Power – Day-ahead Auction

Capacity You act in the capacity of trading operations specialist at the auctioneer. This way, you have full insight in the orders placed by market participants. Market participants themselves only know the order(s) they have submitted themselves, not the orders of their competitors. After all, the auction concerns a “blind” auction. Next, anyone can see […]

Power – Merit Order

Capacity You act in the role of analyst, or dispatcher. Task Your task is to analyse the gross operational margin of each facility and compare these on a relative basis with each other. Try to identify what factors (and how these factors/to what extend they) impact the marginal cost of power generation. Objective The aim […]

Quote Requests

Capacity You act in the role of a trader/broker-dealer. Task You can start the way you please. Transact whatever you like, the way you like. At a certain stage you will be challenged. You will have to perform tasks to see whether and to what extend you can perform under pressure and whether your have […]

Assessment

Short description Get assessed and challenge your competences as potential trader. Capacity You act in the role of a trader. Task You can start the way you please. Transact whatever you like, the way you like. Check your financials at the start, as well as during the simulation. Likewise applies to the deals you enter […]

FX Trading

Short description Provide FX rate quotations as a response to requests for quote (RFQs). Capacity You act in the role of a broker-dealer working at a bank, providing quotes for clients. Task When the phone is ringing you pick it up (automatically) and, then, you answer the question (which reflects a client request) by submitting […]

FX Markets

Short description Analyse currency exchange rates in the FX spot market. Capacity You act in the capacity of an FX trader at a bank. Task Your task (at choice) is to transact, by exchanging one sum of money in a certain currency for a sum of money in another currency. Objective The aim of this […]

Metals – Copper Futures

Capacity You act in the role of a market participant. You act in the capacity of initiator. Task Your task could be manifold. Choose any of the following possibilities: Setup a consumer hedge; purchase a 3-months ahead copper futures contract. Setup a producer hedge; sell short a 6-months ahead copper futures contract. Perform speculation; buy […]

Metals – Steel Futures

Capacity You act in the role of a market participant. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Task Your task could be manifold. Choose any of the following possibilities: Setup a consumer hedge; purchase a 3-months ahead steel futures contract. Setup a producer hedge; sell short a 6-months ahead steel futures contract. Perform speculation; buy […]

Metals – Aluminium Futures

Capacity You act in the role of a market participant. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Tasks Your task could be manifold. Choose any of the following possibilities: Setup a consumer hedge; purchase a 3-months ahead aluminium futures contract. Setup a producer hedge; sell short a 6-months ahead aluminium futures contract. Perform speculation; buy […]

Metals – Gold Trading

Capacity You act in the role of a speculator. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Task Your task is to make money, preferably as much as possible. You start with a certain working capital; make it grow by deal-making. Objective The aim of this simulation is to end up with a working capital which […]

Agri – Asset-Backed (Soybean) Trading

Capacity You act in the role of a hedger; in particular, you act as asset & portfolio trader. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Task Your task is to setup a hedge (sell short the crush spread (futures spread)) at an attractive crush spread level. Thereafter, when the spread has decreased significantly, liquidate the […]

Agri – Soybean Crush Spread

Objective The aim of this simulation is manifold, namely to master the hedging process of soybean crushing capacity, as well as to understand that there are different standard conversion ratios for traded crush spread futures contracts. This way, you’ll learn that the gross margin is dynamic and you’ll experience that hedging requires swift action in […]

Agri – Wheat Futures

Capacity You act in the role of a commodity trader, aiming to buy low and sell high. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Task Your task is to make money, preferably as much as possible. Objective The aim of this simulation is to end up with a working capital which is higher than you […]

Agri – Corn Futures

Capacity You act in the role of a proprietary trader (speculator). You act in the capacity of aggressor. Task Your task is to make money, preferably as much as possible. Objective The aim of this simulation is to end up with a working capital which is higher than you were provided at the start. Conclusion […]

Agri – Soft Commodity Futures

Capacity You act in the role of a market participant in de market for agricultural products. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Task Your task is to follow the money, when transacting. You are allocated budget; your initial working capital is 800.00. Look at the allocation of capital (initial and variation margin), once you […]

Power – Spot Market & Beyond

Capacity You act in the role of a participant in the electricity market. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Task Your task is to familiarise with specific electricity products/contracts (and their granularity), including those traded in the spot power market. Learning objective The aim of this simulation is master the variety of electricity contracts […]

Power – Asset-backed Trading

Capacity You act in the role of a power trader at a utility. As an asset & portfolio trader you are responsible to hedge the exposure arising from the refinery. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Task Your task is to setup a hedge (sell short the spark spread (futures spread)) at an attractive […]

