A vision of Odette Dean, Allan Conway, the Odette Financial Markets Lab began hosting regular activities and becoming integrated with the curriculum soon after. This facility is another example of the generosity of Louis and Edmond Odette, whose support, both financial and other, remains a fundamental part of the School.
The Odette Financial Markets Lab (OX) is home to many finance class labs, Bloomberg certification courses, financial seminars, conferences, and numerous other resources designed to enhance the learning experience and research capabilities of students and faculty. Through the use of market simulations and live data feeds, the lab enables students to bridge the gap between the theory they learn in the class room and the practices of the real business world.
We invite you to explore the site to learn more about the dynamic learning experience the lab provides and how the technology makes it possible.
The Lab Experience
The Odette Financial Markets Lab provides students with the tools and resources to familiarize themselves with the world of finance. This facility was designed to link the student classroom experience to the real world by bringing theory into practice.
Many Odette students are currently utilizing the lab to enhance their understanding of the business world and boost their academic performance in courses in the following ways:
- Stopping in before class to get a quick update of financial and business news to stay better informed and enable relevant participation in classroom discussions.
- Practicing simulations to prepare for cases covered in finance courses.
- Participating in advanced simulations to learn advanced trading concepts not currently covered in finance classes
- Completing regular homework assignments more efficiently by making use of multi-screen terminals and advanced excel add-ins.
- Becoming Bloomberg Certified to gain a competitive advantage over other future graduates in the competitive financial job market.
- Conducting research through Bloomberg terminals to complete homework assignments.
- Meeting and networking with other business students interested in finance and the business world.
We invite you to learn more about what is happening in this dynamic interactive learning centre.
All Odette School of Business students are formally introduced to the Financial Markets Lab in their second year, while they take their required Business Finance courses. Students become familiar with the Rotman Interactive Trader (RIT) platform and learn how order-driven markets work. They learn about types of orders, market making, short selling, and managing liquidity in volatile markets.
RIT comprises of about 15 simulation cases, each devoted to a particular topic in Finance and all running on the same trading platform. RIT gives students the opportunity to try out the concepts they learned in class in a setting as similar to real life as possible. It allows students learn from their mistakes and be an active participant in the learning experience.
72-371, Intermediate Finance is required of those wishing to concentrate in Finance. In this course, students use the Financial Markets Lab for assignments in two areas: They use one of the cases in RIT to investigate how the arrival of information affects the price discovery process; They also use the Bloomberg platform to access real-time data on bond prices and features and analyze how various features affect bond values.
In 72-477, Derivatives and Risk Management, students access Bloomberg to obtain real-time quotes on option and futures prices and to identify stocks that would be good candidates for options trading. Students also compete in several RIT cases devoted to different option trading strategies. By participating in these cases, students actually learn how money is made or lost in options trading and how hedging and volatility-trading strategies work.
In the near future, the Financial Markets Lab will be incorporated into additional courses, starting with 72-477, Portfolio Management and 72-372, Investments. These courses will utilize Bloomberg for assignments and term projects and will use RIT or another software for enhanced experiential learning. 72-375, Financial Institutions and 72-379, International Financial Management will follow. All Undergraduate and Master’s level Finance courses will eventually incorporate the Lab into their curriculum. It is also envisioned that at least in one Finance course students will be required to obtain their Bloomberg certification.
The Odette Financial Markets lab is supported by a Finance Lab Intern and Lab Assistants who provide on-site assistance in the use of all hardware, software, and systems. Mentoring, demonstration/ information sessions, and one-on-one assistance are available to all Odette business students.
Student Employment Opportunities
The Odette School of Business is proud to support business student employment opportunities through the Financial Markets Lab Intern and Assistantship program.
Business students pursuing a future in Finance who are interested in applying for the Lab Internship position or a Lab Assistantship position should first contact the Accounting & Finance Area Secretary.
Lab Assistants are normally hired prior to the start of each semester and receive 12-week contracts. The Lab Internship position is an eight month appointment beginning in September and requires previous experience as a Lab Assistant.
The Lab Technology
This facility is a state-of-the-art interactive learning and research environment, complete with six widescreen LCD display screens and a projector which can stream data from a number of sources, including: satellite television, live Bloomberg and Reuters financial data, a DVD player, document camera, or from any of the twenty-three computer workstations in the lab.
The high tech features of the Odette Financial Markets Lab enable the instructor to take control of the display screens at any given time. For example, if a student is working on something particularly interesting, the instructor can switch all the student workstation display screens as well as the room displays to show what that student is working on. In order to maximise functionality, everything in the Room, from lighting to window shades, is accessible by remote control from the instructor workstation.
The Financial Markets Lab can accommodate concurrent work and training for forty students. Instead of the traditional classroom style layout, the lab is designed into five pods or desks, with each pod containing four workstations. Every workstation has three computer monitors of its own, each equipped with software for simulated trading, portfolio management and pricing of sophisticated financial assets.
This state-of-the-art facility is comprised of the following hardware:
22 student trading workstations:
- 11 Bloomberg terminals
- 1 Thomson-Reuters terminal
- Tri-monitor configuration at each workstation
- 2 students per workstation
Instructor trading workstation:
- Bloomberg terminal
- Tri-monitor configuration
- DVD player
- Laptop connectivity
- Document camera
- Hardware control interface
- Table mount microphone
Room features:
- Video projector and 96” widescreen projection screen
- 6 LCD display screens: 2 - 52” and 4 - 40”
- Adjustable whiteboards
- Satellite television service
- Hearing assist audio system complete with wireless microphone
- 2 Networked laser printers: 1 colour and 1 b&w