the concepts behind the game.
“I ran a small trading simulation with pretend ‘Bond Money’ and chocolate. It taught the students the basic concept of sharemarket trading - "buy low and sell high" – and also introduced them to the idea of determining market price and the bid/ask process.
“It was great to see the enthusiasm in the girls at St.Hildas and the buzz that trading brought them,” Mr Gepp said.
Year 10 St Hilda’s student Melissa Fernandez said, “It’s good to practice with imaginary money, because while you can earn a lot of money, it’s just as easy to lose it all. The game is a good stepping stone for trading in the real world.
“To be honest, I don’t know much about the stockmarket, and it was really confusing at first, trying to work out how you could best exchange things. But now I’ve learnt a lot about how you can gain money, or lose money – it’s a risky business,” Ms Fernandez said.