A week in China, between Hong Kong and Guangzhou, alongside the brightest finance students from around the world: in July 2016 LUISS students Raffaele Balzano and Antonio Bozzo were invited to the Supwin Algo Student Exchange 2016, six days of conferences and events to study algorithmic trading.
Members of the Blue Team, led by Professor Emilio Barone, the students were the winners of the Algorithmic Case at the most recent Rotman International Trading Competition in Toronto, the prestigious finance games in which over 50 teams from around the world compete in every year.
The exchange in China was organized by Supwin Financial Services, a large financial services company that annually sponsors algorithmic trading competitions for university students in Guangzhou.
“The Algo Exchange brings together members of winning teams from the most important international algorithmic trading competitions,” explains Raffaele. “It allows them to meet and share best practices and strategies. We also got to meet professional algo traders and investors that participated in the events and gave us feedback on our strategies.”
“Students from around the world were welcomed by Supwin, headquartered in Guangzhou. “The organizers, Dr. Hilton Chan and Mr. Terry Wong brought together the best teams from university algorithmic trading competitions, from the RITC to inter-university games in Hong Kong and Guangzhou. Alongside us from the RITC were McGill University and the University of Beijing.”
The students also visited important financial institutions in Hong Kong and Shenzen as well as the Supwin headquarters in Guangzhou and their algorithm lab. Each team was also given the chance to present their strategy to an audience of Chinese investors, both professional and non-professional, during an event at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. “The organization provided interpreters to allow us to speak with the participants at the end of the presentation and we were offered the chance to develop and adapt our algorithms to the real market with the Supwin research team.”
“It was a positive experience on more than just the professional level,” explains Antonio. “We got to experience a completely different world, helping us to expand our horizons and understand the reason behind our colleagues’ success. We got to know all the participants, from the organizers to members of different teams. Everyone was so humble and open.”
“We learned so much from them, the other students in the end were so similar to us, even from a different side of the world. They were all so friendly and genuine. Mr. Patrick Wong, the head of the Supwin offices in Hong Kong, accompanied us throughout the entire trip and was a great mentor as well as an open and kind life teacher. He was always ready to support any single student that participated in the event.”
“We would like to take advantage of the upcoming Rotman European Trading Competition (RETC) to send our personal best wishes to all the participants, hoping that our experience can inspire them to give it their best.”