Olympiad highlights need for future technology leaders in the financial services industry
Greenwich, Conn., April 11, 2006 –Interactive Brokers Group (IBG), a global leader in electronic market-making and brokerage services, today announced the winner of its first annual electronic trading Olympiad for colleges. Since there is a shortage of top-notch technologists, IBG created the Olympiad to highlight the growing need for engineers and computer science professionals in the financial services industry. IBG is awarding $158,000 in prizes to students and another $150,000 in matching prizes to the students’ colleges.
Starting with an account of $100,000 in phantom money, University of Texas graduate student Patrick Christmas earned an additional $120,000 in 10 weeks using computer algorithms he developed for IBG’s Interactive Brokers Trader Workstation Application Program Interface.
As the winner in the Olympiad, Christmas won $50,000 in real money, and IBG will match that amount as a donation to his college, the University of Texas-Austin.
“We have been a leader in electronic trading since 1977 and we want to help the next generation of technology engineers advance their careers and learn about more opportunities in capital markets,” said Steve Sanders, Interactive Brokers Managing Director, Business Development and Marketing.
IBG opened the competition to graduate and undergraduate seniors studying computer science or engineering in North American colleges and universities. “Attracting quality engineers has become a real challenge in the financial services industry,” Mr. Sanders said. “Programmers must be close to trading operations in order to make quick changes; therefore, outsourcing these jobs does not make sense.”
Trades were generated by student-created computer algorithms in any asset class – equities, options, futures, warrants, bonds and currencies that are directly accessible from Interactive Brokers direct access trading platform. Various programming languages were allowed, including Java, C++, C, DDE, and Visual Basic.
IBG also awarded two students second-place prizes of $25,000 each, 10 students third-place prizes of $5,000 each, and 8 students “placing prizes” of $1,000 each. The company will match the award money of the second-and third-prize winners to their sponsoring university or college. Student and school winners as well as Olympiad details are posted at http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/general/education/IBTradingOlympiad.php.
About Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers provides professional traders and investors
with direct access to stocks, options, futures, bonds, and forex
on over 50 market centers worldwide from a single IB Universal
Account. With consolidated equity capital that exceeds US $2.1
billion, IB and its affiliates execute in excess of 500,000 trades/day
and trade 20% of US options. In 2006 Barron's awarded Interactive
Brokers its top star ranking overall and for lowest cost broker.
For more information, please see the Interactive Brokers Web site
at www.InteractiveBrokers.com.
Contact:
Todd Miller
Interactive Brokers LLC
(203) 378-1152, 149
todd@cjpcom.com