2026 MSCF Trading Competition
One hundred fifty-five CMU students put their quantitative, coding and risk-management skills to the test in a full day of simulated trading.
On September 19, 2026, the Carnegie Mellon University Master of Science in Computational Finance (MSCF) program welcomed 155 students from across the university for its third annual on-campus trading competition. Undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students competed in teams of two, testing their quantitative reasoning, coding, risk management and decision-making in a fast-moving simulated market.
The event was hosted in partnership with three student organizations: Women in Quant Finance, Smart Woman Securities and the CMU Quant Club. It was also supported by the BMO Finance Research and Trading Lab at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.
From Models to Markets
Using Rotman’s Interactive Trader platform, participants moved from theory to execution through two distinct cases. In the volatility trading case, teams traded an exchange-traded fund and options across five strike prices, searching for mispricing while managing changing exposures. In the algorithmic ETF arbitrage case, students built strategies to identify price discrepancies between market prices and tender offers, then unwound positions while accounting for liquidity and market risk.
The cases challenged competitors to combine financial intuition with technical execution. Students had to interpret new information, refine their strategies and make disciplined decisions under time pressure, all skills that are central to work in quantitative finance.
The Energy of the Trading Floor
Following the two electronic trading cases, an open-outcry session brought the energy of a traditional trading floor into the room. Students negotiated face to face, reacted to rapidly changing prices and made split-second decisions amid the controlled chaos of live trading. The session tested a different set of skills: communication, situational awareness and the ability to stay composed when both the market and the room became noisy.
Throughout the day, participants also connected with industry professionals and learned more about careers in quantitative trading. The competition concluded with an awards ceremony recognizing the highest-performing teams.
Building the Next Generation of Quantitative Finance Leaders
The competition reflects MSCF’s commitment to learning beyond the classroom. By pairing rigorous financial concepts with realistic market simulations, students received immediate feedback on their ideas and gained firsthand experience balancing opportunity, execution and risk.
MSCF extends its gratitude to Citadel, Jane Street, Jump Trading and Quantbot Technologies LP for supporting the event and engaging with students. The program also thanks the BMO Finance Research and Trading Lab team for providing the technology and expertise that made the competition possible, as well as Women in Quant Finance, Smart Woman Securities and the CMU Quant Club for hosting the event.
Congratulations to all 155 competitors for bringing such energy, preparation and competitive spirit to the 2026 MSCF Trading Competition.