General Rules & Roles

Teams

1. All team members must attend the same school. Students may not participate on more than one team.
2. Each team must consist of four to six students, including the student team leader, throughout the Competition.
3. Each team will share one WInS account.
4. The student team leader serves as the primary student representative for the team and is responsible for: Serving as the primary point of contact between the team and the Wharton Global Youth Program; receiving Competition communications and notifications; submitting team deliverables through SurveyMonkey Apply; and fulfilling all responsibilities of a team member.
5. All team members are responsible for: Developing and implementing the team’s investment strategy; conducting research and analysis; collaborating with teammates and placing trades through the team’s shared WInS account; and remaining actively engaged throughout the Competition and meeting all deadlines.
6. Teams may not contact the Competition client. Teams that violate this rule will be disqualified.
7. Teams must select an official team name when submitting their official team roster. Team names must not contain offensive or vulgar language, as determined by the Wharton Global Youth Program in its sole discretion. The Wharton Global Youth Program reserves the right to require a team to change an inappropriate team name or disqualify the team.
8. Teams may add or remove members, and students may change teams, until the official team roster is submitted.
9. After the official team roster is submitted, teams may not add members. Requests to remove a team member due to extenuating circumstances must be submitted in writing by the Advisor and approved by the Investment Competition team. Teams that remove a member without prior approval will be disqualified.
10. Teams that fall below four members or exceed six members at any time during the Competition will be disqualified.

Advisors

1. Each team must have one Advisor, who must be a teacher or educator at the high school attended by the team members.
2. The Advisor’s role is to provide guidance, encouragement, and educational support throughout the Competition. Advisors may not make decisions on behalf of students or actively participate in team activities, trading decisions, or strategy development.
3. Advisors are responsible for:
   • Registering their team(s). Students may not register themselves or their teams. Teams that violate this rule will not be permitted to compete.
   • Serving as a primary point of contact between the team(s) and the Wharton Global Youth Program.
   • Providing educational guidance and support to team members.
   • Monitoring team engagement and portfolio activity.
   • Serving as a sounding board without completing work on behalf of students.
4. An Advisor may oversee a maximum of five teams. There is no limit to the number of teams that may participate from a single school.
5. Teams may seek guidance from a parent, industry professional, or other adult serving as a secondary advisor, provided the team also has a primary teacher Advisor. However, the use of paid advisors, education consultants, or other agents is prohibited. Similarly, no participant or team may enroll in any non-Wharton extracurricular course (online or in person) that claims to teach the Investment Competition. Teams suspected by the Wharton Global Youth Program of using paid advisors, education consultants, extracurricular coursework, or other agents will be disqualified. The Wharton Global Youth Program reserves the right to engage its employees and third-party private investigatory firms and/or forensic analysts to ensure compliance with this rule and to ensure fair competition.
6. Teams may not change Advisors after registration. If extenuating circumstances require an Advisor change, a written request must be submitted to and approved by the Investment Competition team before the change occurs. Teams that change Advisors without prior approval will be disqualified.

Deliverables & Requirements

Detailed instructions for all deliverables, trading requirements, submission deadlines, and evaluation criteria will be shared with registered teams through SurveyMonkey Apply on Tuesday, September 15.

Deliverables

• Team Roster Submission: Confirm your team’s student members.
• School Documentation: Submit any required school verification and eligibility documents.
• Investment Policy Statement (IPS): Define your client’s investment objectives, risk tolerance, and overall investment strategy.
• Comprehensive Final Report: Present and justify your team’s investment strategy, portfolio recommendations, and analysis.

Trading Requirements

• Teams must meet the required trading activity and portfolio management guidelines throughout the competition.

Prizes & Recognition

All Eligible Teams

All students on teams that submit the required competition deliverables and meet the minimum competition requirements will receive a Digital Credential (participation badge) in February 2027.

Semifinalists & Global Finalists

All semifinalists and global finalists will receive a certificate recognizing their achievement.

