PLANTATION, Fla., March 7, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TradeStation (Nasdaq:TRAD) announced today that once again its award-winning TradeStation trading platform has been selected for Penn State's Trading Strategy Competition. In the competition, which is being coordinated by the Penn State Smeal College of Business, individual students and teams will use the TradeStation electronic trading platform to create automated trading strategies for three selected ETF markets. The TradeStation platform has been part of the Smeal College's educational program since 2001, when it was first installed throughout the College's entire real-time trading room.
The TradeStation trading platform enables the students to create, back-test, optimize and automate their trading strategies using TradeStation's proprietary database of historical market data. Competition results will be determined on the basis of the profitability of the students' automated trading strategies run using the TradeStation Simulator during the competition. The TradeStation Simulator makes it possible to "paper trade" strategies under "live" market conditions—with no financial risk whatsoever. The competition, which is open to students currently registered at any university, will begin today, March 7, 2011, and will end March 25, 2011.
"We are proud to partner with Penn State and the Smeal College of Business for the annual Trading Strategy Competition," said Salomon Sredni, Chief Executive Officer of TradeStation Group. "TradeStation provides an ideal platform for such a contest, allowing the participants to create, back-test and automate their own trading strategies, and then see how they would have performed in live, simulated head-to-head competition."
Participants will compete for cash prizes and trophies awarded by the Market Technicians Association Educational Foundation. The first-place winner will receive $500, the second-place winner will receive $300 and the third-place winner will receive $200. A trophy will also be awarded to the university with the highest score.
Additional universities interested in using TradeStation in real-time trading rooms or for other educational purposes may contact PublicRelations@TradeStation.com or call 954-652-7401. Discounts are available for approved universities.
About TradeStation Group, Inc.
TradeStation Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:TRAD), through its brokerage subsidiaries, offers the TradeStation platform to the active trader and certain institutional trader markets. TradeStation is an electronic trading platform that offers state-of-the-art electronic order execution and enables clients to design, test, optimize, monitor and automate their own custom Equities, Options, Futures and Forex trading strategies.
TradeStation Securities, Inc. (Member NYSE, FINRA, SIPC, DTCC, OCC & NFA) is a licensed securities broker-dealer and a registered futures commission merchant, and also a member of various exchanges. Its TradeStation Prime Services division, based in New York, seeks to provide prime brokerage services, including securities lending, to small and mid-sized hedge funds and other firms. TradeStation Forex, Inc. (Member NFA) is a Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer (RFED) that is expected to launch and offer exclusively the company's new forex brokerage offering beginning later this quarter. The company's technology subsidiary, TradeStation Technologies, Inc., develops and offers strategy trading software tools and subscription services. Its London-based subsidiary, TradeStation Europe Limited, an FSA-authorized brokerage firm, introduces UK and other European accounts to TradeStation Securities and, once operational, TradeStation Forex.
CONTACT: Media Contact: Loren Lopez 954-652-7011 llopez@tradestation.com