Competition among retail investors in the stock market

On May 5, 2017 the official closing of the Republican student competition "Exchange simulator" was held, organized by Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (Exchange, KASE) and the Information Agency of financial markets "IRBIS". This project is aimed at increasing the financial literacy of young professionals and getting by them of practical skills in the stock market.

The project "Exchange simulator "enables students of financial and economic faculties to participate in training trading in the most liquid shares of Kazakh companies on a free basis. At that, each participant is provided with a portfolio worth one million tenge at the start of trading. The main task of students is to form the best portfolio.

According to results of the 2016 competition, the number of students participating in the project increased from 405 to 1,500 people relative to the last season, the volume of transactions amounted to KZT6.8 bn, the number of transactions was 16,277. For the first time, students studying outside the Republic of Kazakhstan participated in the training trading, as well as college students.

The winners were determined by the organizers based on the results of the training trading, which were held in KASE's educational trading system from March 29 to April 26, 2017. They are as follows: − Grand prix – Kristina Kuzmenko; − first place – Petrov Nikita, Mordovian Daria, Ivlev Anton, Kurbanov Karim, Sagyndykova Malike; − second place – Abdilazizov Sardor, Asipova Zhazira, Abulkhairova Anel, Tillabai Sanjar, Nurlieva Kamila; − third place – Dosanova Akmaral, Yerekesh Akylbek Panabekuly, Baudunov Dilzat Ablimitovich, Lamzarov Ramazan Arlievich, Akhmetzhanov Rasul.

Winning participants will also have the opportunity to undergo training in partner financial organizations.

A positive growth trend of the project indicators indicates its importance and relevance. Interest in participating in it is shown not only by university students, there are also requests from wider segments of the population, which indicates a general interest in the stock market and the need to expand the project not only for students.

The project was implemented with the support of the akimdik of Almaty. The general sponsor of the project is "Bank of Astana" JSC, the general partner is "Freedom Finance" JSC. The project's partners were "Tsesna Capital" JSC, "Kazkom Securities" JSC and "Centras Securities" JSC.