Lindner Investment Challenge

In the Lindner Investment Challenge, students trade actual U.S. equities and exchange-traded funds on a professional trading platform. Teams have a paper trading account with a $1 million starting balance.

When: The competition began on January 15, 2026, and ends on April 1, 2026.

Who: The Lindner Investment Challenge is open to all UC students. Teams may be comprised of up to three students.

Goal: Outperform the S&P 500 while managing risk and controlling transaction costs.

Prize: A total of $18,000 in scholarship funding is available. First place wins $10,000, with second place receiving $5,000 and third place taking $3,000.

Additional information

• Pre-competition training sessions are supervised by Lindner faculty to teach portfolio management fundamentals, trading strategies and platform basics.
• Competitors receive guidance and refine their trading approach during the challenge by visiting with Lindner faculty during established checkpoints and office hours.
• Students progressively build skills from training through the competition to the final presentation.
• Students gain industry visibility and real-world experience by presenting to investment professionals, who will act as the competition’s judges.

• A total of 33 teams comprised of 55 students are competing.

• The objective is to have highest information ratio, which shows how consistently a portfolio manager beats the market relative to how much their performance varies.

• Top three teams will present their investment thesis to an esteemed panel of judges from Cincinnati Financial, BlackRock, the UC Investment Office, and the former CIO of Goldman Sachs Asset Management on April 20.

If you are interested in or have questions about the Lindner Investment Challenge, please sign up to receive more information and/or contact Johnson Investment Institute Academic Director Mehmet Sağlam.