Class Project Ideas

Class Project Ideas

Are you considering using StockTrak for the first time? Have you been using StockTrak for years, but want to see what more you can do with the platform? You have come to the right place! This archive contains “best practice” examples of StockTrak projects submitted from professors all over the world.

If you have a project that you would like to contribute, please send it to treti@stocktrak.com and we would be happy to feature it!

Investment Analysis – Hands-on Learning by Cassandra Wood - Stock-Trak Project Professor Peter Trager uses the Stock-Trak virtual trading simulation in his Investment Analysis class at the Gatton College of Business and Economics, (University of Kentucky). “I use Stock-Trak more than other professors,” he said, as he introduced himself. With a background of 30 years on Wall Street, he looks at teaching finance very differently than focusing on theoretical knowledge. A third of the class grade comes from students using the Stock-Trak platform to manage their virtual investment portfolio. He emphasizes commodities and encourages his students to get experience investing in currencies, mutual funds, and bonds. By the end… Continue Reading
Introduction to Finance – Wall Street 101 by Cassandra Wood - Stock-Trak Project Professor Andrew Cohen teaches Wall Street 101, an introductory Undergraduate Finance class, at ODU as well as MBA-level Finance courses at Hampton University. He actively uses Stock-Trak at both schools, where two of the mandatory assignments and two extra-credit assignments are completed using the Stock-Trak virtual investing platform. His approach is to provide lots of opportunities to practice investing and offers many extra credit assignments to develop a familiarity with the financial markets. Cohen uses several different platforms and simulations in his class, including Bloomberg, Stock-Trak, and an investing simulation he designed himself called FutureTraders. First Stock-Trak Assignment… Continue Reading
How StockTrak Maximizes The Value Of Distance Learning Classes by Kevin Smith - As thousands of finance, accounting, and portfolio management classes are planning a full or partial switch to distance learning for the Fall, it can be a struggle to reach the same level of engagement with your class (particularly for classes usually held in a trading room). This is where StockTrak's wholly-online portfolio simulation can really come to shine. Follow these best practices we've learned by working with online schools over the last decade for some of the best practices in getting the most engagement from your class - even outside the classroom. Simulations Are More Important Than Ever When your… Continue Reading
Using StockTrak’s Short Service Level by Kevin Smith - More and more schools are offering shorter 8-week classes in the late Spring. Students love the condensed schedule, but it can be hard to include useful experiential lessons in such a short time frame. While the first 8-week Spring session comes to its close and the second kicks off, we wanted to highlight be best ways to get your students engaged in the real-world markets, without sacrificing your shortened class time to do it. Step One: Choose A Project This is usually the biggest reason Professors choose to skip the portfolio simulation with shorter sessions: it can be daunting to… Continue Reading
Portfolio Management – Investment Club Learning Module by Ivan Whiston - AimTo construct and manage a portfolio of equities within the limitations of the scenario set out below. This will involve reading the financial press, interpreting information, analysing information and where appropriate speculating upon it.ScenarioYou are required to set up an Investment Club with the objective of constructing and managing a portfolio of shares. The members of the club have agreed to invest a total of £200,000. A non-active member of the club has contributed £100,000 of this total sum. The members of the club have agreed that half of the £200,000 will be invested in speculative short-term stocks and the… Continue Reading
Portfolio Management – Various Scenario Simulations by Arthur Miyamoto - Stock Trak – Week  1 Assignment You are a portfolio manager at a private bank and have recently been assigned three new Naples based clients. Martha is 30 years old. She is a single parent and recently inherited a large sum of money. She is looking to buy a home in three years or less, save for her daughter’s college, plan for retirement.Keith and Debbie are both 45 years old, married, with two children. They both work and have retirement plans but don’t know anything about them at all. They are concerned about future college expenses and retirement.Bernie is 68 years… Continue Reading
Investments – Security Analysis Project by Stephen Huffman - Stock-Trak ProjectRequires weekly trades, explanations, and a final report (22% of total grade).Two portfolios are tracked for each student. One portfolio is passively managed after the first week, and the second portfolio is actively managed given weekly requirements. The portfolio has a total return objective.Week 1 (trades from Feb 8 through Feb 12)Students purchase (broad index) ETFs to construct a portfolio that is consistent with the following asset allocation guideline (at market value).   For the fixed income portion of the portfolio, students use a combination of Treasury Bonds and fixed income ETFs (or ETNs).   Limit the amount invested in only… Continue Reading
