2026-2027 Ithaca College High School Sock Market Compition Rules

Participants

  • A team consists of 3-6 students ranging from 9th to 12th grades from high schools across the United States. A faculty advisor per high school is needed for teams to compete in the competition. Each student can only be on one team. Prize money is only payable to high school winning teams that are based in the United States.
  • All team members need to register as well as the faculty advisor at the same time. All required fields on
    the registration page must be submitted with correct information. Trading starts on Monday, November
    16, 2026. The competition ends on Friday, April 2, 2027 at the closing bell. Late registration accepted.
    until Friday, December 11, 2026.

Registration

  • All registrations and portfolio trades must be made at https://edu.stocktrak.com/Ithaca. On the registration page, the faculty advisor will first enter their e-mail address, just below username and password, followed by student e-mails in the designated student registration fields. The username should be the name of the team.
  • All participants must register to be eligible for awards. Participants who do not register will not be
    awarded prizes if their team places in the competition.
  • Any team registrations that do not fully complete all required fields of registration with accurate
    Information will be disqualified from the competition. Any participant that registers for the
    Competition with a fake e-mail address will disqualify the entire team from the competition.
  • All participating students and faculty advisors must register with their school-based e-mail address,
    for example, that ends in .edu / .org / .net / .hs.k12.us etc. If this is an issue, please reach out to
    mfox1@ithaca.edu.
  • The ranking of teams is determined solely on the portfolio return measured by the change in value since
    the start of the competition.
  • The three winning teams have until May 31, 2027 to claim the prize money. Any participants that do
    not claim their prize money by this date will forfeit the winnings and have no recourse to claim the prize
    money.

Portfolio Parameters

  • Trade Submissions—$1,000,000 in virtual dollars will be allocated to each team at the start of the competition. Each team will then submit trades for their portfolio online at https://edu.stocktrak.com/Ithaca. Trading will take place during normal market hours (9:30am – 4pm).
  • Portfolio Composition – Investments must be in companies whose stock price is greater than $5.00 per share. Stocks on the NYSE or NASDAQ whose stock price is higher than $5 per share are allowed. The maximum any one position can make up a portfolio is 25% ($250K). No adjustment is needed if price limits, or position values are breached due to stock price fluctuation.

Frequency of Trades

  • Teams must submit their first round of trades by Friday, January 22, 2027. Any team that has not placed a trade by this date will be considered inactive and ineligible for prizes.
  • You will have a maximum of 1,000 trades throughout the entire competition. After a team has made 1,000
    trades their portfolio is no longer able to be adjusted.
  • Restrictions – Shorting stocks are NOT permitted. No inside information can be used. If trades are
    executed that are outside the rules of the competition, those trades will be retroactively converted into
    cash (i.e., as if the stock trade never happened).
  • Research Materials – Utilizing online materials (e.g., Google Finance, etc.) is encouraged to make
    investment selections.
  • Change of Rules – The Ithaca College School of Business reserves the right to make changes at any time.
  • Discrepancies – Participants should report any account discrepancy within one week of the transaction
    date. The Simulator Support Services Group will, at its sole discretion, investigate and adjust any
    legitimate discrepancy. Discrepancies reported after one week may or may not be adjusted. To contact the
    Support Services Group, click on “Contact Us” or email help-desk@stocktrak.com at the bottom of the
    page and fill out the brief form. Replies are usually sent within 24 hours by return email

The Simulator Support Services group also may conduct routine audits of any portfolio during or after the trading session to ensure all portfolios are free of pricing or corporate action errors. The Simulation Support Services group may correct any such discrepancies at any time, including after the trading period has ended. The results of these audits and any portfolio adjustments are final and not subject to appeals.