Emerged Top 5 across Asia Pacific region & won an opportunity to intern at New York-based CMT Association

Laurensia Clara Himawan, a Bachelor in Banking and Finance (Hons) with a specialisation in FinTech student, has outshone more than 250 contestants from across the Asia Pacific region and emerged Top 5 in the Chartered Market Technician (CMT) Association’s November 2021 Internship Challenge, securing a precious internship with this non-profit, global, professional organization of Technical Analysts headquartered in New York City.

Facing this stiff challenge from the best and brightest finance students, Laurensia, 19, who is currently in Year 2 of her Bachelor’s Degree studies at Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU), was involved in 3 tasks spread across 7 days:  

• Task 1: Review content provided by the CMT Association, to understand the basics of Technical Analysis and leverage the same information, and create 2 social media posts on how Technical Analysis is relevant to all industries in the financial services sector; 
• Task 2: Consolidate the findings from articles in the CMT Archives in a set template format and submit them for final evaluation; 
• Task 3: Go through a peer review and scoring based on a set model.

Laurensia Clara Himawan created this infographic poster based on content provided by the CMT Association for the association’s November 2021 internship challenge.

According to Ms Ng Hui Chen, Senior Lecturer, School of Accounting & Finance, who suggested Laurensia for this competition, what her student presented to the judges was her finding on straddle strategy. It was all about the results - total returns, average returns, maximum draw-up and maximum draw-down of the two trading systems, like time-based and money management systems.

“She had shown good Technical Analysis and critical thinking skills that made her stand out among all,” affirmed Ms Ng.

In finance, a straddle is an options strategy involving the purchase of both a put and call option for the same expiration date and strike price on the same underlying security. The strategy is profitable only when the stock either rises or falls from the strike price by more than the total premium paid. Whereas a professional technical analyst’s role is to analyse price fluctuations within a certain time, from these price movements, traders could observe various patterns and use them as a basis for their transactions. 

Laurensia admitted that she only knew about moving averages and basic volatility in the stock market before participating in this competition. “This competition allows me to not only deepen my research and time management skill, but also my knowledge in Technical Analysis, which includes the straddle strategy and oscillator tool used by investors,” she shared. 

As a young banking and finance student, Laurensia is curious about how she could apply financial knowledge to evaluate the operations and finances in business development. “I am still exposing myself to different kinds of industries. Being a Technical Analyst who examines potential opportunities for the companies surely attracts me, which I look forward to studying more.”

Following this victory, Laurensia was awarded a 2-month internship to work with CMT Association. This will serve as a good experience for her as she will work with and be mentored by senior CMT volunteer leaders and global board members. They will work remotely on projects of domestic and international strategic importance. 

“It will be a great pleasure for me to have this opportunity to work with global leaders, learn about work cultures and contribute to the CMT Association. I promise to always be responsible, determined, and eager to learn. I hope from this experience, I can be more professionally ready and be a better person,” enthused Laurensia, who is an international student from Jakarta, Indonesia. 

Having a chance to work with leaders globally will be an eye-opener experience for Laurensia as a young international student and budding professional. “CMT Association only selected 5 students for this internship, hence, chances to be recognised by a New York-based institution is extremely precious. Looking at Laurensia’s future career growth, this international working experience will surely boost her profile when she embarks on her journey in the global job market,” opined Ms Ng. 

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rajasegeran Ramasamy, Head of School of Accounting and Finance lauded, “Laurensia’s achievement is a testimonial that APU’s Banking and Finance programme produces excellent students who are able to apply the skills and knowledge acquired in various real-life situations. Laurensia’s achievement is also recognition of the high quality of lecturers with rich industry experience who nurture quality graduates in FinTech.”