International stock market simulation “Investment Game 2010” won by participant from Latvia

14.04.2010 RIG

The international stock market simulation game “Investment Game 2010” was won by a participant from Latvia, Emīls Bērziņš, who received his winner’s title and monetary prize after experiencing a 19.4% growth of his virtual portfolio in two months’ time. The total prize pool of 2000 EUR from NASDAQ OMX Riga Investor Education programme was divided between first and second round winners.

“The stock market gives everyone a chance to earn with their knowledge, and the Investment Game is a great opportunity not only for students to get valuable experience on the stock market without risking their money”, says Indars Aščuks, NASDAQ OMX Riga Deputy Chairman of the Management Board.

In just two months, the oldest and largest online stock market simulation in the Baltic countries “Investment Game 2010” has attracted more than 4500 players from 99 countries. Every player was given an opportunity to manage three virtual portfolios of 100 000 EUR each and trade with Latvian, Estonian, Lithuanian, Swedish, Finnish and Russian stocks in order to acquire experience in the stock markets and compete for the title of the winner. The objective of the game was to achieve the highest growth of the stock portfolio in a limited amount of time, and the owners of the most valuable portfolios received monetary prizes at the end of the game.

The winners of the second round of “Investment Game 2010”:
1st place and 700 EUR – Emīls Bērziņš (Latvia, 19.4% portfolio growth)
2nd place and 400 EUR – Mārtiņš Švēds (Latvia, 17.38%)
3rd place and 300 EUR – Miina Karafin (Estonia, 15.07%)
The first round winners also received monetary prizes:
1st place and 300 EUR – Urmas Soot (Estonia)
2nd place and 200 EUR – Gert Skatskov (Estonia)
3rd place and 100 EUR – Linas Ambrasunas (Lithuania)

Weekly winners of Investment Game received investment books by Warren Buffet, Benjamin Graham and other famous writers’ from NASDAQ OMX Riga.

Most of the participants were students from the Baltic countries; however, a growing number of students from Sweden and Finland also participated in the game, which shows the growing popularity of the game in Scandinavia as well. The Investment Game was also included as a part of the 2nd year Financial Markets course at the Wroclaw University of Economics, where the students had to participate in the game in order to pass the course.

The stock market simulation game is organized for the 13th year by the student organization iFund in cooperation with the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga. The Investment Game is supported by NASDAQ OMX Riga.