Investor-NM

Nordic Growth Market´s yearly trading competition Investor-NM is now over and BTVALEN is the winner of Investor-NM 2022!

Congratulations for being the most successful investor in Norway and the winner of Investor-NM!

In Sweden and Finland, there is also a side competition between influencers and popular Twitter profiles. Next year we would like to start a similar competition in Norway.

If you know of any Norwegian influencer or popular finance profile that you would like to see participate in the competition, please send your suggestion to contact@ngm.se.

The competition has come more than halfway, and the current leader is TOBBLERONE. The leader is followed by the runner-up FREEBIE. It will be thrilling to follow the leaderboard during the last two days of trading and, as we know out of experience, anything can happen!

It is time for the annual trading competition ”Investor-SM/NM/DM/Sijoittajamestari” and we managed to get a quick chat with one of our sponsors and ETP providers, Société Générale.

1. What are your thoughts about the trading competition?

We believe that the trading competition is a great way for both new investors as well as experienced investors to try out Exchange Traded Products. Since the competition is mirroring real products and real prices, the participants can obtain valuable insights in how different products behave in real market situations. It is a great tool to expand one’s knowledge of ETPs.

2. How would you describe the different products you offer?

Société Générale offers more than 22 000 Exchange Traded Products across the Nordics. We offer a very expansive range of instruments for the self-directed trader but also solutions for investors with a longer investment horizon. Everything from Tracker Certificates on thematic strategies to Bull & Bear Certificates, Mini Futures, Turbo Warrants and Plain Warrants are to be found in our product range. The large product offering gives investors a variety of different investment opportunities during different market conditions. Investors can get exposure to the development in almost anything – from commodities, precious metals, currencies, interest rates and indices to many national and international stocks.

3. What would be the main reasons to choose ETP products instead of investing in plain equities or mutual funds?

There are probably as many reasons as there are different investor types to choose ETPs over plain stocks or mutual funds. One obvious reason is that you can get greater exposure to an underlying for a relatively small initial investment. This is due to the build-in leverage effect that most of the ETPs have and may help to extract tied-up capital. Another reason is the flexibility to get exposure in rising markets (using “Bull”, “Long” or “Call” products) as well as falling markets (using “Bear”, “Short” or “Put” products). There are even solutions to generate positive returns during flat markets.  All this combined with a liquid market and uncomplicated access allows any investor to add very specific investment strategies into their portfolios and adjust its risk and reward exposure individually.

4. How would you describe the Nordic market compared to the rest of Europe?

The Nordic ETP market has experienced a strong growth during the past years and has been gaining visibility in other European markets. It is still not yet as developed as other European markets like Germany or France, particularly when it comes to the diversity of brokers specializing in ETPs. However, a development in that area would certainly further support the growth of the Nordic ETP market and positively impact the experience for the investors.

5. What would you like to highlight in your bank’s product offering?

The broad spectrum of our product offering makes sure that we always have products that fit any investor’s outlook during almost any market scenario. We are constantly monitoring our products on the market in order to have an up-to-date product line, and we also welcome suggestions from any investors for new products.

6. Do you have any advices for the traders in the competition?

Use the trading competition to get some valuable experience with investing in ETPs, and also to get to know the products that you are trading. On both Société Générale’s website and the NGM website you can find educational material that describes, in an easy language, how the different product types work, and how you can take advantage of different market scenarios.

Nordic Growth Market´s yearly trading competition Investor-NM is now over and Martin Haugland is the lucky winner of Investor-NM 2021 and named the most successful investor in Norway. We had the chance to ask a few questions to the new champion.

Congratulations for being the most successful investor in Norway and the winner of Investor-NM 2021! How does it feel?

– It feels great! It was so close that I was not sure until the last few minutes, but my strategy worked out in the end.

What was your winning recipe?

– I knew I had to take big risks to have a chance at winning with so many other investors participating. I started off with attempting to take the biggest risks I could on products that were doing the best on the first day. Those bets went well and I stayed in the top 10 most days, but on Friday I was around 30% under the leader at lunchtime. The products I was holding were not volatile enough to close that gap, so I looked through the different assets that I had experience with and landed on oil as it was very volatile on Friday and could be leveraged up to 15x.
The price fell through 80$ with momentum and I decided to bet against it. Then it met resistance on 3 attempts around 78,30-78,40. I was still far behind the competition and my oil shorts were not giving returns, I decided to take the final risk and go bull on oil. Banking on the support around 78,3-78,4 holding into a rebound towards 80. And luckily that’s what happened.
When I was at 57,9% returns the competitors closest were at 55% and 52%. These products have a spread, which means you buy at higher price than you can sell at when you buy the asset, and trading a lot can be expensive. I was hoping that the competition would do a lot of trades to try to catch up to me in the last hours, and they did while paying a lot of spreads. When they found something to hold they had both lost 15-20%. The last 2 hours they gained most of that back, but ended a few % too far behind. The decision to take profits at 57,9% is what won me the competition. If I had looked for another asset at that point the risk of making a wrong choice could very easily have made me lose.

Which asset classes did you trade the most in the competition?

– Mostly bull and bear certificates in oil.

What were your expectations for this year’s competition?

– I expected a close competition with the best strategies coupled with a lot of luck would win out.

What experience do you have of trading?

– I am self-taught and have been trading on and off on Oslo Børs and Euronext Growth(prev. Merkur market) for the last 11 years.

What are your three best learnings from this year’s competition?

– Take calculated risks that are big enough to win.
Keep to assets you have experience with, in areas where you have an edge.
Take profits when they are there. In volatile assets with large leverage the profits are often short-lived.

What tips do you have for succeeding in trading?

