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Investment Challenge

What is the Chicago Quantitative Alliance (CQA)?
The CQA is a professional investment organization comprised of leading quantitative investment practitioners. The CQA membership includes investment managers, academics, plan sponsors, consultants, and other investment professionals. The primary goal of the CQA is to facilitate the interchange of ideas between quantitative professionals.

What is the CQA Investment Challenge?
The CQA Investment Challenge is an equity portfolio management competition that offers students the opportunity to learn and apply stock selection and portfolio management skills. The competition exposes students to simulated real life hedge fund techniques.

The contest focuses on both return and risk in evaluating the competitor’s skill and success. CQA members will be actively involved in the competition as mentors to the participating teams. The competition requires skills including equity research and portfolio management.

How does the Challenge work?

  • The objective of the competition is to successfully manage an equity long/short market neutral portfolio over the course of the academic year. Key aspects of the competition include:
  • The contest runs from mid-October through March
  • One team per university. A team can consist of undergraduate junior/senior and/or MBA students. Typically between 3 to 5 members per team.
  • A faculty professor will be responsible for selecting and guiding the team.
  • Each team will have a CQA member serving as a mentor and advisor.
  • The contest will utilize the Stock-Trak investment simulation platform
  • The winning team will be determined by the combination of absolute return, risk adjusted return and an evaluation of a strategy presentation. The judging criteria will emphasize risk adjusted returns.
  • Prizes will include $3,000 in prize money distributed across the top three teams ( $1,500, $1,000, and $500). The winning team professor will be invited to attend the annual CQA Fall conference in Chicago (September) or Las Vegas (April), and resumes of the winning team members will be circulated to all CQA members.


Why participate?

For Students

  • Fun competition with a chance to enhance resume.
  • Gain access to and insights from successful quantitative investment practitioners
  • Gain experience managing a hedge fund mandate


Faculty

  • Gain exposure to successful quantitative investment firms and practitioners
  • Provide students with the opportunity to apply classroom theories in a simulated “real world” setting
  • Showcase your students and university.
  • Chance to attend a premier quantitative investment conference and interact with leading investment professionals. (Airfare and Hotel expenses covered by CQA)

 

For more information, please contact one of these CQA Members:

John Wightkin This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Paul Bukowski This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Dave Coughenour This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Trish Halper This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it