COMM 5700

great class. was presented in a way that COMM and NonCOMM could understand. If you are interested in trading, take this class.

Take this class if you are interested in applied trading. The course is not too academical. However, it requires students to think about certain strategies and how they could affect their own trading. Professor Webb is a great professor.

The content in this class is quite poor. Since Webb is quite old, he only knows about older trading methods. You learn very high level things about trading, like "cut your losses short and let your profits run." You won't actually learn anything about actual trading. The class was relatively fun and not too much work though. There's a semester long project where you trade a fake portfolio of $5MM on TD Ameritrade and you get to see how you stack up against your classmates. There are also some pretty influential guest speakers, like Paul Tudor Jones and Jeff Yass. Overall, a 'fluff' class but if you're looking for something chill take it.

This was the easiest class I've taken at McIntire but also one of the more interesting ones. There is very minimal work except for a trading game simulation which is pretty fun. Half of the class is devoted to hearing guest speakers talk about their experiences and there are a lot of big names in the finance world. It's great networking experience and helps you learn about different potential career paths. Lectures can be boring at times because Webb is soft spoken, but he's super smart and really nice and I learned a lot. There's one midterm that's open note that was somewhat challenging but it was curved a lot and most of the class ends with an A or A-. For anyone interested in an easier finance elective that's still really interesting, I can't recommend this class enough.

The structure of this class is 40% midterm/40% assignments/20% participation & attendance. There are 2-3 preliminary assignments about your trading strategy and your analysis of some current events. The last assignment is a report reflecting on your experiences during the trading game. The trading game is a simulation game where you get $5M in a website called StockTrak (which is pretty poorly designed) and you work independently or with a group to make trades throughout the semester. The midterm is fairly straight forward and curved so that the lowest grade is a B- (at least as of Fall 2022), but if you want an A-/A, make sure you take good notes (especially for the guest speakers as he does ask about them on the exam), as the exam is open note and take home.

This class is about a 70/30 split between guest lectures and Professor Webb's lectures. Clearly the main draw of this class is the extensive network of traders that come to speak with the class. There is quite the eclectic group of lecturers, from Paul Tudor Jones, to other characters with some interesting takes, but overall a cool experience to hear from many industry experts. Most of them are also very happy to be contacted, so this is definitely a plus for anyone interested in trading.

Overall I couldn't say I learned a whole lot besides "cut your losses" and "let your profits run" but for anyone interested in trading, this class is a fairly easy A-/A and can be very informative hearing from the guest speakers.