sign_up.RmdThis page walks through what you as a participating trader need to do to fully sign up for the Competition, including all the downloads that you’ll need to be able to trade. To get fully registered, you’ll need to interact with the three (3) components that make up this competition:
If you’re a currently enrolled university student (grad or undergrad) then you’re eligible to participate in the competition!
If you already have a Discord account that you don’t mind using for the Competition, then you may use it.
If not, then you must create one. Discord accounts are required for the competition this year for several reasons:
But perhaps most importantly: We’re allowing some sponsors to join certain channels on the Hedge Hub for recruiting purposes.
You can make an account and download Discord here. You are probably going to want to download the app on your desktop and your phone.
Once you’ve got your Discord username, proceed to Step 2.
After you complete Step 2, the Competition admins will receive it and send you two things:
You need to do both of these steps in order to be fully registered. We’re working on automating the invites but for now, allow a max of 24 hours from the time you submit in Step 2 to the time you receive your two (2) invites.
When you get them, you can proceed:
Look for your Discord invite within the Discord app and join the server! Say hello in the Introductions channel, or maybe the General.
Monitor the university email address that you provided in Step 2 for an invite link to create a paper trading account for this year’s competition!
After a day or two (it varies, and usually your client portal activates first) you should be able to log in to your new IBKR paper trading account you created in two ways:
The Client Portal, which your account management website where you can view basic info about your account, including statements, balances, and trading activity.
Trader Workstation (TWS) TWS is IBKR’s graphical client app that connects to the brokerage and allows you to make trades and view real-time market data, including news & bulletins. TWS is intended to be installed on your computer and can be customized to your liking following the documentation on IBKR’s home page.
To install TWS, you’ll want to visit the TWS download page and install the correct version for your system. You’ll want to verify that you can log in and start setting up your preferred views, watchlists, etc.
There are two other ways to access your account:
Interactive Brokers offers a mobile app from which you can access your account to make trades and view market data. The app is available on Android and iOS.
IB Gateway is identical to TWS in every way except that there is no graphical user interface (GUI) – you’re expected to connect to a running instance of IBG using one of the various APIs made available by IBKR. To download, visit the IBG download page. Use this if you plan on making trades with an external system such as an app you’ve written in a language like R or Python.
Finally, for learning, tutorials, & so on:
IBKR maintains a set of videos on their Traders’ University site where you can learn about the different financial instruments and how to trade them using your system of choice.
Also be aware that Jake & Zoe will be giving educational sessions on how to use IBKR’s system on Discord from time to time.