Economics – Equity Markets and Institutions by Brian Betker - The primary goal of the project is to gain an understanding of the investment process by becoming an interested participant. Students will participate in a portfolio simulation exercise by trading an initial wealth of $500,000.Can we play the game in a group?You can form groups of two, or play the game on your own, as you prefer. Each group of two needs only one Stock-Trak account.What is the goal of the investment simulation?Your goal is to maximize your risk-adjusted return, defined as the Sharpe ratio of your portfolio. Requirements for each student include: (1) tracking the performance of their portfolio… Continue Reading
Portfolio Management – Investment Principles and Analysis Project by Carl Hubbard - SECURITY ANALYSIS PROJECTThe requirements of the security analysis project are the following:1. form a team of three students for the project2. as a team choose a stock from the attached list of companies3. complete an analysis of the stock to determine its acceptability as an investment4. present your formal analysis and investment recommendation to the class5. submit the analysis and recommendation to the instructor in the form of a research paperThe basis for your team’s recommendation should be a fundamental analysis of the company and the stock as an investment. You may want to extend the analysis by including a… Continue Reading
Investments – Analysis Project by Cherrie Clarke - The purpose of using Stock-Trak is to give you a better understanding of portfolio management. You will also learn a variety of financial instruments and their risks and rewards in the real world. The simulation will span the semester – hardly enough time for you to demonstrate your financial prowess to your classmates. Rather, the goal is a rich learning experience.Your Goal and MeasurementYour clients have entrusted you with $1,000,000 for a period of 10 weeks. If they are satisfied with your performance, they will extend their relationship with you. They are expecting you to invest their money wisely and… Continue Reading
Agriculture – Marketing Project by Dawn Thilmany - Specifics• Point Value: 150 points• Groups of two or three• Trading occurs between 09/09/13 – 11/15/13• Reports are due by 5:00 PM on Thursday, November 21, 2013• Responsible TA:Anders Van Sandt will be your key contact for questions and issues relating to the StockTrak project, and how to use the website.I. OBJECTIVES:To acquaint you with sources of market and price information available for farm products.To assist you in understanding the role and operation of agricultural commodity markets.To give you practical experience in commodity market trading.For the student to apply the concepts and tools presented in the course to identify logical… Continue Reading
Portfolio Management – Fundamental Analysis Project by Denver Travis - The goal of this assignment is to apply the fundamental analysis tools that we have studied. We will use these tools to analyze a firm’s fundamentals and then come up with a trading strategy.First choose a publicly traded company that you would hypothetically want to analyze/track/invest in.Using a financial news website such as the following, look up the financial statements of that company. (There are other places to look; it’s your choice.)http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/invsub/results/statemnt.asp www.valueline.com (when on a campus computer)Using the Constant Perpetual Dividend Growth Model, the Residual Income Model, the P/E ratio, the P/CF ratio, and the P/S ratio, perform valuations on… Continue Reading
Portfolio Management – Technical Analysis Project by Denver Travis - 1. Using at least 3 technical analysis tools, identify one stock to either buy or short sell. You must print out whatever charting you finally use. I recommend: www.bigcharts.com or www.stockcharts.com2. Type a few coherent sentences explaining your choice of strategy and reasoning from these 3+ techniques (technical analysis).3. As soon as you have picked your winner (or loser), go to Stock-Trak and make the trade. You choose how many shares to trade. Print out your confirmation page.Charts, Summaries, and Confirmation printouts are due on Tuesday, October 13.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Extra Credit (Optional):Any time after you turn in this assignment but before December… Continue Reading
Investments – Bond Analysis And Trading Project by Denver Travis - • For this assignment, you will be analyzing a U.S. Treasury coupon bond and purchasing it on Stock-Trak.• Stock Trak trades only a very limited number of bonds. To trade bonds, you click on “Bonds” under “Trading” on the lower left of the screen. In the trading window, under “Symbol”, you will find a selection of traded bonds. Treasuries are listed below the Corporates.• You will select a Treasury bond based on the following formula: Bond Maturity Year = 2020 + (last digit of your student ID number). Select the Treasury bond that has a maturity closest to the formula… Continue Reading
Investments – Hedging With Futures by Denver Travis - This project is by Denver H. Travis, Chase/Francis C. Doyle Distinguished Professor at Loyola University - New Orleans NOTE: You must complete the first part of this assignment at least 2 days before the last part of the assignment. First Part (at least 2 days before the last part): For this assignment, you are to hedge the market risk of a one-stock portfolio. The stock will be of your choosing. You will use E-mini S&P 500 Futures to cross-hedge. The contract size for mini S&P 500 futures is $50 times the futures price. This hedge is only necessary for a… Continue Reading
