Who can take part?
The Investment Challenge is a competition open to finance and investment passionates to be from aged 18-35 years, from all over Europe. There will be two challenges, one dedicated to externals and composed of an online round and finals and one dedicated to Replyers composed of an online round only.
Can I play as a team?
This is an individual challenge, not a team one.
If I register on the platform, am I registered for the competition?
No, you need to join the Investment Challenge. By registering on the platform, you’ll get updates on upcoming online challenges.
Is there a registration fee?
No, this challenge is free.
When do the registrations close?
You can register until 27 March, 22:00 CET.
How do I change my registration details?
To update your details, log into your profile and click “Edit profile”, or follow this link.
How do I cancel my registration?
You can send your cancellation request to challenges@reply.com.
Is it an online-only challenge?
No, if you’ll be ranked among the 100 finalists, you’ll access on 24th April to the Final Round. If you are a Replyer, yes, there will be the online round only.
How will we get updates about the Investment Challenge?
You’ll get some emails before, during and after the challenge, so check your inbox regularly. If you have a question during the challenge, you can message the Reply Titanium Team via chat.
Which language(s) do I need to speak?
All communications will be in English, but you can set up the BG Saxo TraderGo platform in the language you prefer.
Will Reply Titanium Team reply real time?
Please consider we’ll take your request in charge but not necessarily in real time.
What browsers are supported?
The platform supports the latest version of Chrome, Explorer, Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Safari. If you’re not sure what version you have, you can check here.
Something’s wrong with the platform. What should we do?
Try reloading the page, then clearing your cache and cookies. If you’re still having problems, contact the Reply Titanium Team via chat or email challenges@reply.com.
Can I train for the Investment Challenge?
We strongly recommend you look at the tasks in “Learning” and practice on the trading platform before the challenge starts. That way, you can better understand how BG Saxo TraderGo works and how the challenge is run.
How do I access BG Saxo TraderGo?
When registering for the Investment Challenge, you’ll get your ID on the platform and get an email with your password. Youll need both to access BG Saxo TraderGo. You can access the trading platform in training mode as many time as you want.
How does the balance work during the registration and training phase?
From 2 - 27 March you can access your demo on TraderGo and trade your €1,000,000 across all asset classes and use the financial instruments as much as you like. We’ll restore your balance on 30 March at midnight, when the online round officially starts (during weekends markets generally close).
Will there be a leader board in the training phase?
No, but you can access your BG Saxo Wallet to check your performance.
Which financial instruments will be traded on the TraderGo platform?
During the Training Phase, you can trade the following financial instruments: Forex Spot, Forex Forward, Forex Option, Shares, ETF, Bond, CFD on Stock and ETF, CFD on Index, CFD on Futures, CFD on bond, Futures, Futures Options, Option on index and Stocks.
Are all financial instruments traded in realtime?
No, being a demo not all products are traded in realtime.
How to change BG Saxo TraderGo settings?
At your first login you can choose language and traded products. You can always change your settings by clicking on the setting icon on TraderGo platform. Youll find a guided tours and here you can check how to trade specific financial instruments on the trading platform.
What if I need more information about the financial instruments and risk management theory?
You can access all the educational contents in the Learning section to prepare yourself for the challenge. The materials have been created by Reply Titanium Team and MIP - Politecnico di Milano School of Mangement. Banca Generali provided you with some video tutorials to learn how to use the TraderGo trading platform.
What browsers are supported on BG Saxo?
- Pc: Windows 7 - IE11, Windows 8 - Firefox 52+, Windows 10 - Chrome 58+ and Edge
- Mac: OSX10.11+ - Safari 10.11+ and Chrome 58+
- Chromebook: Chrome OS61+ - Chrome 61+
- Linux Pc (Ubuntu): Linux - Chromium 55+, Firefox NOT supported
- Tablet: iOS11+ - Safari10+, Android 4.1+ - Chrome 55+
- Smartphone: iPhone - iOS11 - Safari 10+, Android 5.1+ - Chrome 56+
If you’re not sure what version you have, you can check here.
