M.S. in Math Finance Students Place Sixth in International Competition
A team of UNC Charlotte graduate students tested their trading skills in an international electronic trading competition, placing sixth overall.
The team, made up of students in the Master of Science in Mathematical Finance, competed against 386 teams in 24 countries in the 2021 University Trading Challenge, sponsored by CME Group.
Team members were: Luca Costa, Giovanni Del Ben and Pietro Lami, dual master’s degree students with Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (UCSC) in Italy; and Cody Prentiss and Lilly Su Yeung.
During the competition, which ran Oct. 3-29, students trade futures through a simulated, professional trading platform.
Prentiss, who was captain of the team, said the students came together through shared courses.
“None of us had ever competed in a trading competition before,” he said. “However, all of us come from backgrounds that consist of rigorous curriculums and competitions of different varieties. We would often communite through WhatsApp and have weekly meetings to discuss strategy and ideas.”
He said Yeung’s experience with the Nittany Lion Fund at Penn State and through an internship with Bank of America was important to the team’s success.
Two other UNC Charlotte teams also competed, placing among the top 20% of teams.
The nationally ranked interdisciplinary M.S. in Math Finance program is offered through the Belk College of Business and the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.
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Established in 1970, the Belk College of Business offers business education programs at the undergraduate, master’s, doctoral and executive levels. The Belk College is one of the Carolinas’ largest business schools, with more than 5,000 students, more than 100 full-time faculty, and more than 34,000 alumni. Accredited by AACSB International, the college is committed to building strong partnerships in the greater Charlotte region and beyond as North Carolina’s urban research business school. Learn more about how the Belk College is driving business at belkcollege.charlotte.edu, and on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.