Trading

• Your team will begin with $500,000 in virtual cash to invest in your portfolio.
• All trading takes place on WInS (Wharton Investment Simulator). WInS is a web-based stock market simulation that allows students to apply the concepts of investments and portfolio management in a hands-on learning environment, while working with real-world data without risking real money.
• Each team shares one account on WInS. All team members will use the same username and password to access WInS. (If each student has an account, you are in violation of the competition rules.)
• Once the competition trading period is active, beginning September 29, 2025, teams can buy or sell shares at any time during the competition. The trading period ends on December 5, 2025.
• All teams must fully execute one trade on WInS by the close of the U.S. markets (4:00 p.m. ET) on October 10, 2025 in order to be eligible to advance to the Semifinals or Global Finale.
• WInS is active during the hours of the U.S. stock market on weekdays from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time  (ET). However, you can still place U.S. equity trade orders when the U.S. stock market is closed. Your trade will be filled at the open price of the stock once the U.S. stock market reopens the next day.
• WInS executes all U.S. trades at real time prices (the actual price of the stock at that moment in time). Please note that although trades are executed at real time prices, and that the bid and ask prices are real time, the prices that you see in your open positions (prior to when a sale or purchase closes) are delayed by 10–15 minutes.
• International equities and bonds not based in the U.S. experience a longer time delay. These equity orders will go through at the end of the trading day. If a trade is placed for an international equity at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, it will clear at the end of Tuesday. Also, exchange rate calculations are done automatically when making trades in foreign markets. No extra work is required on your part, though it is good to be aware of potential gains/losses you may experience due to exchange rates.
• You do not need to exchange money in a different currency. It is done automatically when buying and selling.
• Teams can make up to 200 trades during the course of the competition. (Clarification: Each buy or sell order counts as one trade.)
• WInS runs just like any real-world trading platform. Each stock transaction is charged a flat $25 commission and treasury bonds are charged $10. Commission is charged only on a trade that clears.
• Teams can trade up to twice a stock’s current daily volume.
• There is no longer a sector diversification portfolio requirement. However, we want to stress that diversification is a foundational principle in investment strategy, aimed at reducing risk and enhancing long-term returns. While simply spreading assets across a number of investments is a start, true diversification goes deeper—across sectors, industries, market capitalizations, and geographies.
• True diversification is more than just owning many stocks—it’s about owning the right mix of assets across various dimensions. By diversifying across sectors, industries, market capitalizations, and geographies, investors build resilience into their portfolios, reduce downside risk, and enhance long-term return potential.

• Cash
• Any stock from any exchange available on WInS priced at $5 (or the equivalent of $5 in the local currency) or higher. THERE IS NO APPROVED STOCK LIST.
• Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) from the Approved ETF List.
  • Your portfolio must include at least one (1) ETF from the Approved List. Additional ETFs from the Approved List are encouraged for diversification.
• Treasury Bonds from the Approved Treasury List (optional).
  • The list includes bonds from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands.

One of the biggest challenges for new investors is knowing how and where to begin. Many free online resources are available that provide helpful information to narrow down your stock selections.

If you’re not based in the U.S., please keep the following in mind throughout the competition:

Consider the time difference between your country and the U.S. stock market. For example, if you are trading in India, you are 9.5 hours ahead of ET. Therefore, you have a window of several evening hours to actively place trades while the U.S. market is open. So, when the U.S. stock market opens at 9:30 a.m. ET, it is actually 7:00 p.m. in India. The early evening hours might be a good window for your team to meet in person or virtually when you are deciding to actively place trades.

We do NOT expect you to stay up in the middle of the night to place trades while the U.S. stock market is open. Remember, the Wharton Global High School Investment Competition is not a trading competition, and therefore day trading (the buying and selling of stocks on the same day to take advantage of small price fluctuations) is not necessary. The majority of your strategy should be focused on a long-term, buy-and-hold approach, which will not require a lot of buying and selling of stocks once you have, through analysis, determined your best portfolio mix. We do expect you to do some trading once you have built your portfolio; however, you should be strategic about this and not feel pressured to buy and sell frantically at all hours of the night. The bottom line is that you are NOT trying to prove the worthiness of your overall team portfolio/strategy by how much it grows over 10 weeks of trading.