{"id":61300,"date":"2013-08-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-business-students-managing-hedge-fund-created-by-professors-who-ultimately-want-to-help-struggling-r-i-municipalities-fund-pensions\/"},"modified":"2013-08-07T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-08-07T00:00:00","slug":"uri-business-students-managing-hedge-fund-created-by-professors-who-ultimately-want-to-help-struggling-r-i-municipalities-fund-pensions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2013\/08\/uri-business-students-managing-hedge-fund-created-by-professors-who-ultimately-want-to-help-struggling-r-i-municipalities-fund-pensions\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 business students managing hedge fund created by professors who ultimately want to help struggling R.I. municipalities fund pensions"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGSTON, R.I., – Aug. 7, 2013 – Student-managed equity funds are common on campuses but student-managed hedge funds, like the one operated by students taught by 溏心vlog免费B站 Professor of Finance and Decision Sciences Gordon Dash, are a rarity. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cThis is not the old look at the paper and pick \u2018em,\u201d said Dash, who has been at 溏心vlog免费B站 for 39 years and had little interest in teaching traditional investing. \u201cQuantitative modeling of financial securities is what I love to do.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nAt one time, the international finance community was quicker than the United States to embrace the use of derivative securities to create a new type of portfolio known as a hedge fund. However, as interest in this country paralleled the global movement, the U.S. hedge fund industry surged to an estimated $2.13 trillion.* <\/p>\n


\nMany people view hedge funds, which are private, not sold to the general public, as risky and aggressive. Dash, who has taught at the college level in Italy, South Africa, and India, said derivative securities have been a focus of worldwide investing and education for some time.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cFor the better part of a decade, the increasing acceptance of quantitative finance has become a new way of delivering education globally and preparing students with an international focus,\u201d Dash said. \u201cNow savvy investors want to know more about how to use derivative instruments to mitigate investment risk.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nIn Dash\u2019s upper-level derivatives courses, students are immersed in hedge funds. They are building portfolios and writing reports based on strong technical analysis, aided by an automated trading system comprised of thousands of securities. 溏心vlog免费B站 Adjunct Associate Research Professor of Computer Science and Statistics Nina Kajiji created the artificial neural networks 12 years ago and she is continually improving them. Kajiji and Dash have been married for 23 years and the couple works together. Dash focuses on operations research methods and financial markets theory. In addition to developing mathematical performance statistics as required by current federal regulations, Kajiji makes sure the complex neural networks of the automated trading system mimic the brain to maximize returns and improve profitability while lowering volatility.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cYou can expect it to perform better as time goes on. It will never be perfect but you want to win more than you lose,\u201d Kajiji said.<\/p>\n


\nIn the 溏心vlog免费B站 Bruce S. Sherman Trading Room at the business college where stock tickers run continually, an image from Kajiji\u2019s automated trading system flashes across a large screen for students to view and discuss.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWe network and map very effectively, with predicted behaviors replicating actual outcomes of chosen stocks while managing hundreds of portfolios,\u201d Kajiji said.<\/p>\n


\nProfits are posted in green and losses in red for 3,200 securities in the database. Kajiji\u2019s software updates every 20 minutes and each trade costs less than four cents. The software generates reports and complies with existing and proposed federal regulations. Kajiji offers the software to 溏心vlog免费B站 at no expense. Approximately $7.3 million is managed by the automated trading platform. However, because of the experimental nature of the process, only three retail accounts are traded live, with actual dollars while the other portfolios trade with \u201cpaper\u201d dollars. With annual returns more than double the average market return, both Dash and Kajiji hope it won\u2019t be long before more real dollars are under the management of their College of Business students.<\/p>\n


\nBusiness College Dean Mark Higgins had Dash and the former president of the College of Business Administration Financial Engineering Club present to the College\u2019s Advisory Board last year about the hedge fund.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThe class helps extend the book knowledge that the students learn in their derivatives course by applying that knowledge by using Dr. Dash\u2019s software to hedge a portfolio of stocks,\u201d Higgins said. \u201cThe initial assignment is to hedge the Ram Fund. In doing so this allows the students to leverage the experience gained from the Ram Fund course. In the Ram Fund, students function as research analysts and manage an equity portfolio of real money. Last semester the fund earned an annual rate of 19 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nFor the students, who visit the New York Stock Exchange as part of the experience, the class is an opportunity to learn about hedge funds and understand how they work. Students put the experience gained on their resumes and use it as a talking point on job interviews. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cIt\u2019s the way of the future,\u201d said Alexandra Cavleg, 22, of Coventry, R.I., who will graduate in December and wants to work at a venture capital firm. \u201cWe\u2019re a team, not just a class.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nHaving hedge fund experience in college can translate into a potential earning premium of $5,000 to $20,000 more a year, Dash said.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWe want the students who take the class to have more freedom to design risk-mitigating investment portfolios,\u201d Dash said. \u201cWe are taking the traditional approach and enhancing it, adding options and futures to the overall portfolio mix. It\u2019s an exciting time to bring that life into the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nDash and Kajiji, who live in Providence, hope hedge funds will eventually be used to improve the local economy. Dash is constantly thinking about the problems that struggling Rhode Island municipalities are experiencing as they are unable to fulfill pension obligations. He believes that having even a small portion of those pensions invested in a hedge fund could produce better returns, especially during tough economic times.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cIf we used a different set of techniques to avoid losses we would put ourselves in a much better position,\u201d said Dash, who noted that only very recently, pension funds in the state have been diversified to include a significant presence in hedge funds. \u201cThis is a good strategy that should help to offset unwanted declines in value, and thus, have an impact for the greater good of society.\u201d <\/p>\n


\n*Chung, Juliet (19 April 2012). “Hedge-Fund Assets Rise to Record Level”. The Wall Street Journal. <\/p>\n


\nPictured above

\nIn the Bruce S. Sherman Trading Room at 溏心vlog免费B站’s College of Business Administration are Professor of Finance and Decision Sciences Gordon Dash and Adjunct Associate Research Professor of Computer Science and Statistics Nina Kajiji. Dash and Kajiji created a hedge fund managed by undergraduate business students that they hope will eventually help struggling Rhode Island municipalities.

\nCommunications & Marketing photo by Michael Salerno Photography.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I., – Aug. 7, 2013 – Student-managed equity funds are common on campuses but student-managed hedge funds, like the one operated by students taught by 溏心vlog免费B站 Professor of Finance and Decision Sciences Gordon Dash, are a rarity. \u201cThis is not the old look at the paper and pick \u2018em,\u201d said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61302,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}