Liu
College of Charleston Associate Professor of Finance and Chartered Market Technician Hao-Chen Liu, Ph.D., recently helped the College of Charleston rank #2 in the highly competitive Spring 2024 Investment Challenge, hosted by the Chartered Market Technician (CMT) Association.
The Chartered Market Technician Association is a non-profit and professional association of technical analysts. It focuses on the education of technical analysis and networking centered around price behavior and market statistics. Over eight weeks, CMT program candidates and students of the academic partner program are invited to compete in the Investment Challenge, giving candidates a platform to learn and apply technical analysis. The challenge is held twice a year.
This year, the competition ran from February 5, 2024, to March 29, 2024. The CMT Association challenge included participation from 552 individuals representing 27 countries and 32 universities worldwide, with the College of Charleston being one of them.
To successfully complete the CMT Challenge, candidates are expected to learn how to navigate the technical analysis strategies on Discord. Then, candidates must submit and track their investment ideas over eight weeks, continually monitoring their portfolio and posting on social media. To manage portfolios, candidates are required to submit investment ideas with thoughtful investment and risk management rationale. At the end of the period, winners are declared globally.
Liu comments that the hardest part of the challenge is staying disciplined.
“Once a strategy is determined, do not let emotions direct decisions. Markets are a battlefield between buyers and sellers. Having discipline and following through with the designed strategy is essential in trading,” he says.
Liu opened a total of 15 positions. His portfolio is impressive, ranking #2 in the highest risk-adjusted return at 2.39% and ranking #3 in both the highest absolute return at 11.22% and the single most profitable trade at 20.06%. To manage his portfolio, he researched industry sectors that were trending up and picked the companies that were gaining momentum using technical indicators. He notes that it is important to have profit-taking and stop-loss levels when entering a position.
“Congratulations to Dr. Liu for his outstanding performance in the competition,” says Weishen Wang, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Finance. “He has not only showcased his expertise but also brought recognition to our institution on a global scale.”
Liu encourages students at the College of Charleston to participate in the CMT Association’s future Investment Challenges.