– Make your own strategy, build on it over time and never invest more than you are fine with losing. Trading is not simple or predictable, and some parts of it only comes with experience.
My biggest tip is when it’s good enough to tell your friends about, it’s good enough to sell.

Do you have a role model when it comes to trading?

– No, I think we often forget that a lot of people don’t make a profit trading. While it is less fun, I think it’s better to learn from what they did and avoid their mistakes.

What was the most fun part about participating in Investor-NM 2021?

– To test my own strategy in a close to real market situation and see how it held up against everyone else.

Why should you participate in Investor-NM?

– To gain experience. Trading can be expensive because of all the mistakes most people will make starting out. Everyone will make a lot of mistakes, so to get the chance to test different tactics and strategies in a safe environment can be very helpful to anyone who wants to see what trading is like.

In Sweden, there is a side competition for Swedish finance influencers/Twitter profiles. Do you have any Norwegian finance influencers/Twitter profiles you would like to see compete in a side competition?

– I would like to see Karl Oscar Strøm compete.

Dear competitors,

We are in the last hours of this year’s trading competition and we are excited to see who will be crowned the best trader in the country!

In Sweden, there is also a side competition between influencers and popular Twitter profiles. Next year we would like to start a similar competition in Norway.

If you know of any Norwegian influencer or popular finance Twitter profile that you would like to see participate in the competition, please send your suggestion to contact@ngm.se.

The competition has come more than halfway, and the current leader is HAVARFIN. The leader is tightly followed by the runner-up HANSOSLO. It will be thrilling to follow the leaderboard during the last two days of trading and, as we know out of experience, anything can happen!

It is time for the annual trading competition ”Investor-SM/NM/DM/Sijoittajamestari” and we managed to get a quick chat with one of our sponsors and ETP providers, Société Générale.

1. What are your thoughts about the trading competition?
We believe that the trading competition is a great way for both new investors as well as experienced investors to try out Exchange Traded Products. Especially for new traders there can be some useful experience gained during the trading competition.

2. How would you describe the different products you offer?
Société Générale offers more than 12 000 Exchange Traded Products across the Nordics. Everything from Bull & Bear certificates and Mini Futures to plain warrants and turbos are to be found in our product range. The large product offering gives investors a variety of different investment opportunities during different market conditions. Investors can get exposure to the development in almost anything – from commodities, precious metals, indices to most stocks.

3. What would be the main reasons to choose ETP products instead of investing in plain equities or mutual funds?
There are many reasons to choose ETPs over plain stocks or mutual funds. One reason is that you can get greater exposure to an underlying for a relatively small initial investment. This is due to the build-in leverage effect that most of our products have. Another reason is the fact that you can get easy exposure during bear markets by buying so-called “Short” or “Bear” products. These products enable you to earn a profit when the value of the underlying is decreasing. A third reason to consider is that our popular Mini Futures can be used to replicate existing equity positions in a portfolio for either hedging purposes or simply to reduce the cash exposure in a stock. In other words, the products can also be used for reducing the risk of an existing equity portfolio.

4. How would you describe the Nordic market compared to the rest of Europe?
The Nordic ETP market is not yet as developed as other European markets like Germany or France. However, we see a growing interest for investors to invest their savings, and also from a political point of view there have been taken some important steps in the Nordics towards a more investment friendly environment. This is a tendency we expect to see increase over the coming years for the benefit of investors.

5. What would you like to highlight in your bank’s product offering?
The broad spectrum of our product offering makes sure that we always have products that fit any investor’s belief during almost any market scenario. We are constantly monitoring our products on the market in order to have an up-to-date product line, and we also welcome suggestions from private investors for new products.

6. Do you have any advices for the traders in the competition?
Use the trading competition to get some valuable experience with investing in ETPs, and also to get to know the products that you are trading. On both Société Générale’s website and the NGM website you can find educational material that describes, in an easy language, how the different product types work, and how you can take advantage of different market scenarios.

Nordic Growth Market´s yearly trading competition Investor-NM is now over and Magnus Willén is the lucky winner of Investor-NM 2020 and named the most successful investor in Norway. We had the chance to ask a few questions to the new champion.

Congratulations for being the most successful investor in Norway and the winner of Investor-NM 2020! How does it feel?
It feels fantastic! Proof that you know what you are doing and that you do it well.

What was your winning recipe?
My strategy was simply to use the tools I know and trust – technical analysis, pattern recognition, support and resistance lines. But most importantly, to keep a clear mind and don’t stress it.

Which asset classes did you trade the most in the competition?
Indices as I know those best, and preferably DAX Index.

What were your expectations for this year’s competition?
I was expecting a more volatile market, which would increase the risk of getting knocked out and also increase “the luck factor”, but conditions turned out to be more favorable.

What experience do you have of trading?
Over 10 000 hours as a non-professional, including every tradable product known to man. I eat annual reports for breakfast.

What are your three best learnings from this year’s competition?
There are more interesting products to trade than you may think. Don’t chase the money. Believe in yourself.

What tips do you have for succeeding in trading?
Learning to know yourself and your limits is more important than anything else. After failing you may change your strategy, but most likely it is you that need change.

Do you have a role model when it comes to trading?
No one in particular, I try to pick up the best ideas from any successful trader. I am still learning new things after all years of trading.

What was the most fun part about participating in Investor-NM 2020?
Winning, of course. And the uncertainty before checking the account balance.

Why should you participate in Investor-NM?
To measure your skills against others. It is also a good opportunity to try available products in a risk-free environment.

It is time for the annual trading competition ”Investor-NM” and we managed to get a quick chat with one of our sponsors and ETP providers, Société Générale. (more…)