Winner Deon van der Merwe and JSE CEO Nicky Newton-King

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) announces the winners of the online Virtual Trading Game. This is a simulated trading platform based on real instruments traded on the exchange's Equities Market.

The Virtual Trading Game allows instruments to be traded based on the End of Day prices. Participants can test their investment strategies and learn how to keep track of a share portfolio. The JSE launched this online trading competition as a means to mirror the trading environment which enabled participants to trade in a risk-free environment using virtual funding. The game ran for three months from June until August 2013. The winner of the game is Deon van der Merwe who grew his portfolio by 18% (R180 000) from the virtual R1-million. He wins R30 000. "It has been an amazing experience. The competition is very realistic. It is a fantastic platform for people to learn more about investing," he says.
 
Second place in the game is Ettiene Stander who grew his portfolio by 17% (R170 000) from the virtual amount. Winnings for the second place include R20 000. Ettiene says the Game is the perfect platform to learn more about investing and gain some practical experience. Marlin Govender took third place after growing his portfolio by 13% (R130000). He wins R10 000. "Through the Virtual Trading Game the JSE hopes to assist individuals interested in trading to gain confidence and realise that investing on the exchange is not as intimidating and complex as is generally perceived,"says Takalani Nyelisani, Manager: Retail Development at the JSE.
 
The JSE recognizes the role it has to play in financial literacy as well as growing retail investment on the JSE. The exchange runs various creativities to increase South Africans' knowledge of the stock market, such as Power Hour, investment education clubs, MyJSE investment day and free public seminars.