When will the challenge start?
On 30th March by 9:00 am, Reply will publish the problem statement on the challenge platform and inputs will follow every day until the end of the Challenge on April 9th. You’ll have €1,000,000 to invest and each day we’ll notify you of events you have to cover from, by trading specific asset classes on BG Saxo TraderGo platform.
What is an input?
An input is an upcoming event, happening in the future, which you have to cover from. These inputs can be announced or unexpected and can be modified or canceled any time.
All inputs will trigger a notification and an email, so that you’re always up-to-date with what’s happening on the Challenge platform.
Is it mandatory to follow the inputs?
No, it is not strictly mandatory to specifically follow each single input, but it is strongly suggested for two reasons: first it allows you to reduce the risk of losses of a trading-only strategy. Second, it gives a playing experience common to all the players with a daily evolution. Furthermore, we will ask you to provide a report with more details on your trades and investment strategies related to the inputs if you will be among the finalists. The reason why you decided to follow or not to follow each input shall be explained in your final report. (e.g. why in that specific market condition you deemed more opportune to do or not to do something, doesn’t matter it turned out right or wrong at the end of the competition.)
Am I supposed to invest as requested in a limited time (like 1 hour) or all along this day?
No, you can invest all day long, of course on the markets that are open in a given moment.
Are scalping operations considered among the 30 operations count?
Yes, scalping -trading in a few minutes- is like any other operation. Consider that when it comes to shares the delay of the demo platform is 15 minutes, but if you try any sort of arbitrage it will not work: the purchasing price will always be in real time, even if it is not shown.
If the input 3 tells that on May 22th we will experience an outflow of 5mln $, but the competition will be finished before, what is the sense of such an input?
The choice to entirely or partially proceed or even not to proceed with a hedging activity on a single specific trade is entirely up to you. The idea lying behind the input is that if you do not hedge today the position that you will have on your 5mln dollar on a specific date in the future, when the challenge will be over and your portfolio will be valued, you will be valued at the mark to market value of your assets. This value can be predetermined and known to you if you chose a hedging strategy or it can be completely free to follow market volatility if you chose not to protect your position thus exposing you to the dollar oscillation in the closing day. A wise and opportunistic strategy could be to only partially hedge your position so to be protected on the majority of your exposure but still taking profit of positive (eventually) movement of the market if you believe that that is the case.
Do we need to close our position before the end of the challenge?
It is not necessary to close them unless you want to do so to take a market position. All open positions will be valued at the mark to market on April 9th 10pm CEST, therefore with full effectiveness of the hedge on the date.
When is the leader board updated?
We update the leader board daily at 8:30am, to show how players are performing. We base the rankings on players’ balances, and will show daily ranking and global ranking.
What are Daily and Global rankings?
Each day we show rankings based on previous day individual account balances at 10:00 pm CEST. This means that on Tuesday 31st March you’ll see how well you performed on the first day of the challenge and so on.
You’ll find your personal ranking and the overall players’ ranking divided in:
- Daily Ranking: considers the Performance based on trading activities done during a working day (Monday to Friday) until 10:00 pm CEST.
- Global performance: considers the Performance based on trading activities done from the beginning of the Online Phase.
What happens on the Online Round weekend?
Any trading activity between Thursday 2nd April 10:00:01 pm CEST to April 5th at 10:00 pm CEST will be shown on Monday 6th April leader board.
All activities performed from Sunday 5th April 10:00:01 pm CEST until Monday 6th April 10:00 pm CEST will be shown in Tuesday 7th April leader board. Below you find a scheme:
Trades From/to - Daily Ranking report on
- Trades from Monday 30/03 h8am / to Monday 30/03 h22 - Report on Tuesday 31/03
- Monday 30/03 h22 / Tuesday 31/03 h22 - Wednesday 1/04
- Tuesday 31/03 h22 / Wednesday 1/04 h22 - Thursday 2/04
- Wednesday 1/04 h22 / Thursday 2/04 h22 - Friday 3/04
- Thursday 2/04 h22 / Sunday 5/04 h22 - Monday 6/4
- Sunday 5/04 h22 / Monday 6/04 h22 - Tuesday 7/04
- Monday 6/04 h22 / Tuesday 7/04 h22 - Wednesday 8/04
- Tuesday 7/04 h22 / Wednesday 8/04 h22 - Thursday 9/04
- Wednesday 8/04 h22 / Thursday 9/04 h22 - Friday 10/04
How do you calculate the final scoring?
