What's the strategy behind The Stock Market Game success of Ben Carosella '22 and Archie Debbage '22? 

For the team of seniors, it came down to timing, strategy and embracing a volatile market. "I picked a volatile stock from the most volatile stock list," Archie Debbage '22 said. 

"To add to that," says his game partner Ben Carosella '22, "We tried to sell it when the value was up, and the software froze." They weren't able to sell their stock for another hour, and in that time the price doubled. 

"The website's failure made us succeed even more," says Archie. The pair decided to hold on to their earnings and not make any other investments for the duration of the game, which turned out to be a wise choice. They ended up placing third in the region with a 26.7% return over the S&P 500 and finished with over $124,000 of total equity. 

When it comes to what they learned about potentially investing real dollars in the future, the pair says, "You've got to get lucky." While luck played a part in their success, timing was also critical. They minimized risk in a volatile market by moving their money out of stocks and into cash to protect their equity from further volatility. It was a well-timed move since the stock price dipped the next day.

The Stock Market Game is "an online simulation of the global capital markets that engages students grades 4-12 in the world of economics, investing and personal finance and that has prepared nearly 20 million students for financially independent futures." It is a program of the SIFMA Foundation.