November 3, 2022 – March 9, 2023 5:00 pm EDT
Summary
Undergraduate and graduate students from universities in Canada and the United States are invited to participate in the 2023 Rotman Portfolio Management Competition (RPMC) hosted by the BMO Financial Group Finance Research and Trading Lab at the Rotman School of Management (Rotman FRT-Lab).
From November 3, 2022, to March 9, 2023, teams of students will manage an investment portfolio of $1 million (CAD) for ~4 months with securities listed and traded in actual markets, gaining hands-on experience in portfolio management.
Using the Rotman Portfolio Manager (RPM) platform developed by the Rotman FRT-Lab, teams will compete to generate the highest risk-adjusted returns between Opening Day (November 3rd), and Closing Day (March 19th). The top performing teams will present their strategies to a panel of portfolio managers and investment professionals who will present 1st Prize: $1000, 2nd Prize: $600, and 3rd Prize: $400 CAD!
Key Dates
September 22, 2022
5:00 pm
Registration Opens
Virtual
October 20, 2022
5:00 pm
Registration Closes
Virtual
November 3, 2022
9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Briefing
In Person
Rotman FRT-Lab
November 3, 2022
12:00 pm
Portfolio Management Period Open
Virtual
March 9, 2023
5:00 pm
Portfolio Management Period Close
Virtual
March 24, 2023
Presentation & Awards Ceremony
In Person
BMO Rotman FRT-Lab
Location
BMO Financial Group Finance Research and Trading Lab
Rotman School of Management
Room 290, North Building
105 St. George St.
Toronto, ON M5S 3E6
Canada
Qualifications
Participants must be registered at a university in Canada or the United States at the time of entry. Maximum three students per team.
Registration
1. | Complete Team Registration Form (One form per team). For empty team spots, fill with “NA” |
2. | Complete your one-time Team Registration Fee of $30 CAD (+13% HST). One payment per team. |
3. | Once our staff receives your completed Team Registration Form and confirms receipt of payment, you will receive an e-mail confirming your registration along with the necessary instructions for setting up your RPM account. |
Competition Rules
Competition Rules
Participants will only be allowed to trade restricted securities listed on the U.S. and the Canadian exchanges.
Participants may short-sell any securities and trade on margin (e.g. leverage allowed).
Tradable Securities
Participants will only be allowed to trade from this Tradable Securities Document of securities for the RPMC in order to make sure that the competition performance is evaluated fairly.
Most of the securities included in the S&P500 Index and the S&P/TSX Composite Index are available for trading. Some securities were excluded from the list due to their illiquidity, high volatility, and/or high beta. In addition, a few major ETFs that represent particular asset classes, sectors, industries, and regions are also included in the list for trading.
Portfolio Constraints
Each portfolio can only invest up to 20% of its total value into a single security at any point in the trading period.
Capital Allocation
Each team should invest most of the capital into securities. Cash position should be kept lower than 10% of the total portfolio value at all times starting Opening Day.
Trading Frequency
Teams must maintain regular trading activity with a minimum of one trade every two weeks starting from Opening Day. Failure to make at least one trade every two weeks will result in a penalty.
Penalties
Penalties will be determined and calculated on an individual basis by the RPMC Committee and will be disclosed to the participants and reflected in the scores.
Benchmark
There is a benchmark portfolio that consists of the following ETFs with corresponding weights. The benchmark portfolio will be constructed according to the weights based on the closing prices of the ETFs as of November 3, 2022.
The benchmark portfolio will be re-balanced on a monthly basis at the beginning of each month, and any distributions (e.g. dividends) will be re-invested into the ETFs according to the weights when the rebalancing happens.
Please be advised that the purpose of the RPMC is not necessarily to ‘outperform’ the benchmark portfolio, but it will be another useful measure for understanding the performance of the portfolio.
The benchmark portfolio account will be named ‘RPMC Benchmark’, and each team will be able to compare the team’s portfolio performance against the benchmark portfolio on the RPM platform.
Ticker | Name | Weight |
SPY | SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust ** | 35% |
XIC.TO | iShares® Core S&P/TSX Capped Composite Index ETF* | 15% |
IEMG.K | iShares® Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF* | 20% |
XBB.TO | iShares® Core Canadian Universe Bond Index ETF* | 20% |
GLD | SPDR® Gold Shares ** | 10% |
*iShares® ETFs are managed by BlackRock Asset Management Canada Limited.
**SPDR® S&P 500® ETF Trust represent ownership in the SPDR S&P 500 Trust, a unit investment trust.