By Terry McCafferty ‘22
For the last few months SIEntA member and potential Wall Street banker, Charlie Cindric ‘20, has been trading stocks day in and day out in the school’s online stock competition. By trading volatility and risky stocks, Cindric took a lot of big risks, particularly by snatching newer companies shortly after their initial public offering (IPO). However, through his impressive decision-making skills and relentless trading, Cindric managed to increase the amount in his portfolio more than 1,000,000%. To put it simply, he bought the stocks low and sold high just hours or even minutes after buying them. Cindric shared these following pieces of insight on his success, investing, his future, and advice for new investors:
What trading tactics and strategies made you so successful in this competition?
The trading strategy that really helped me get an edge in this competition was a short-term investing mindset. I had to take bigger risks investing, but I had to be mindful of the money I was putting into these companies so my gains would not tank if the company did not perform how I would have liked.
In real life, do you invest in companies that are as volatile and unpredictable as the ones you picked for the competition? And if not, what do you invest in?
In real life, I would invest in more stable companies but still take some risks. Long-term investing strategies is a smart way to invest your money to have a better guarantee of profits, but the excess money I get, I would use as play money to take more risks.
What type of career-path do you envision for yourself in the future?
I would like to major in Finance and Accounting, and I can see myself working in an investment bank on Wall Street in the future.
What advice do you have for investors new to the stock market?
The advice I would tell new investors is to do research on a company you might invest. Look at how the company performed on the market in the past, take fewer risks until you understand how the market works, and come to the Investment Sub Committee meetings on Wednesdays.
Next semester SIEnTA will have another competition, and according to Mr. Hess, the moderator, they will be altering the rules slightly in order to give the competitors more time away from the trading pit.
