The first Investment Strategy Contest 2026 was launched on Friday at the SIX Convention Point in Zurich, organized by SIX, the Swiss Financial Museum and Iconomix, the educational programme of the Swiss National Bank (SNB).
The digital stock-market game targets students from vocational colleges and upper-secondary schools, with registration handled through teachers. Participants will use the VirtualAlpha platform to deploy investment strategies over the coming months.
Each team starts with 100,000 Swiss francs in virtual capital. While the investments are simulated, pricing and valuations are drawn from real market data. The investable universe covers listed equities, equity-index ETFs, the precious metals gold and silver, and cryptocurrencies. Organisers say the contest emphasises long-term, diversified and risk-aware asset allocation rather than short-term performance chasing.
Performance alone does not determine the winner. Teams must submit a strategy paper at the outset, adjust their portfolios as markets move and discuss their decisions in class. By March 2027, participants will submit a concluding reflection assessing their actions against the strategy they defined at the start. A five-member expert jury drawn from finance, education and media will rate the clarity and traceability of each strategy, the logic behind investment decisions and the quality of the final reflection. Prizes — in cash and in kind — will be awarded during Swiss Money Week in March 2027.
Around 130 students from seven classes, accompanied by their teachers, attended the kick-off event. Julia Erdin, deputy head of Iconomix, hosted the evening. Presentations covered market outlook, portfolio-management fundamentals and an introduction to the VirtualAlpha platform by its creators, Dario Ackermann and Samuel Bächli. Younger speakers included a SIX apprenticeship student and an SNB intern.
Surprise guest Richard Schäli, who flew in from Silicon Valley, shared his experience as a young Swiss investor, stressing that successful investing is less about always being right and more about learning from mistakes and adjusting strategy accordingly.
