Join the stock market game

How does the OÖN stock exchange game work?

Each participant receives a fictitious starting capital of 50,000 euros. For eight weeks it is possible to trade securities online on a PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. Whoever has the best performance at the end wins. The game started on January 26, 2023 and ends with the closing prices on March 22, 2023. Entry is therefore possible at any time. There are prizes worth more than 39,000 euros to be won. The stock exchange game is organized by the OÖ Nachrichten and Raiffeisen Oberösterreich. The award ceremony will take place at the closing event of the Börsespiel on May 8, 2023.

Who can participate in which categories?

Anyone who has reached the age of 18 at the start of the game can take part in the individual rating for adults. Pupils from the ninth grade may participate in the pupil evaluation. In the class evaluation, school classes can play together with a teacher. Each participant may only have one game deposit.

Which schools can participate?

The student and class ratings are an integral part of the stock market game and are supported by the Education Directorate for Upper Austria. Thousands of young people take part, committed teachers accompany and support them, the stock market game becomes part of the lessons. Pupils and classes from the ninth grade upwards are entitled to take part, i.e. HAK, HTL, polytechnic, technical schools, upper secondary school levels and vocational students (including apprentices) can take part. Last but not least, the game aims to improve the students’ financial knowledge.

What is the “Region Rally”?

This year there are again separate ratings in six Upper Austrian regions. This means that six more winners will be determined, who will also be honored at the closing event. The breakdown of the “Region Rally” corresponds to the six local editions of the OÖ Nachrichten, so there are ratings in the regions of Linz (incl. Linz-Land and parts of the Urfahr area, Perg, Amstetten), Wels (incl. Wels-Land, Grieskirchen, Eferding), Steyr (incl. Steyr-Land, Kirchdorf, Amstetten), Salzkammergut, Innviertel and Mühlviertel. Whoever achieves the best value development of their game deposit here is the regional winner.

Which securities are traded and are there any fees?

All securities listed on the Internet homepage at oon-boersespiel.at can be fictitious bought and sold. Selected stocks from the following indices are available: Vienna’s leading index ATX, DAX and TecDAX in Germany, Euro Stoxx 50 (most important European stocks), Dow Jones Industrial and Nasdaq 100 in the USA. In addition, selected funds, ETFs and certificates can be traded. Fictitious fees are deducted from the starting capital for each order, this fee rate is 0.25 percent of the transaction value. A minimum fee of EUR 17 is charged for orders for shares and certificates. In addition, three euros will be charged for each order. The securities capital gains tax is not taken into account for technical reasons.

What dates are announced?

The participants agree that their name, their current position, the transactions and the content of the securities account can be published on the websites oon-boersespiel.at and boerse-live.at as well as in the OÖNachrichten.

The most important steps

1. Login: On oon-boersespiel.at, click on “Login”/”Register” and fill out the form or log in with your existing user data. You can also access the OÖN homepage nachrichten.at.

2. Rules of the game: You can find all information on the website. After registering, you will receive 50,000 euros in fictitious start-up capital. A maximum of 20 percent of the money may be invested in one title in order to achieve optimal diversification. You can join the game at any time.

3. Product selection: As you can see on the stock market game website, stocks from the following indices are available:
ATX of the Vienna Stock Exchange
DAX and TecDAX of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange
Dow Jones and Nasdaq-100 in New York
Euro Stoxx 50 with Europe’s most important stocks
In addition, selected investment funds, ETFs and certificates can be traded.

4. Intermediate status: On the Börsespiel homepage you will not only find all general information, you will also see the current rankings there and can check how you compare to your competitors.
You can also find information about the stock exchange daily in the business section of OÖ Nachrichten and on the Raiffeisen securities platform boerse-live.at.

The prices

With the OÖN stock market game in cooperation with Raiffeisen Oberösterreich, you can gain valuable experience and win great prizes in a playful and risk-free manner.

Adult

Grand Prize: A Citroën C3 worth 16,600 euros provided by Autowelt Linz and Kepler-Fonds KAG.

2nd prize: Certificate vouchers and wellness holidays worth 4,000 euros from Raiffeisen Certificates
3rd prize: Fund vouchers and concert tickets worth 3,500 euros from Schroders and Klassik am Dom
4th prize: Holidays in Austria worth 1200 euros from Reisewelt
5th prize: Shopping vouchers worth 1000 euros from City Shopping Linz

Special Price

Region Rally: Not only can you win valuable prizes in your respective category, you have an additional chance of winning in the region rally: If you prevail in your region, you will receive vouchers from the Kepler-Fonds KAG worth 500 euros.

pupils

1st Prize: Cube e-mountain bike worth 2749 euros
2nd prize: E-Scooter Micro Merlin worth 799 euros
3rd prize: Apple Watch S8 worth 619 euros

school classes

1st Prize: LASK home game in the Raiffeisen Arena worth 2nd prize: 5000 Euro School Jump in the Jump Dome Linz worth 450 Euro
3rd prize: Private cinema screening in a Star Movie for a film of your choice worth around 400 euros

stock market tips

Valuable hints on what participants in the stock market game and investors in the real world should look out for.

• What are the central banks doing? The central banks, especially the ECB and the Federal Reserve, are currently the focus of the financial markets. How long and by how much will they keep raising interest rates? That is the crucial question. The answer to this depends above all on the further development of energy prices. It is therefore advisable to keep a close eye on what the central banks are doing or announcing. Big investors will too. If you get it right, you can win a lot in the game.
• What is politics doing? In addition to the central banks, of course, the politicians and the various trouble spots around the world also influence what is happening on the stock markets. Above all, events in Ukraine play an important role. But the behavior of the Chinese leadership is also important. Should there be an escalation over Taiwan, the cards will be reshuffled. This also applies to the financial markets. But other major and minor trouble spots that can crop up at any time often do not leave the financial markets untouched.
• How is the economy doing? The forecasts of how the global economy will develop in the current year still differ widely in some cases. The first positive signals in Europe could give stock prices a strong boost. This applies not least to the technology stocks that have come under severe pressure in recent months, especially those listed on the US Nasdaq stock exchange. There could also be interesting potential here in the short term, which could ultimately be decisive for the participants in the stock market game.
• Broad diversification, invest for the long term: In real life, as an investor, you should only invest that part of your money in stocks that you don’t absolutely need, because the risk is higher than with other asset classes. If you don’t want to speculate, you should also invest for the long term. The average return on Vienna’s leading index, the ATX, has been almost seven percent over the past 26 years. A must when investing in equities is broad diversification, ideally both by sector and by region.
• In the stock market game you have to act at short notice: You can’t think of a long-term strategy for the stock market game because it only lasts eight weeks. You need stocks that have the potential to appreciate in value quickly. When buying shares, you can set a price target that can be quite ambitious. If this is achieved, the stock is sold again and one looks for new opportunities. In the case of losses, one should prefer a terrifying ending rather than trying to “sit out” losses.