Global Investment Challenge - How to Use the System
1) Login to the System
To log in, go to the Global Investment Challenge Login Page. By default your Pin is a 5 digit number and your password is your first name with the first letter capitalized (i.e. "James"). Your Pin are sent to you from developers@explorerhop.com.
Recovering a Forgotten Pin
Forgot your pin? Recover your pin with your order number and last name.
2) Begin Your Level
Depending on your level, you will either be asked to allocate fund for long term investment, or select your brokerage.
Allocate Fund for Long Term Investment
If you are on level 1-3, you will be prompted to allocate funds for your long term investment. Allocate any value that is less than the principal.
Select Broker & Make a Plan
For advanced levels above level 3, you will be asked to select brokerage and allocate your cash. For level 4, you will be required to pick a profession & location. For level 7&8, you will be making your own hedge fund.
Pick Your Brokerage
Select one standard Canadian brokers from the options presented. Be careful as you cannot change your choice afterwards. Press Continue.
Plan Your Asset Allocation
This tells you how to divide your portfolio. Your principal will be dependant on your level and your instructor. The planning tool is non-binding and used to help you plan out your initial strategy.
3) Trading
Pre-Market and After Hours Trading
You must trade stocks with its most recent price. Some stocks have pre-market and after hours trading outside regular market hours. This information can be found on Yahoo finance as shown below. If Yahoo finance does not have this information, check the Yahoo finance app or other sources.
Limited Trading
For level 1-3, the amount of trades and the time interval between trades will be limited by your instructor. Above level 3, your trades will not be limited. Your dashboard will display the values of your current holdings.
Long & Short term Investments
For level 1-3, you will be required to purchase a long term stock/mutual fund in the beginning and a short term stock/mutual fund every day.
Your instructor may limit your short term stock selection by theme or stock market (level 3 only).
Your dashboard will display the current value of your long term stock, short term stock, and your total portfolio value.
You will be able to sell your short term stock after the time interval specified by your instructor has passed.
Unlimited Trading
Level 4 & above allow unlimited trading. The trading features increases as the level increases.
Buying and Selling Stocks
To buy and sell stocks enter the ticker, stock name, and current market value. You can get this from any stock information site. The most common ones are Yahoo Finance and Google. You can also select from a number of dividend options:
- No Dividend - Select this option for any companies that do not pay dividends.
- DRIP (Dividend Re-Investment Plan) - Your dividends are automatically put back into the underlying stock. To select the DRIP option, you must purchase enough stocks such that your cash dividends will be enough to purchase at least one share.
- No DRIP - Select this option when you want your dividends directly and not have them re-invested in the underlying stock.
You can verify your transactions in the "Statement" tab.
Buying and Selling Mutual Funds
Buying and Selling Mutual Funds is pretty much the same as stocks. You can only invest in North American mutual funds at the moment. You will need a Mutual Fund Ticker which you can get from Yahoo Finance or the Mutual Fund Company websites.
Buy & Sell GIC
When you buy a GIC, the platform fast tracks the interest so that 1 competition day = 1 month. This is to increase your learning potential by allowing you to trade more. You need to wait until the period is over before you can sell the GIC. If you try to sell before the period, you will have to pay a $50 penalty.
Buy Currency
You can do forex trades in all major currencies. The system's native currency is USD.
Limit Trades
You can set the Limit Price of a share and watch it till the end of the competition. Keep in mind that your limit trade will only go through if you have logged in.
DCA: Dollar Cost Averaging
DCA is set at only 7 days and it will invest the same amount in the stock you picked everyday as long as you are logged in. This is to enhance the learning experience. Once you place a DCA, you login go to the DCA trade and put in an order for the share you picked.
Cryptocurrency
You can trade with any cryptocurrency available on Yahoo Finance. You will need the value ticker available on stock trading websites.
The following cryptocurrencies are currently supported.
Shorts
You can short any stock, ETF, or cryptocurrency. You will need to purchase the sold assets within 3 days or you will be penalized 120% of the value at the end of the 3 day period.
4) Your Portfolio Statement
The "Statement" section summarizes your investment portfolio so you can see how your assets are performing.
5) Checking your Ranking
The "Ranking" section shows you your current position on the investor leaderboard. Note that there is no ranking for level 4 since everyone will have different principal. For level 7 & 8, your ranking is dependant on both your portfolio's growth and stability.