The closing ceremony of the first Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q) Algorithmic Trading Competition was held at the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) last week, with prizes going to the top three student teams. The competition brings together students from different disciplines to code a profitable and strategic program for trading in financial markets.
The competition was also sponsored by Mazaya Qatar, who provided 10,000 QR to the top team, 7,000 QR to the first runner up team, and 5,000 QR to the team with the most innovative strategy.
Mr. Rashid Bin Ali Al Mansoori, CEO of QSE, spoke at the ceremony to express his genuine thanks and gratitude to CMU-Q for choosing QSE to organize the closing ceremony of the first Algorithmic Trading Competition in Qatar.
“Algo trading is becoming a very important tool in the global financial markets recently, and in my opinion the competition helps to apply theory into practice and represents an important pillar of the financial eco-system”, he said.
“In fact, this type of competitions is a vital educational and mentoring program designed to encourage the students to learn more about trading on stock exchanges and apply the academic concepts in the real life, which will foster a culture of rational investment in the country”, Mr. Al Mansoori concluded.
John O’Brien, associate dean of CMU-Q, noted: “Algorithmic trading is becoming very important in international markets, and competitions like this are excellent preparation for young finance professionals. I would like to thank our sponsors, Qatar Stock Exchange and Mazaya Qatar: without their support, this event would not be possible.”
Mr. Hamad Bin Ali Al Hudfa, CEO of Mazaya Qatar Real Estate Development Company, expressed his great pleasure in sponsoring the competition and awarding the prizes sponsored by the company to the winning teams. "Increasing market liquidity is a major objective of the Qatar Stock Exchange and by supporting the training of students who will work in and contribute to Qatar economy serves to help promote this important objective", he said.
There were 12 teams who participated in the competition. The first place team was comprised of Faran Farooq, Muhammad Ahmed Shah, Awais Shamim. The first runner up team included Kaustubh Iyer, Maher Khan and Bisma Munawar. The Most Innovative Strategy prize went to Yijun Dong, Alfred Godwin Ravindrakumar and Zihan Zhou.