After 9th April, when the online round closes (at 10:00 pm CEST), we’ll apply the following penalties on the Portfolio to prevent passive behavior and to check players have followed the Investment Challenge inputs:
Penalty n.1 will be applied on the total profit or loss, if the number of trading operations during the Online Phase are:
- more than 30: no penalty
- between 20 and 29: 12,5% penalty
- between 10 and 19: 25% penalty
- between 1 and 9: 50% penalty
- 0: 100% penalty
Penalty n.2 will be applied on the total profit or loss calculated after penalty 1, if the number of Derivatives Asset Classes traded during the Online Phase are:
- 2 or more: no penalty
- 1: 25% penalty
- 0: 50% penalty
Which financial instruments will be traded on the BG Saxo Trader Go platform?
During the Online Round you can trade the same financial instruments available previously, just like during the Training Phase: Forex Spot, Forex Forward, Forex Option, Shares, ETF, Bond, CFD on Stock and ETF, CFD on Index, CFD on Futures, CFD on bond, Futures, Futures Options, Option on index and Stocks.
You can always change your visualized set of traded products by clicking on the setting icon on BG Saxo TraderGo.
What if we have a question about the problem statement?
You can message the Reply Titanium Team via chat. Please consider the Reply Experts will take in charge your request asap, but it won’t be necessarily in real-time.
Who gets through to the Investment Challenge final Round?
Short after the online round closes, we’ll publish the ranking of the top-100 players who will be invited to take part in the final on 24 April.
If you’re one of these talented people, you’ll need to send your ID card to show you’re aged 18 to 30 years old and confirm your presence to the event.
ONLY for REPLYERS: the investment challenge will end on April 9th.
How does the Investment Challenge Final Round work?
The Final round will work similarly to the online round, but since it will take place during one day only, the number of Inputs, the trading instruments, the markets that the Finalists will be able to use will be commeasured with the duration of the trading activities and disclosed only at the beginning of the Final Phase.
The penalizations that will be commeasured and communicated at the beginning of the Final Phase too.
Will there be any reimbursements?
There are no reimbursements available for accommodation or travel costs to the final.
Who wins?
At the end of the final round, at 5:30pm CEST the Reply Titanium Team will apply penalties and publish the provisional leader board.
What are the prizes?
At the end of the challenge, the leader board will be ‘frozen’ while the Reply Investment Experts review and validate the best investment strategies from the top-three ranked players on the leader board. The first ranked will win a Mac Book Pro, the second will win an Apple Watch Series 5, and the third placed player will win Apple Airpods Pro.
The Reply Titanium Team judgement is final and indisputable when enforcing competition rules and awarding prizes. We’ll send to the winners the details of how to claim their prize.
What do I need to play the Investment Challenge?
You’ll need to register for the challenge to get your BG Saxo ID and Password. You’ll also need to check for challenge updates regularly.
What are the computer/technical requirements?
You’ll need your own computer with an internet connection.
Who are the Reply Titanium Team Experts?
Reply Titanium Team is a group of Reply Investment Experts who devised the challenge and the educational contents. They’re also responsible for enforcing all challenge rules. They’ll review the submissions strategy reports from players and award prizes. They may exclude any participants at any time, for not following competition rules.
What do we do if someone’s cheating or behaving badly?
We want to make training sessions and the challenge fair for everyone. So never stop others from taking part – for instance, by overloading the challenge platform, or sending files containing malware, viruses intended to interrupt, destroy or limit operation of platform, software, hardware or telecoms equipment. This will result in instant disqualification. If you’ve spotted any cheating or unfair behaviour, email challenges@reply.com