Global Finalist Teams (Top 10)

Each student on a Global Finalist team will receive:

• A waived course fee for the online course Understanding Your Money*.

Global Champion Team

In addition to the Global Finalist prize, each student on the Global Champion team will receive a complimentary enrollment in one of the following online summer programs*:

• Future of the Business World
• Financial Decision Making
• Essentials of Leadership
• Moneyball FLEX
• Moneyball: Training Camp

The Global Champion school will be permitted to fast-track one team to the semifinal round of the 2027-2028 competition. The team will still need to submit all the required deliverables.

Each student member from the nine global finalist teams will receive a 50% discount for one of the following summer online programs:

• Future of the Business World
• Essentials of Leadership
• Financial Decision Making

*Students must meet all applicable course or program eligibility requirements. No prize substitutions are permitted except at the sole discretion of Wharton Global Youth Program, in which case a prize (or portion of a prize) of equal or greater value may be awarded. Prizes are not redeemable for cash and are void where prohibited.

AI Policy

You may use generative AI programs (e.g., tools like ChatGPT) to help generate ideas and to brainstorm. However, you should note that the material generated by these programs may be inaccurate, incomplete, or otherwise problematic. Beware that use may also stifle your own independent thinking and creativity. You may not submit any work generated by an AI program as your own. If you include material generated by an AI program, it should be cited like any other reference material (with due consideration for the quality of the reference, which may be poor). Any plagiarism or other form of cheating will be dealt with severely under relevant Investment Competition policies. See Ethics and Code of Conduct section above.

Ethics

All Wharton Global High School Investment competition team members are held to high personal ethical standards. The decisions you make from the moment you register for the competition should be honest and truthful to the best of your ability. This starts with your number of team members (you must have at least four active members at all times to compete) and ends with how you articulate your strategy and investment choices in your final papers — and includes everything in between. We trust that you will not lie about your investment decisions and outcomes, fabricate analyses, invent teamwork and experiential stories, compensate advisors, education consultants, or other agents, enroll in non-Wharton extracurricular courses that claim to “teach” the competition, or plagiarize existing strategies. If at any point you are unsure about a decision or situation, please reach out to the Wharton Global Youth Program team for clarification. 

Students must abide by the University of Pennsylvania’s Code of Academic Integrity, which states a student’s work must be their own, and not be plagiarized from any other source, including advisors or “unofficial” advisors. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, the use of another’s words or ideas as if they are one’s own. Plagiarism and any kind of academic cheating are grounds for dismissal from the competition. If at any point you are unsure about a decision or situation, please reach out to the Wharton Global Youth Program staff for clarification. Ethics are an essential aspect of money management. All teams should review the CFA Institute’s Asset Manager Code and operate by these standards. We expect you to read these rules and apply them to all you do on behalf of your potential client throughout the competition. 

The Wharton Global Youth Program reserves the right to engage its employees and third-party private investigatory firms and/or forensic analysts to ensure compliance with the foregoing restrictions, and to ensure that all teams are competing fairly. 

Code of Conduct

This Wharton Global High School Investment Competition Code of Conduct extends to how students and advisors treat teammates, supervisors, and the competition organizers. We expect teams to behave politely and respectfully through in-person, email and social media interactions, and to communicate any concerns or grievances with a courteous tone and language. The Wharton Global Youth Program will not tolerate negative, threatening or off-color behavior of any kind, and will sanction or disqualify teams for any such behavior at its sole discretion. 

Each team is required to properly cite any sources used and acknowledge ownership of all images and other media that it submits as part of a deliverable or a presentation that it (or a team member) does not own or did not solely develop. Submitted materials that violate any laws or intellectual property restrictions, are offensive, incite violence, or are otherwise deemed inappropriate for viewing by the general public (for purposes of this competition) will not be accepted. Regardless of whether a team is selected as a Finalist, each team (and/or the students on such team) retains ownership of their own work. 

The University of Pennsylvania, the policies of which govern the competition, prohibits unlawful discrimination based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected class.