Winners Announced - Fall 2018 ETF Global® Portfolio Challenge!

Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - After 10 weeks of intense competition, characterized by constant change atop the leaderboard and double digit returns among the top ten finishers, the Fall 2018 ETF Global® Portfolio Challenge has come to a close. Our seventh edition of the Portfolio Challenge brought a new wave of talented college students from a diverse array of universities and academic backgrounds. Drawing students from 253 schools, 41 countries on 5 continents, this semester’s competition helped enlarge the portfolio challenge’s already broad global footprint and create highly competitive playing conditions.

Our contestants all began the semester with a virtual balance of $100,000 and with the task of constructing the best performing portfolio of ETFs. Students were afforded weekly rebalance opportunities and to invest in a minimum of 4 and maximum of 10 ETFs at a time. Despite facing heavy competition all semester, these 5 select students below were able to separate themselves from the rest of the field.

Please join us in congratulating the top 5 winners of the Fall 2018 ETF Global® Portfolio Challenge!

Name	School	Portfolio Return
Rongbai Xue	Tulane University	52.09%
Ronika Choudhury	Birkbeck, University of London	37.19%
Brennan Siemens	University of Manitoba	22.96%
Binru Wu	Tulane University	22.64%
Ha Nguyen	Keuka College	21.96%

Our winners hailed from four different schools in three different countries. Our first place winner, Rongbai Xue, rode the unpredictable volatility of the markets this fall. Investing heavily in VelocityShares VIX Short Term ETN and iPath S&P 500 VIX Short Term Futures Rongbai was able to produce returns in excess of 50%. Both Ronika and Brennan invested mainly in Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bear 3X and Direxion Shares Exchange Traded Fund Trust helping them to earn returns of 37.19% and 22.96% respectively. Binru was able to achieve 22.64% returns through investing in a mix of Trust backed ETFs and Short-Term Treasury Bond ETNs. Finally, our fifth place finisher Ha focused on energy themed ETFs and had a portfolio heavily weighted in Oil & Gas products.

As the Top 5 Winners of this semester’s challenge, these students will be featured and recognized during the ETF Global® Portfolio Challenge Awards Ceremony at the upcoming Spring 2019 ETP Forum (www.etpforum.org) on Tuesday, April 30^th at the New York Athletic Club.

Please see below for the students that rounded out our Top 25 participants:

Name	School	Portfolio Return
Thomas Duvalleroy	SKEMA Business School	20.04%
Dwayne Safer	Messiah College	18.08%
Brahim Mokrane	ESCP Europe	16.87%
Shang Wang	Rutgers University	15.23%
Meng Jia	Rutgers University	14.00%
Rocio Anahi Cejas	Oxford Brookes University	13.66%
Arnas Leika	Birkbeck, University of London	9.14%
Matthew Vangalen	University of Detroit Mercy	7.75%
Spiro Pliakos	University of Detroit Mercy	7.70%
Alexa Yonan	University of Detroit Mercy	6.99%
Benjamin Wilson	Messiah College	6.91%
Yili Zhao	St. John’s University	4.80%
Michael Conceison	University of Maine	4.28%
Shweta Desai	University of Maine	4.18%
Yael Borovich	University of Manitoba	3.36%
Claire Bradley	University of Tampa	2.72%
Darshan Patel	University of Tampa	2.31%
Jaime Garcia-Yanes	University of Tampa	1.38%
John Polchow	St. John’s University	1.16%
Alex Roszkowski	St. John’s University	1.12%

Since its inception in the Fall 2015, the ETF Global® Portfolio Challenge has attracted students from 6 continents and 450 schools. As Millennials continue to increase their usage of ETFs, we encourage all college students to take advantage of this opportunity and learn about this fast-growing investment vehicle before they enter the marketplace.

Registration for the Spring 2018 competition will open at the end of January.  For more information and to sign-up for the Challenge, please visit: www.etfportfoliochallenge.com.

Thank you for reading ETF Global Perspectives!

ETFG 21 Day Free Trial:  https://www.etfg.com/signup/quick

_____________________________________________________________

Assumptions, opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material and are subject to change without notice.  ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information, including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein, regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE.  In no event shall ETFG Parties be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business decision.  ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of any security.  ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment advisor.  While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.  Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of their issue.  Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the investor may get back less than the amount invested.  Where an investment is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of income that the investor will receive from such an investment may fluctuate.  Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the investor.