A team of students from Baruch College’s Master of Financial Engineering program won first place in the 19th annual Rotman International Trading Competition on Feb. 27.

The competition marked the fourth consecutive year but seventh overall in which Baruch students won the top prize at the University of Toronto-run challenge.

“Baruch has a culture of competing and winning the Rotman competition that has been fostered over years,” Aneesh Subramanya, a member of the winning team, said in a press release. “It’s a competition that we all look forward to, train for, and take pride in winning. I wanted to continue this rich tradition.”

RITC, self-identified as the largest trading competition in the world, invited teams of students and a faculty advisor from universities across the globe to participate in marketing simulations over the course of three days. Participants competed in trading cases that involve algorithms, liquidity, open outcry and options in addition to networking events and workshops.

The Baruch team performed against 42 universities from 13 countries. Jarrod Pickens, a professor from the Department of Mathematics at the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences, served as the team’s coach.

Subramanya was joined by Mingsen Wang, Chengxun Wu and Xingyu Zhu. The four students plan to graduate from the Master of Financial Engineering program this year.

“I was able to prepare with my teammates from the beginning to the end,” Wu said, according to a press release. “We showed strong cohesiveness even under the pressure of the competition. We encourage each other when the market moves against us, we maximize our results with cooperation when opportunities come, and we cheer together when we won the title.”

In December 2022, the Master in Financial Engineering program at Baruch ranked No. 1 of its kind in the United States for a third consecutive year by QuantNet, an online hub for data and forums regarding financial engineering education. Program Co-Director Dan Stefanica said those who graduate from it receive offers from sought-after firms in the financial engineering field, including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Wang said in a press release that RITC is an “excellent example” of the opportunities Baruch enables students to participate in, allowing him to acquire the skills he needs for his career.

“We have equal exposure to both the established theories of academia and the latest developments in the industry, helping us think in a both systematic and innovative manner, which would be an excellent quality in career development,” Wang added.

Baruch first won the trading competition in 2012, preceding consistent victories in 2016, 2017, 2020, 2021 and 2022. Although the college’s previous successes placed pressure on the team members, it also helped to instill self-esteem.

“This is also a strong reflection of Baruch’s leading position, which made me confident that if we performed similarly to our training at practice, we would be good enough to win the title, which is what happened,” Zhu said in a press release.