JSE urges South Africans to learn and earn with its virtual trading game competition

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has launched a new and exciting competition with cash prizes up for grabs for its Virtual Trading Game (VTG), which is an online platform that simulates a real trading environment and gives members of the general public a risk-free opportunity to practice trading shares. Entry into this competition will be free of charge and open to qualifying individuals.

Competition winners stand a chance to win a share of R60 000 in Satrix vouchers – R30 000 for first place, R20 000 for second and R10 000 for third. All prizes will be in the form of Satrix vouchers, enabling winners to start their real investment journey. Using the voucher, prize winners may choose which exchange traded fund(s) to purchase on the Satrix platform or alternatively choose to withdraw the cash.

The competition was launched on 1 September and will run until 30 November. To stand a chance to win a share of R60 000, participants in the VTG need to ensure that they place at least one trade between 1 September and 30 October, trade (buy and/or sell shares) at least 15 times between 1 September and 30 November and spend R750 000 of their virtual money during the competition.

Vuyo Lee, the Director of Marketing and Corporate Affairs at JSE, says the competition was launched to drive awareness about the Stock Market and encourage wider participation, engagement and education, as the JSE considers the virtual trading platform as a real opportunity for South Africans to find out more about trading shares online.

“As the continent’s biggest Stock Exchange and as a responsible corporate citizen, we would also like to play an active role in creating a financially literate society in South Africa.

“What better way to do this than to allow South Africans to gain real life skills in investing and trading on the Stock Exchange while participating in an exciting game, and now also standing a chance to win cash prizes for their participation?” says Lee.

She explains that the VTG helps players to learn about the fundamentals of investing and encourages them to research and strategise around the trading of JSE-listed instruments. Participants test their trading skills through a simulated trading programme where performance is tracked and measured against others taking part in the VTG.

Each VTG participant receives a virtual R1 million to build an investment portfolio and is free to trade on the market. The rankings on the leader board are based on the holdings (gains and losses) of each player.

To keep things simple, the competition entails trading of shares and exchange traded funds (ETFs) only. Participants will also benefit from earning interest on their cash balances.

“We are really hopeful that through the VTG, retail investors will see that investing on the Exchange is not as intimidating or complicated as many people think. I strongly encourage anyone interested in wealth creation and investments to take up this opportunity to learn and earn while gaining an appreciation of the workings of a well-regulated market for financial instruments, says Lee.

To register, players need to go to virtualtradinggame.jse.co.za