Power – Spark Spread

Objective The aim of this simulation is manifold, namely to understand what a spark spread concerns and that different ratios apply to the spark spreads for different power plants (with different energy-efficiency and carbon-intensity levels), as well as to see that any spark spreads is dynamic. In addition, it allows you to experience that transacting […]

Power – Location Spread

Capacity You act in the role of a power trader (either as a prop trader or as an asset & portfolio manager). You act in the capacity of aggressor. Tasks Analyse the price differential between the two products, its minimum and maximum and the volatility of the location spread. Furthermore, your task is to trade […]

Coal – Location Spread

Short description Trade the coal location spread. Capacity You act in the role of a coal trader (either as a prop trader or as an asset & portfolio manager). You act in the capacity of aggressor. Tasks Analyse the price differential between the two products, its minimum and maximum and the volatility of the location […]

Coal – Quality Spread

Capacity You act in the role of a market participant who applies spread trading, correlation trading and/or statistical arbitrage. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Tasks Analyse the price differential between the two products, its minimum and maximum and the volatility of the quality spread. Furthermore, your task is to trade the quality spread; […]

Gas – Spot Market & Beyond

Capacity You act in the role of a participant in the gas market. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Task Your task is to familiarise with specific gas products/contracts (and their granularity), including those traded in the spot gas market. Learning objective The aim of this simulation is master the variety of gas contracts […]

Gas – Time Spread

Capacity You act in the role of a gas trader. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Tasks Your task is to analyse the forward curve and identify the time spread for different periods. Identify whether the market is in ‘contango’ or ‘backwardation’. In case of a steep contango, hedge (gasoline) storage capacity and lock […]

Gas – Location Spread

Capacity You act in the role of a gas trader (either as a prop trader or as an asset & portfolio manager). You act in the capacity of aggressor. Tasks Analyse the price differential between the two products, its minimum and maximum and the volatility of the location spread. Furthermore, your task is to trade […]

Gas – Quality Spread

Capacity You act in the role of a market participant who applies spread trading, correlation trading and/or statistical arbitrage. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Tasks Analyse the price differential between the two products, its minimum and maximum and the volatility of the quality spread. Furthermore, your task is to trade the quality spread; […]

Oil – Asset-backed trading

Capacity You act in the role of a (crude and products) trader at an oil company. As an asset & portfolio trader you are responsible to hedge the exposure arising from the refinery. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Task Your task is to setup a hedge (sell the crack spread (futures spread) short) […]

Oil – Crack Spread

Capacity You act in the role of a (crude and products) trader at an oil company. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Task Your task is to secure the future processing margin, by selling the so-called ‘crack spread’. This way, you secure the future cash flows relating to your oil refinery (i.e. hedging). In […]

Oil – Time Spread

Capacity You act in the role of an oil (products) trader. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Task Your task is to analyse the forward curve. Identify whether the market is in ‘contango’ or ‘backwardation’. In case of a steep contango, hedge (gasoline) storage capacity and lock in a nice margin (by selling the […]

Oil – Location spread

Capacity You act in the role of an oil (products) trader (either as a prop trader or as an asset & portfolio manager). You act in the capacity of aggressor. Tasks Analyse the price differential between the two products, its minimum and maximum and the volatility of the location spread. Furthermore, your task is to […]

Oil – Quality spread

Capacity You act in the role of a market participant who applies spread trading, correlation trading and/or statistical arbitrage. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Tasks Analyse the price differential between the two products, its minimum and maximum and the volatility of the quality spread. Furthermore, your task is to trade the quality spread; […]

Options – Delta Hedging

Capacity You act in the role of an option trader. You can transact exchange-listed options and their underlying futures contract. More specifically, you act in the capacity of initiator. Task Your task is to setup an option position, either long or short, either with a call only (or a multiple of it), or with a […]

Options – The Greeks

Capacity You act in the role of an option trader. You can transact various exchange-listed options and their underlying futures contract. More specifically, you act in the capacity of aggressor. Task Your task is to set up the following option strategies and see what Greek values each of those positions have and how these change […]

Option Strategies

Capacity You act in the role of an option trader. You can transact exchange-listed options (call & puts of 5 series) and their listed underlying futures contract. More specifically, you act in the capacity of aggressor. Task Your task is to set up the following option strategies and calculate the overall price of each of […]

Option Arbitrage & Synthetics

Short description Setup an arbitrage strategy; using synthetics. Capacity You act in the role of an option trader. You can transact two option series (a series consists of both a call option and a put option), as well as the option’s underlying futures contract. More specifically, you act in the capacity of aggressor. Task Your […]

