Austin Tyler Bustle, a Finance Major in the Division of Business, recently won the 2010 Fall Semester Securities Trading Contest at the baccalaureate level. 

“Over the seven weeks competition (34 trading days), Bustle increased the value of his portfolio by 24.42%, which, if annualized would translate into an incredible 492% annual return!” said Ryan Brewer, assistant professor of Finance in the Division of Business.

Bustle’s top performance was unique in that he executed a competition leading 157 trades. His efforts in this regard only serve to establish the credibility of his earnings production levels, which outpaced major markets by orders of magnitude over the same period. 

Austin observed that, “This contest Professor Brewer put together challenges every aspect of you as a person. So much analysis must be done when picking securities for investing and still that's no guarantee that you have picked a stock that will appreciate in the time period you need/want it to.” Austin added, “All you can do is be confident in your analysis and hope the market forces react the way you want them to. I have learned much more about trading/investing while going through this contest.”

23 IUPUC business students competed for the semiannual Portfolio Champion’s Trophy. Second place in the Securities Trading Contest went to Steve A. Schwartz, who yielded a strong 10.97% return (annualized at 216%). Third place went to Misty L. Weafer with a 6.33% return (annualized at 158%). Matt Hall was second in trading effort, having executed 151 trades over the 7-week period, posting a return of 4.53% (139% annualized).

During the course of each semester, undergraduate students and MBA students from IUPUC’s Business Division are invited to compete in a financial securities trading competition that begins and ends within the period of a semester – usually lasting about 7 weeks. The accumulated weighted value of executed transactions and their resulting equity growth performance over the relevant time period determines the winner. 

Past champions include Vicente De Bartolo (MBA 2009), Dan Wolf (MBA 2011), Chris Cline (BS 2010, MBA 2012), and Eric Cave (BS 2011).