University Program provides real-world experience for the next generation of futures industry professionals
CHICAGO, January 28, 2014 – Trading Technologies International, Inc. (TT) recently reached a milestone with its University Program as its X_TRADER® software is now installed at more than 50 universities across the globe, encompassing schools in 10 countries throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Through its University Program, TT works with undergraduate and graduate educators in business, financial engineering, math and computer science programs to prepare students for careers in finance and the futures markets. Universities incorporate TT’s industry-leading X_TRADER software and APIs, which are donated to schools at no cost, into coursework and on-campus trading labs, allowing students to learn about and experience trading and risk management in a simulated environment using the same tools and market data as professionals.
Schools in the program include: The Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern University, Purdue University, Tulane University, University of Chicago, University of Colorado Denver, University of Illinois and University of Virginia, to name a few.
Many schools use the software in class to demonstrate market principles and have X_TRADER in trading labs for students to use at their convenience. TT staff also guest lecture at partner schools and occasionally host classes at TT’s offices. While every school is different, here are a few examples of how the software is being used:
- Northwestern: X_TRADER is used in a financial markets class so that students can experience the markets and understand the fundamentals of market microstructure.
- Illinois Institute of Technology: Dr. Ben Van Vliet, Assistant Professor at IIT, emphasizes automation and visual programming. He introduces his students to ADL® (Algo Design Lab), TT’s visual programming platform and commented, “Finance students need to understand automation. That is what the industry demands. I’ve always felt that TT software is the best way to teach both an understanding of market microstructure and how to turn a trading idea into a working trading system. It turns out a new source of competitive advantage in automated financial markets is the process of design, development and testing of automated strategies.”
- University of Chicago: TT is working with the math department and students in their financial math program. Students have projects where they use TT’s FIX Adapter product with the Financial Information eXchange (FIX) protocol, the messaging language that is universally used by both the buy side and sell side.
- Tulane University: X_TRADER is used in two classes focused on the energy markets and has hosted several international trading competitions where TT provided the trading platform and helped plan the competition.
“The financial markets are a powerful force and it’s important that we partner with respected institutions of higher learning in order to thoroughly prepare and encourage the next generation of futures and finance industry professionals,” said Leo Murphy, University Program Manager at TT. “We look forward to building a strong relationship with both our current and future schools.”
For more information, please complete TT’s online University Program inquiry form.
Additional resources:
About the TT University Program
University Program Member Schools
University Program on TT’s Trade Talk Blog
About Trading Technologies
Trading Technologies (www.tradingtechnologies.com, @Trading_Tech), headquartered in Chicago, develops high-performance trading software for proprietary traders, brokers, money managers, CTAs, hedge funds, commercial hedgers and other professional traders. The company’s X_TRADER software and related services provide direct access to more than 40 major international exchanges and liquidity platforms. TTNET™, TT’s fully managed hosting solution, delivers maximum system stability and fast trade execution via hubs located close to the major exchanges in Chicago, New Jersey, São Paulo, London, Frankfurt, Singapore, Tokyo and Sydney.