Students in the Lundy-Fetterman School of Business’ ECON 420 Money and Banking and ECON 451 Essentials of Global Trade and Finance courses participated in a thrilling semester-long Stock Market Game, marked by turbulent market conditions and real-time trading experiences.
During the spring semester, major U.S. stock indices — the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite — briefly fell into correction territory (a decline of 10 percent or more from recent highs) in January and April. The Nasdaq further slipped into a bear market in April, reflecting a drop of at least 20 percent from its peak. Adding to the market uncertainty, the Volatility Index spiked dramatically from a low of 16.43 in January to a high of 60.13 in April.
Despite these challenging conditions, the top three student teams managed to generate positive returns on their portfolios.
Using the StockTrak platform, students engaged in real-time trading from January to April. They actively monitored their portfolio performance and competed for top rankings within their classes. StockTrak is widely used in higher education, with over 1,300 professors and 60,000 students participating annually across 30 countries and 80 percent of top-ranked business schools. To be eligible for the competition rankings, students were required to actively trade and complete at least one short sale and short cover transaction during each of the three reporting periods. They drew upon course lectures, textbook material, Wall Street Survivor modules, investment websites, news sources, videos, and other educational tools to develop and report on their trading strategies.
Dr. Shahriar Mostashari, associate dean and professor of business, said the SMG competition provided students with real-time market exposure and valuable lessons in investment strategy, risk management and financial decision-making.
“This semester’s cohort experienced an incredible journey of learning and discovery,” Mostashari said. “While most teams focused on capital preservation minimizing their “paper losses” amid market volatility, our top performers demonstrated the adaptability and strategic thinking required to succeed in finance. Whether through trend analysis, diversification, or learning from mistakes, each student gained insights that will serve them in their academic and professional careers.”
Top Performers
1st Place: Rockwell Linsley
$110,278.25
Linsley is a senior from Chapel Hill double majoring in Homeland Security and Business Administration.
“The Stock Market Game gave me the opportunity to test out trading ideas I might not have tried otherwise — it gave me confidence,” Linsley said. “Given recent geopolitical developments, I focused heavily on European defense contractors, gold, American nuclear technologies, and held a sizable short position on $TSLA for longer than expected.”
Key wins included a 70 percent return on German defense contractor Rheinmetall ($RNMBY), a 25 percent gain on British firm BAE Systems ($BAESY), and strong performance from gold investments. Linsley plans to pursue a career in the defense contracting field after graduation.
2nd Place: Bailey Ledford
$101,304.04
Ledford is a senior from Kings Mountain, triple majoring in marketing, management and international business.
“I really enjoyed participating. I had no prior exposure to the stock market and learned a lot through hands-on trading,” said Ledford. “I researched both strong-performing companies and ones to avoid and even experimented with a few random picks.”
Her most successful investment was in Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), which yielded the highest return.
3rd Place: Grace Lay
$100,029.12
A senior from Ronda, Lay is also triple majoring in marketing, management and international business.
“I found SMG useful. It was great to gain stock market experience without financial risk,” said Lay. “Initially, I was just guessing, but soon I started selecting stocks with positive momentum and only sold them once they turned a profit.”
Lay will be joining Aramark’s UNC Chapel Hill team as a Food Service Manager this June.