Finance – Speculating With Options by Denver Travis - NOTE: This assignment requires that the 1st part (steps 1-4) be performed and implemented during trading hours before the 2nd part (steps 5-6) can be performed.1. Pick a stock or an index to develop an option strategy. This requires making a prediction of whether that stock or index will go up, go down, stay neutral, or simply be volatile in the near future. You could use a charting technique from Chapter 8 if you like. (www.bigcharts.com for example)2. Develop an option strategy. You can use Chapter 15 or the following Stock-Trak website to assist in your strategy selection: https://www.stocktrak.com/optstrats.htm3. Go… Continue Reading
Finance – Financial Derivatives Research Project by Frank Conway - This research project accounts for 50% of the final mark. This will incorporate the use of StockTrak where you will ‘paper trade’ on a number of exchanges using a variety of derivatives and assets. You will set out targets for each trade, and interpret and evaluate the trading results in the context of the material read during the semester.Students have 12 weeks to buy, sell, short, long and cover positions on trades made during this period.OverviewEach trader has two accounts, each containing $1 million to trade. One account is known as the active account where you trade regularly, while the… Continue Reading
Investing – Industry Selection And Basic Hedging by Greg Smersh - The purpose of this assignment is to first select a specific industry (such as Clothing, Financial Services, Health Care, Restaurants, etc.) that you are interested in and/or believe will perform well in the current economy. From that industry, you will pick a specific company that you will follow throughout the semester. In this assignment, you will also begin building your STOCKTRAK portfolio, in which you will be given $100,000 to trade with. There will be approximately $25,000 of required trades, while the remainder is yours to invest as you wish with no restrictions.With regard to the specific company, no two… Continue Reading
Finance – Create A Mutual Fund by JOe Farinella - Congratulations! You have just been hired to create a new mutual fund. The objective of this mutual fund is to outperform the S&P 500. This is an aggressive mutual fund that requires an active management strategy. As the founder of this mutual fund you must select an investment strategy that you expect to outperform the S&P 500. The investors in this mutual fund believe that portfolio managers must earn their high salaries thus they require active trading. This means that you must perform a minimum of 50 trades. However, the investors are also afraid that some managers may churn the… Continue Reading
Finance – Socially Responsible Investing by Karen Spohn - General guidelines:The objective of this course is to learn about SRI through readings, research and a hands-on application via a portfolio simulation program. This course includes analysis of mutual fund performances based on various criteria. These criteria emphasize components of SRI such as faith based and corporate social performance as well as financial performance.Portfolio grades are not based on the dollar amounts of portfolios or rankings in class so feel free to experiment within the realms of the SRI and financial theories and concepts that are covered in this course. Have fun.Portfolio grades are based on your analysis and presentation… Continue Reading
Finance – Active Trading Vs Passive Investing & Performance by Kevin Bracker - Part One (Portfolio Management):Each student will run two $500,000 portfolios (described below.) Trading will begin on Monday, Jan. 25th and end on Friday, April 9th (11-week trading period.) Each portfolio must be “active” no later than Friday, February 5th. In order to be considered active, a minimum of 6 transactions in the trading portfolio and 10 transactions in the mutual fund portfolio must be completed.Trading Account:One portfolio will be an active “trading” account. The goal of the first portfolio will be to accumulate the most wealth. Each person starts with 200 transactions. In your trading account you must establish a… Continue Reading
Finance – Beat The Index Project by Kevin Spellman - Objective:Beat the MSCI World Equity index (iShares ticker ACWI) through managing a long-only equity portfolio. Learn to manage a large X billion institutional portfolio.Risk Controls:Long only fundMinimum 20 stocksThe general “5/10/40” rule requiring that no more than 10% of a UCITS net assets may be invested in transferable securities issued by the same body, with a further aggregate limitation of 40% of assets on exposures of greater than 5% to single issuers+ / - 10% maximum over/underweight relatively to the sector classificationPreferably using the Global Industry Classification Standard – you can find weights by looking up the iShares MSCI ACWI… Continue Reading
Investments – Hedge Fund Management Project by Matthew Carey - Each student will run a $1,000,000 portfolio. Trading accounts will be active on Thursday, March 12TH and end on Thursday May 21st (10 weeks total). PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOU REGISTER BEFORE WEDNESDAY MARCH 11TH TO ENSURE YOU ARE ABLE TO ACCESS THE SYSTEM.Each student is to assume the role of hedge fund manager and to design and execute an appropriate strategy to maximize the portfolio’s return over the eleven (10) week investment horizon. The clients of the fund have specified capital appreciation as the main investment objective and have no short-term cash needs. Your challenge will be to design and… Continue Reading
