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Youth Sustainable Investment Challenge

Oct 1 - Mar 25

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This competition will introduce students to the key concepts of ESG investing and portfolio building. Finalists get to compete in NYC at the YEFA Summit.

Published by YEFA

YEFA

Published on

April 7, 2024

Overview

The Youth Sustainability Investment Challenge (YSIC), hosted by YEFA and sponsored by Global Alliance, is an ESG-centered portfolio management competition. In YSIC, students will have the opportunity to think creatively, build their own unique strategies, and test out various financial instruments individually or with a team up to 4 members (Team Size: 1-4 members). Each student/team will start out with $100,000 in cash and have roughly 3 months to construct an ESG-oriented portfolio. Any stock and bond listed on a YSIC-approved stock exchange or bond exchange will be allowed for trading during the competition. Finalists (top 10 global students/teams) will have the opportunity to pitch their investment strategy to a panel of distinguished Wall Street judges, compete in New York City for a $3,500 cash prize pool, and attend a unique networking event in NYC with industry-leading professionals.

Dates & Timeline

July 27th - Registration Starts

October 30th - Registration Ends

October 2nd - Trading Begins

November 1st - Midterm Report Due

January 5th - Final Report Due

March 8th - Top 10 Finalists Announced

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Trading Rules

Trading 10/02/2023- 12/9/2023
Each account will start out with $100,000 in virtual cash.
All Stocks must be greater than $3,
International stocks are allowed.
Stocks and Bonds are allowed to buy and sell.
ETF, short selling, margin trading, Cryptocurrencies, and other options are not allowed.
The maximum amount a student can invest in single security (either a stock or bond) is 10%. (Example: the maximum you can invest in AAPL is 10% of your entire portfolio)
Each account must make a minimum of 1 trade by 11:59 pm EST on 10/16/2023. Otherwise, you will be disqualified.
Your cash position cannot be greater than 50% at the midterm. Ex: if you buy 10% for each stock, the minimum number of stocks is 5.
Record each transaction
To enter the quarterfinals and semifinals, you need to show that at least one ESG-friendly stock in your portfolio.
There is no brokerage fee for this competition.
There is no interest income on cash balances
ESG Requirements TBD

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Midterm Report Requirements

Each team leader should submit their finalized team roster (their students’ names and schools, and addresses). Note: there are no team composition requirements. Any country, school grade.

Each portfolio must have less than 50% of the cash. You can buy bonds/treasury (cash similar) to substitute cash investment.

Presentation Must Include:

Team name and an introduction of each team member
How the team met one another
What they’ve learned so far
Their trading strategy and your portfolio performance
Reasoning for their ESG friendly stock

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