The JSE Investment Challenge is back again

The JSE Investment Challenge is tailored for university students and high school learners, providing them with the opportunity to acquire real-world investing and trading knowledge and skills.

Another competition, the JSE Virtual Trading Game, aims to teach South Africans of all ages about investing on the JSE and the larger role that such investment plays in the country’s economy.

The two challenges, which run side by side, provide an opportunity to experiment and find your way in a dynamic simulated trading environment – and the cherry on the top is that if your portfolio is the top performer in its category, you could win a prize.

“The JSE takes great pride in spearheading the Investment Challenge, offering learners and students an early opportunity to delve into the world of investing and cultivate sound financial habits,” said Ralph Speirs, senior corporate social investment officer at the JSE.

“By promoting financial literacy from a young age, we are empowering South Africa’s youth with the essential tools to achieve their financial goals.” 

The JSE Investment Challenge has four categories: income (low risk), equity (moderate risk), speculator (high risk), and ETFs/ETNs. Each team decides at the outset in which category they want to compete.

High school learners can get monthly prizes of R500 each for top performers, along with R500 for their school’s principal and R500 for the supervising teacher. Additionally, annual prizes valued at a total of R330,000 will be awarded in the form of investment vouchers.

For university students, the monthly prizes amount to investment vouchers worth R3,000 per team. The grand prizes include three awards in investment vouchers totalling R120,000. The most exciting prize for the top-performing university team is an all-expenses-paid trip to an international stock exchange.

If you participate in the Virtual Trading Game, you receive a virtual portfolio of R1-million to trade JSE-listed shares, allowing you the opportunity to develop and test trading strategies without risking your personal savings.

Now in its fifth year, the Virtual Trading Game has a revamped prize structure designed to reward both consistent performance and strategic trading. In addition to the grand prizes totalling R400,000 that are awarded at the end of the competition in September, monthly prizes will be awarded to the top three portfolios each month, from March to August. The prize structure for the game is as follows:

Annual game (March to September):

Monthly game (March to August):