Undergraduate team in Lobe’s Investment Strategy class among top 5% in 2022 CME Trading Challenge 

An undergraduate student team — Ethan Howe, Jackson Graham, Aidan Michaud, Austin Loveless and Colby Dionne, with faculty adviser Sebastian Lobe, University Foundation Professor of Investment Education and associate professor of finance — made it to the top 5% at the prestigious 2022 CME Group University Trading Challenge, which took place Oct. 2–28.

The CME Group Inc. (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) is an American global markets company and the world’s largest financial derivatives exchange. The Challenge is a complimentary electronic trading competition that allows students to experience the excitement, energy and decision-making environment of real-time trading. Teams of undergraduate and graduate students can trade various CME Group products from multiple asset classes in a simulated, professional trading platform. This annual competition is a unique chance for students to learn hands-on techniques for trading futures.

The team competed through Lobe’s Investment Strategy class, representing the University of Maine this year for the first time since the competition started in 2009. They competed against 497 other international teams, with 2,000 graduate and undergraduate students from more than 200 schools in 23 countries, and ranked No. 22. Competition products included futures contracts from agriculture, energy, metals, equity index, interest rates and foreign exchange asset classes.

“It is a joy to confirm that our students can compete on par with other students from the world’s best universities,” Lobe says. “It’s a vivid testament to our thriving undergraduate finance education at the University of Maine. In a highly realistic trading simulation, the team made a great return of 51% over one month. All competing teams’ average and median returns have been negative, with -13.1% and -4.3%. The UMaine team’s risk management was superior as the stable performance with relatively low volatility demonstrates.”