Rules

All trading activity in the JSE Investment Challenge including, but not limited to transactions, positions and other information is virtual, fictitious and non-binding.
The starting portfolio of each team will be credited with a virtual sum of R1 million. Participants will not incur any liabilities nor make real money. The performance of the virtual portfolio will be tracked and measured against other JSE Investment Challenge participant portfolios.
Orders should be placed electronically on the JSE Investment Challenge trading platform: https://university.jse.co.za.
Teams will only be permitted to purchase or sell securities equivalent to 5% of the actual number of securities traded on the JSE during any trading day. Any orders that exceed this limitation will be only partially filled. If no securities are traded on that trading day, the order will be automatically rejected. Trades not executed for any reason at the end of the day for which the trade was requested, will be cancelled.
Initial margin is charged based on the previous day’s close. For initial margin on existing positions, should you transact or should there be a 10% move in the closing price compared to when you entered into the position, the result will be an increase or decrease in initial margin.
In the event that your Single Stock Future account goes into a loss where your loss is greater than your cash balance at the close of the day, your affected Single Stock Future positions will be sold from worst to best performer based on the overall percentage move. Should there still be a shortfall, the system will automatically start closing out shares/warrants in theat order of worst to best performer based on the overall percentage move, until the required loss amount is recovered. There will be no intraday close out if your account goes into a negative balance during the day, i It will only be based on the closing prices.
Once purchased, a security must be held for a minimum of one full trading day before it may be sold. The disposal (selling) price will be reflected as the end of day closing price on the date the transaction is affected i.e. when the share is sold.
At the end of each trading day, the JSE determines the profit or loss on each position based on the mark-to-market (closing) price of the current day less the mark-to-market price of the previous business day. This profit or loss is referred to as the variation margin and is settled the next business day. This means that holders receive realised profits and pay realised losses on each position every day.
Virtual brokerage fees will be levied on a buy and sell transaction in the amount of 1% of the value of securities traded in the virtual portfolio. There is a minimum virtual brokerage charge of R75 per trade.
In addition, virtual charges for Securities Transfer Tax of 0,25% will also be levied on share and warrant purchase transactions only.
Virtual interest will be earned on daily cash balances as well as the margin amounts secured for Single Stock Future Contracts using the daily balance calculated monthly approach. During the competition, the interest rate will be assumed at 6% per annum or 3% for the duration of the competition.
A transaction for a trade can only be reversed provided it is before the market closes (17h00) on the day of the trade.
The following corporate actions are the only recognised corporate actions that we will execute (CD) Cash Dividend, (RI) REIT Distribution, (IT) Interest Payment and (IS) Special Dividends. All other corporate actions that takes place the share or Single Stock Future will be force sold at the last traded price before the corporate action took place. These distributions will be credited to the portfolio if the equities are held on the Last Day of Trade. Credit will take place on the Last Day of Trade. If distribution of the corporate action takes place after the closing date, such distribution will not be credited to the portfolio. In addition, if the declaration of the corporate action falls outside the challenge start date, such distribution will not be paid. If teams buy or sell shares or Single Stock Futures on Last Trading Date (LDT), the distributions will NOT be credited to the account.
A minimum of 10 transactions are required to be eligible for the annual JSE Investment Challenge prizes. In addition, teams must have executed one trade each calendar game month for the full six month period. The “game calendar month” period can be found on the website: https://university.jse.co.za.
Orders placed (which can be found on the website) before market close (17h00) will be completed at the closing price on the day that they are placed. Orders placed after market close will be completed at the closing price on the following trading day.
Close out in the competition happens two days before the normal futures close out, which happens on the third Thursday of June and September. There will be no rollover with the Single Stock Future contracts. All contracts will be cash settled two days before the future close outs.
If students or mentors discover flaws and/or technical discrepancies in the JSE Investment Challenge, these should be reported to the JSE immediately via
email or telephonically. Under no circumstances will such flaws and/or technical discrepancies be used to any team’s advantage as this may result in your team’s immediate disqualification.
Students are only allowed to be part of one team. In the event that a student belongs to more than one team, she/he and the entire team(s) will be immediately disqualified.
Boom or bust will apply.
Students may only register their names as they appear on their identity documents.
Overall performance will be measured over a six-month period. All virtual investments will be reduced to a cash equivalent value for calculation purposes. The growth achieved during the month will be used to determine performance.
The JSE reserves the right to change the rules during the JSE Investment Challenge. Rule changes will be communicated via the monthly portfolio statements and on the JSE Investment Challenge website. The JSE may, at its discretion, accept or reject any team’s application to participate in the JSE Investment Challenge or terminate the participation of a team during or after the JSE Investment Challenge, for any reason whatsoever. The interpretation of these Rules is within the sole discretion of the JSE and any decision and/or interpretation in this regard is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
Single Stock Futures prices are based on the Investment Challenge Market Making Engine, which takes into account the underlying share price, interest and commission.