You work for BioCellTech, a biotech company specialising in the development of drugs aimed at curing or alleviating the effects of various virus-based human diseases.

During the simulation, you will receive news about BioCellTech, a company whose shares are traded on the SimTrade platform. You will be able to buy and sell shares of BioCellTech.

Your goal is to maximize your trading gain at the end of the simulation. Please note that your trading activity will be monitored and any identified violation of trading rules will be sanctioned.

At the start of the simulation, you own an account consisting of €100,000 in cash and 1,000 BioCellTech shares. Given yesterday’s closing price of €100, the total value of your position is equal to €200,000.

The duration of the simulation is initially set to 10 minutes which corresponds to a 24-hour trading day. In this simulation, you cannot increase or decrease the speed or pause the simulation.

In this experiment you are allowed to launch the simulation only once. To receive a grade, you must complete the simulation and answer the research survey available at the end of the simulation.

Your grade for this simulation (100 points) takes into account the following elements:

• Your trading performance (50 points): your relative performance, that is, the difference between your gain/loss on your position with your intervention during the simulation and the gain/loss without your intervention (as though you have not sent any order). A relative performance between 0 € and 5 000 € is expected. ☛ Computation of the points of performance


• Your participation in the survey at the end of the simulation (50 points): the answers to this survey will be used for a research project on behavioral finance.

BioCellTech operates in a highly competitive environment, with numerous biotech companies striving to treat the same diseases. Developing a new drug requires substantial upfront investments and can take several years (sometimes up to ten or fifteen years). Moreover, products cannot be commercialized until they successfully pass rigorous regulatory processes in each target market. The Medicine and Drug Authority (MDA) grants market authorization only after companies complete a series of extensive tests and procedures to ensure product safety.

The success of a new product in BioCellTech’s sector is thus highly uncertain and a biotech company's stock price can fluctuate significantly depending on its ability to secure market approvals. Other factors that may influence success and stock price include public perception, product effectiveness, managerial expertise, and supplier relationships.

Since its initial public offering two years ago, BioCellTech has achieved several commercial successes, driving its stock price up by 80%.

Building on this momentum, the company now plans to launch new product lines. With growing and increasingly recurrent revenues, BioCellTech intends to raise debt from banks and capital markets. Additionally, its management is considering hiring new employees and expanding into new markets and territories to support the company’s continued growth and scaling efforts.

After several decades of rapid growth, BioCellTech successfully launched its initial public offering (IPO) in 2017. Since entering the stock market, BioCellTech's stock (ticker: BCT) has risen from its IPO price of €35 to a recent high of €125. This upward trend has been accompanied by market volatility.

For several weeks, rumors of a takeover bid in the pharmaceutical sector have been circulating, with market participants viewing BioCellTech as a potential target.

BCT shares are currently trading at approximately €100.

Today, several events related to BioCellTech are expected to occur, potentially having a significant—positive or negative—impact on BCT's share price. Information about these events qualifies as inside information until it becomes publicly available to all market participants. Trading on inside information before its public disclosure may lead to a profit, but it constitutes insider trading.

Events of the day

BioCellTech is awaiting the decision of the Medicine and Drug Authority (MDA) on the marketing authorization of its new product. This decision is expected to have a significant impact on BCT stock price: a positive outcome could drive the stock price up by 20% or more, while a negative outcome could lead to a drop of 20% or more.

BioCellTech will also announce its profits for the last quarter. If the reported profits exceed market expectations, BCT stock price will rise. Conversely, if the profits fall short of market expectations, the stock price will decline. For instance, profits 50% above expectations could lead to a 20% increase in the stock price, while profits 50% below expectations could result in a 20% drop.

Moreover, the stock market could strongly react to a takeover bid for BioCellTech by a competitor. If BioCellTech accepts the bid, BCT stock price would likely increase toward the offered target price. Conversely, if BioCellTech rejects the bid, BCT stock price would likely decrease.

Inside information / Public information

Events will happen during the trading session. You will be informed about each of these events before they occur, which means that you will hold inside information about them.

Inside information privately disclosed to you will appear in blue in the ticker tape at the top of the Trading page like this:

Public information announced to all market participants will appear in black in the ticker tape at the top of the Trading page like this:

Inside information will be publicly disclosed to all market participants three hours after it has been privately shared with you.

If you trade after receiving inside information but before its public disclosure, you can expect to make a profit. However, this constitutes insider trading, which is illegal.

There is a risk of being caught and sanctioned if you engage in insider trading.

The entire trading session will last for 10 minutes. Your objective is to maximize the value of your portfolio (a mix of cash and of BCT shares) by the end of the trading session.