StockTrak and Investment Education – An Overview by Enyang Guo - Abstract —Stock-Trak Global Portfolio Simulations introduce a hands-on learning experience for students to understand investments and allow the instructor to integrate the variety of course contents into the simulation. Engages the integrated learning efforts from students Stimulate the interests of investment Build up a sound knowledge base for financial markets —This article discusses my teaching model with using the simulation, feedbacks from the students about the simulations, and my thoughts for future reference. A Brief Overview of the Simulations in My Class Every student manages a $5,000,000 portfolio, and 300 trades during a 3 month time period; Students can buy, sell,… Continue Reading
Finance – Short Term Investing and Risk Management by Travis Sapp - What is it?The primary purpose of the project is to gain an understanding of the investment process by becoming an interested participant. You can buy, sell, buy on margin, and sell short all NYSE, AMEX, and NASDAQ stocks (common and preferred) that are trading at $5.00 or more, as well as mutual funds, government bonds, corporate bonds, futures, options, futures options, and index options. You can also trade foreign stocks listed on exchanges such as Toronto, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Sydney, South Korea, Mexico City, and others. These foreign stocks will be quoted in their respective currencies… Continue Reading
Investments – Diversification Project by Xing Lu - You have $1,000,000 in your brokerage account and need to invest at least $100,000 in each of the following asset classes: (1) equities, (2) mutual funds including ETFs, (3) bonds, (4) options, and (5) futures.For this assignment I suggest 1) relax and enjoy this experience, 2) read the instructions and learn the portfolio limits carefully, 3) put in some time to read news stories, analysis reports, and rumors. Have fun with this trading game during this forced swim through the financial markets. Choose some investments with extravagance and uniqueness. Those are truly dynamic characteristics.How to get started before Jan 29th:Register… Continue Reading
Finance – Conducting Investment Research & Building A Portfolio by Anke Stugk - These are the requirements for your semester project. Please ensure that you understand all components and work on your project throughout the semester. The complete project must be submitted by the end of week 14.ObjectivesTo acquaint students with sources of market and price information available for personal investment that will help to make better financial decisions.To assist students in understanding the role and operation of the financial markets.Develop an appreciation of how various forms of investment information can lead to better investing skills and returns.Apply the concepts and tools presented in the course to identify logical chains of causes and… Continue Reading
Personal Finance – Short Term Investing vs Retirement Planning by Anke Stugk - Johnson School of Business FIN3000 Personal Finance ProjectBy Professor Anke Stugk, MBAastugk@hodges.eduA study of personal financial management including retirement planning; budgeting; individual taxation; consumer credit; investments such as stock, mutual funds, and annuities; insurance, and major expenses. Prerequisite: MAC1132 or permission of the faculty/program advisor, program chair, and dean.Personal Finance Semester Project Assignment ObjectivesStudents will identify financial short term, intermediate, and long-term goalsStudents will be able to synthesize information to develop and evaluate strategies to create a personal financial planStudents will be able to demonstrate understanding of time value of money conceptsStudents will apply risk and return concepts • Students… Continue Reading
Business – Financial Markets Voluntary Extra Credit Project by Ray Melcher - Bus 410 – Financial MarketsVoluntary Extra Credit Project: Simulation Portfolio Management -Stock Selection and Security TradingFall 2016This is an optional project for extra credit to be applied to the “Total Grade” earned . Students who participate in this project according to the project guidelines will receive a 5% extra credit allocation towards the total grade. That is, if a student’s total grade is 90%, a 5% adjustment will increase the final grade to 94.5%. It is a pass/fail grade. That is, if I deem you have performed the exercise according to the guidelines and requirements as described herein, you will… Continue Reading
Personal Finance & Investing – A StockTrak Project by Thomas Krueger - This project is by Professor Thomas Krueger, Chair of Accounting and Finance Department at Texas A&M University - Kingsville STOCK-TRAK Simulation Part 1: Preliminary Report STEPS:  Complete a four-page description of your investment plans using the topics below as an outline (20 + 5 points) Summarize your Strategy, filling in the blocks on this page (5 points; 3 + 2 for forecasts) Staple #2 on #1 and turn in complete report Due Date:   September 23 (1 point deduction per class period after 9/23) Team Members ________________________________________________________________ Preliminary Outline: Selection Criteria Summary of Selection Criteria within Investment Policy (3 points) High… Continue Reading