Abstract—The goal of this project was to design a card game simulation of financial trade markets. In a trading environment, a market maker quotes two prices for a specific type of financial instrument, such as a stock option. Traders then buy shares from or sell shares to the market maker. The decision of the market maker to quote prices at certain levels, and the traders’ decisions to buy or sell are based primarily on their independent estimation of the fair market value, or the true price of the instrument, once all information has been accounted for. The goal of the market maker is to quote prices which best reflect the fair market value of the financial instrument. The simulation developed for this project was designed to accurately account for these behaviors. This project sought to fulfill the need of the Susquehanna International Group of Companies (SIG) for a recruitment tool that can be distributed in large numbers at employment venues such as career fairs. The recruitment tool is essentially an informational CD-ROM that includes a home page, a game page with the simulation, and a quiz page with probability questions. This tool will help users assess their interest, and ability to perform in, a financial market making environment. A University of Virginia (UVA) Systems and Information Engineering Capstone team worked with SIG to define a format and set of rules by which the simulation game would be played. A card game style format was adopted in which cards from a standard fifty two card deck represent information that would bear impact on a financial instrument’s final price, such as earnings reports and news stories. The human player acts as the market maker and the computer players act as traders. Each player is dealt separate cards to simulate the diversity of information available in financial trade markets. There are three computer players and one human player. The capstone team developed the mathematical logic to be used by computer players in the game, and has created a working prototype of the game to test this logic. A graphical user interface (GUI) has also been developed to make the tool user friendly and Manuscript received April 13, 2006. This work was supported by the Susquehanna International Group of Companies. Nitin Chandra is a fourth year Systems and Information Engineering (SIE) student at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 22903 (email: nc3j@virginia.edu.) Brianne Herman is a fourth year SIE student at the University of Virginia (email: bsh8z@virginia.edu) Yohan Kim is a fourth year SIE student at the University of Virginia (email: yoohan@gmail.com) Alan Lau is a fourth year SIE student at the University of Virginia (email: al7f@virginia.edu.) Richard Murad is a fourth year SIE and Economics student at the University of Virginia (email: rwm3t@virginia.edu.) William Pacarella is a fourth year SIE student at the University of Virginia (email: wjp5c@virginia.edu) Kevin Wu is a fourth year SIE student at the University of Virginia (email: kevinxwu@gmail.com) Dr. K. Preston White is a professor of SIE at the University of Virginia (email: kpwhite@virginia.edu) aesthetically pleasing. This GUI was tested to validate its usability and aesthetics and was incorporated into the prototype simulation. I. INTRODUCTION he Susquehanna International Group of Companies (SIG) is a leading firm in institutional sales, research and market making. SIG is active in financial markets on five continents and has over 1400 employees with offices in the United States, Europe, and Asia. By acting as a market making firm in over 6000 NASDAQ and listed stocks, SIG is one of the largest U.S. option market makers [1]. Like all firms in the business world, SIG must maintain a strategic advantage over their competitors. There are several strategies which are common to almost all firms in any industry. One strategy is to attract better candidates for employment because high-quality personnel are essential for any business [2]. The motivation behind this project is that the implementation of its results will be an effective method of attracting better candidates for employment at SIG. A. Problem Definition This project sought to design a card game simulation of financial trade markets that will be included as part of a recruitment tool that SIG can distribute at career fairs and other employment venues. The simulation game had to accurately account for all of the major behaviors apparent in financial trade markets. The game also required an easy to use and aesthetically pleasing user interface to make it usable by the general public. B. Background of Market Making and SIG In order to fully understand the product of this project and the context in which it falls, a summary of financial market making is required. A financial market is made up by a collection of individuals and firms who own quantities of some kind of financial instrument, such as a stock option. Some individuals and/or firms assume the role of market makers, whose major function is to provide essential liquidity in financial instruments by allowing conversion of the instrument to cash and back [2]. This is an absolutely essential function in financial markets, as trading cannot occur unless financial instruments can be converted to and from cash. An individual or firm, like SIG, assumes the role of market maker by quoting two prices; one price at which the market maker is willing to buy a unit of the instrument from others, called the bid price, and one price at which the market maker is willing to sell a unit of the instrument to others, called the ask price. The ask price is always greater A Financial Services Gaming Simulation Nitin Chandra, Brianne Herman, Yohan Kim, Alan Lau, Richard Murad, William Pascarella, Kevin Wu, K. Preston White, Jr. T