Option Trading – Speculation

Capacity You act in the role of an option trader. You can transact one option series (both a call option and a put option), as well as the option’s underlying futures contract. More specifically, you act in the capacity of aggressor. Task Your task is to set up the following option strategies and calculate the […]

Options – Put Option

Capacity You act in the role of an option trader. More specifically, you act in the capacity of aggressor. Task Take a put option position (by transacting a put option). First buy one unit to setup a long put option position of one contract. Then, analyse the value of the put option position, while simultaneoulsy […]

Options – Call option

Capacity You act in the role of an option trader. More specifically, you act in the capacity of aggressor. Task Take a call option position (by transacting a call option). First buy one unit to setup a long call option position of one contract. Then, analyse the value of the call option position, while simultaneoulsy […]

Central Order Book – Order Initiation

Capacity You act in the role of a market participant. More specifically, you act in the capacity of initiator. Task Place an order (to buy or to sell) in the order book which is not directly executed. Hence, it should underperform the actual best bid/offer. Then, watch the order to appear in the order book […]

Liquidity – Order Book & Market Depth

Capacity You act in the role of a market participant. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Tasks Beyond the commercially most attractive orders, identify the next best bids and the next best offers in the market. This way, you’ll see market depth. For this matter, you need to unfold the product row (click on […]

OTC-Trading – Quote Requests

Short description Provide a quotation upon request of a client or another market participant. This simulation mimics the fundamentals of the trading environment and market activity. Focus is only on relevant aspects so that you cannot be distracted by (currently) irrelevant aspects. The modular setup of this simulation allows therefore for gradually grasping one concept […]

Screen-based Brokering

Capacity You act in the role of a trader and trade on screen with the support of brokerage services. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Task Identify on the trading screen various brokers showing their respective client orders. You can trade aginst these orders, thereby becoming the counterparty to the resulting deal. Objective The […]

Futures – At Portfolio Level

Capacity You act in the role of a trader. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Objective The aim of this simulation is learn about transaction fees (exchange fee and clearing fee), the temporarily allocation of cash collateral (initial margin and variation margin) and the financial performance (realised and unrealised profit or loss) at portfolio […]

Futures – At Position Level

Capacity You act in the role of a trader. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Objective The aim of this simulation is learn about transaction fees (exchange fee and clearing fee), the temporarily allocation of cash collateral (initial margin and variation margin) and the financial performance (realised and unrealised profit or loss). Task Your […]

Forward Curve

Capacity You act in the role of a trader. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Task Your task is to analyse this shape and level of the forward curve. News makes the prices of all contracts change, although, some more than others. Watch the curve to move from contango to backwardation and vice versa. […]

Value At Risk

Capacity You act in the role of both a market participant and a risk manager. Objective The aim of this simulation is to learn how the value at risk number develops; explain yourself why it does so. Analyse how the VaR number develops if you enlarge your position (double or triple it); clarify the development. […]

Exposure Assesment

Capacity You act in the role of a market participant. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Task Your task is to analyse your exposure (namely, the value at risk, or VaR). Note: it develops opposite of your P&L; mind the inverse relationship (P&L vs. exposure). Objective The aim of this simulation is to: Analyse […]

Margin Requirements

Capacity You act in the role of a market participant. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Task Your task is to analyse the margin deposits, both initial margin and variation margin. Objective The aim of this simulation is to: Analyse the margin requirement(s) of an open position. Therefore, open a position (long or short), […]

Speculation – Proprietary Trading

Capacity You act in the capacity of a so-called prop(rietary) trader, taking up the role of speculator. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Task Your task is to make money, preferably as much as possible. Objective The aim of this simulation is to end up with a positive financial performance (i.e. a profit). This […]

Financial Performance (P/L)

Capacity: You act in the role of a market participant. You act in the capacity of aggressor. Task Your task is to analyse your financial result: Realised and/or Unrealised Profit/Loss. Objective The aim of this simulation is to: Analyse the Unrealised Result of an open position (“P/L-U”). Therefore, open a position (long or short), initially […]

Screen-based Trading

Role You act in the capacity of a market participant. You act in the capacity of agressor. Tasks Other market participants have placed orders to buy and sell; now, you can “hit their bid” or “lift their offer”; this way, you’ll become the counterparty of their order initiation. By clicking on the ask (price) you […]

Market Analysis

Objective The aim of this simulation is learn how prices respond to news. Capacity You act in the role of analyst; you are not supposed to act in the market. Moreover, you are unable to transact. Tasks See what happens to the market price; explain the development. Interpret news and see how the price responds. […]