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Competition Rules

Investment groups are expected to follow the Investment Competition rules stated on this page. Failure to comply with these rules will result in a warning and/or disqualification depending on the severity of the infringement. The board of B&R Beurs reserves the rights to change the rules of the competition.

Rules Flow Traders Investment Competition | November 13th 2023 - July 4th 2024
  1. The Investment Competition is about financial securities available in financial markets.
  2. The Investment Competition for the academic year 2023/2024 starts on Thursday, November 13th, 2023, and ends on Thursday, July 4th, 2024.
  3. The Investment Competition is only between investment groups registered with B&R Beurs and at the Chamber of Commerce.
    1. New Investment Groups need to be formed before the start of the Investment Competition.
    2. New Investment Groups need approval from the board to participate in the Investment Competition.
  4. The Investment Competition is exclusively accessible to B&R Beurs members which are members of an investment group.
  5. Each Investment Group has to define an initial deposit per person before the official start of the Investment Competition. This amount can be different for each group (e.g. 200, 250, 300, 400).
  6. An Investment Group has to make its first investment before December 16th, 2023 to be included in the ranking.
    1. The board can authorize an exception to this rule if it is well-argued.
  7. In order to be included in the ranking, the board of an Investment Group has to participate in the Introductory Investment Training provided by the board of B&R Beurs.
    1. The board of B&R Beurs can authorize an exception to this rule.
  8. The weekly ranking is based on risk-adjusted returns (Modigliani Risk-Adjusted Performance). The weekly ranking is computed during the weekend, once the North American markets are closed. The following benchmarks will be included in the ranking: Dutch AEX, Eurostoxx 200 Large, MSCI World EUR Hedged, and the S&P500 denominated in Dollars. The board can also decide to include partner investment societies into the ranking as a benchmark.
  9. The weekly ranking consists of risk-adjusted return, total return, change in total return and volatility.
    1. The risk-adjusted return will be the Capped M2 Measure, defined as:
      1. Rfcml,T The cumulative risk-free rate that investors can get by investing in the risk-free asset at the beginning of the competition and rolling over on a weekly basis. 
        RTT The cumulative return of the portfolio.
        DT = RTT - Rfcml,T. The excess return of the investment portfolio over the cumulative risk-free rate at the time of measuring. 
        The standard deviation of the weekly excess returns of the benchmark.
        The standard deviation of the weekly excess returns of the investment portfolio.
        f A floor on the volatility that an investment group can have. Combined with the maximum function, this essentially says that investment groups cannot have volatility lower than this floor.
        c Cap which equals 3.
    2. The benchmark is the Ishares MSCI World Eur Hedged UCITS ETF
    3. The risk-free rate will be based on the yield of German government bonds matching the maturity of the Investment Competition, 9 months
  10. Returns are calculated by the following formula: (1 + old cumulative return) * (1 + this week’s return) – 1. This week’s return is calculated as follows: (Current value of the portfolio – last week’s value of the portfolio -/+ cash inflows/outflows) / last week’s value of the portfolio. In this formula, any deposits or withdrawals are accounted for in the cash inflows/outflows. 
    1. If there is extra money on the bank account, the quantity of money will be noted and subtracted from the current value of the portfolio. It will not count as extra profit. E.g. a group of 15 students at €300 each could have €4600 instead of €4500 on the bank account because of leftovers. The return will be calculated on €4500 and not €4600, the difference will be constantly subtracted from the current value of the portfolio to calculate the group’s return. Thus, extra deposits will not count.
  11. Members joining later than the official start of the Investment Competition will have to pay the initial amount agreed upon by the group, minus the loss, or plus the profit, at the time of the joining. The initial capital will then increase by the initial amount, and by paying the profit or loss, the group’s return stays the same. E.g. if the initial amount is €300, a member wants to join in January, the group is at +10%, the new member will pay €330. The initial group’s endowment will increase by €300, maintaining thus the group’s return of +10%. This logic applies also to losses, and if a member leaves a group during the Investment Competition.
    1. If a member gets expelled from an investment group, he/she will receive his/her initial investment plus the profit or minus the loss at the time of the suspension, as shown in article 10. The initial investment of the member will be removed from the group’s initial capital, and the group’s return recalculated.
  12. Trading bank accounts of Investment Groups have the sole purpose of trading. All money removed from the account during the year for other purposes will be accounted for as a loss (e.g. dinners), except if a member gets expelled.
  13. Any potential trading cost credit received from the broker is not counted in the group’s return. Such free costs will thus be compensated for in the calculation of returns by subtracting them from the portfolio value.
    1. This rule was agreed upon during the half-yearly general assembly of members in January 2015.
  14. An Investment Group needs at least 15 unique members when it is formed, but needs a minimum of 12 when it continues after one year. The maximum is 35 members. Members are allowed to join a maximum of 1 Investment Group. 
    1. The board can authorize an exception to this rule if it is well-argued.
  15. An Investment Group’s minimum initial total deposit is 2,400€.
  16. Investment Groups have to use a broker accepted by the board. The board needs to have access to the account to calculate the return.
  17. Investment groups must respect the Dutch law. Restrictions include:
    1. Maximum deposit of 9075.60€ per member,
    2. Professional investing is not allowed,
    3. Not allowed to use extra deposits to cover losses, don’t invest more than 100% of the capital (e.g. leverage restriction, no naked short-selling, no credit line), this means investments are only allowed with the money available in the 'free space',
    4. The initiative to found an investment group didn’t come from the financial institution where the group has its trading account.
  18. Only the following investments are allowed:
    1. Buying a stock, ETF or Turbo.
    2. Buying a call and/or put options.
    3. Writing options is never allowed.
  19. For the Investment Groups that use eToro, the rules explained in article 18 also hold for investments in CFDs
  20. Investment Groups need to be registered with their current chairman and treasurer at the Chamber of Commerce by the beginning of the Investment Competition.
  21. If an Investment Group does not comply with the rules above, its participation will not be considered in the Investment Competition and its return wil not be calculated. It will have the status N/A until the compliance is effective.