A team of Morningside College students recently finished in thirteenth place in the annual CME Group Trading Challenge that saw record participation with nearly 600 college teams from 35 countries around the world.

A team of Morningside College students recently finished in thirteenth place in the annual CME Group Trading Challenge that saw record participation with nearly 600 college teams from 35 countries around the world.

Members of the Morningside team were Ben Dreessen, a junior from Lawton, Iowa; Ben Karloff, a junior from Omaha, Neb.; Melissa Pauley, a sophomore from Woodbine, Iowa; Lane Nichols, a sophomore from Hornick, Iowa; and Kyle Still, a junior from Bronson, Iowa. The students are enrolled in the “Futures Markets and Risk Management” course taught by Chris Benson, director of the Regina Roth Applied Agricultural and Food Studies Program at Morningside. 

The four-week CME Group Trading Challenge gives more than 2,300 graduate and undergraduate students hands-on experience trading futures financial contracts in a simulated environment.

CME Group exchanges – Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board of Trade, New York Mercantile Exchange and Commodity Exchange, Inc. – offer futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, weather and real estate.