Online broker-dealer TradeKing (http://www.tradeking.com) today announced the TradeKing $ 100K API Campus Challenge. This challenge is intended to drive a unique collaboration between academia and an industry leader like TradeKing to foster creativity and drive awareness about innovative entrepreneurial possibilities around Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Born out of a groundbreaking pilot program conducted in Spring 2011 at the Sellinger School of Business and Management at Loyola University Maryland, the Fall 2011 semester-long TradeKing Challenge will provide undergraduate business/finance and technology students across the U.S. with real-life experience developing investment-focused Apps and User Interfaces using TradeKings API. The Challenge will be open to as many as 20 universities; already, a number of schools from across the U.S., ranging from large public universities to smaller independent colleges, have registered to compete. The deadline for schools to register for the Challenge is August 15.
The TradeKing Challenge uses the innovative concept of classroom crowdsourcing to encourage students to develop new web and mobile applications using the TradeKing API, potentially combining the TradeKing API with other APIs from websites such as Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo, and Google. Submissions will be judged by a panel including senior TradeKing executives; Professor Paul Tallon, associate professor of information systems and operations management at the Sellinger School; Jason Heltzer, Principal, OCA Ventures; Brian OMalley, Partner, Battery Ventures; and Greg MacSweeney, Editorial Director of Wall Street & Technology magazine.
We want to encourage creative and transformational thinking, and have designed the TradeKing $ 100K API Campus Challenge to foster these core cultural values while benefiting students, faculty and our clients alike, said Don Montanaro, CEO and Chairman of TradeKing. Students will get the opportunity to work alongside seasoned technology professionals to experience a real-world software development lifecycle and test their skills. Faculty can leverage the Challenge to enhance course content by demonstrating the value of stimulating new creative ideas in a fast-changing and highly competitive online financial services environment.
And for our clients, we expect the outcome of the Challenge will be a wide variety of apps and optional customized trading experiences along with TradeKings commitment to provide the industrys best service and support. We believe this is the first-ever use of crowdsourcing in partnership with academic institutions by a brokerage firm in the U.S., and were proud to take a leadership role in bringing the Challenge to life, continued Montanaro.
Feedback from my students who participated in the pilot Challenge at Loyola was overwhelmingly positive, and I thoroughly enjoyed guiding them through the process, said Professor Tallon. Students were challenged to draw upon a diverse body of knowledge spanning both IT and finance in creating a next-generation App. They had to think in new ways and collaborate under a strict deadline, knowing their classmates were equally driven to move their ideas from concept to execution. I encourage all universities to take advantage of this valuable opportunity for leveraging a new model for classroom learning.
Working with TradeKings API is particularly rewarding for out-of-the box thinkers, creative developers and technologists alike for a number of reasons, commented Dan Raju, TradeKings CIO. In addition to the deep functionality of our API, TradeKing is offering a high level of commitment to service, technical resources and simplified developer onboarding. Were particularly focused on creating an outstanding developer experience in accessing and building great systems and Applications on our secure API.
TradeKing will award up to $ 100,000 in total prize money in the Challenge, including prize money for winners from each of the 20 participating schools, divisional winners and a national $ 20,000 winner. The professors and schools where the winning students are enrolled will also receive cash prizes. The TradeKing $ 100K API Campus Challenge will kick off on September 12, 2011. Interested faculty and undergraduates can visit http://apicampuschallenge.com/ to learn more.
About TradeKing
TradeKing (http://www.tradeking.com) is a nationally licensed online stock and options broker offering simple, low cost online trading fees ($ 4.95 per trade plus $ .65 per option contract, $ 8.95 per trade plus $ .15 per options contract for nine or more contracts) with no hidden costs or account minimums.1 A pioneer in integrating new financial social media as part of its innovative online equities, options trading and fixed-income trading platform, TradeKing has received multiple discount broker awards from top industry sources and was rated best in customer service by SmartMoney2 Magazine, ahead of OptionsXpress, Scottrade, Fidelity, and TD Ameritrade. (June 2011 SmartMoney Broker Survey.)
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