Jacky, a 25-year-old employee of a local foreign company, clicked into his account and was disappointed at seeing his ranking in the forex trade game to slip to 392.
He is one of the 4,000 contestants that are joining a game held by the Agricultural Bank of China online.
The game has got warm reactions among young people, who regard it providing a life-lesson to them about the foreign exchange market.
Statistics from the bank indicated of the 4,000 competitors, 53 percent are people aged below 32with university education.Another 10,000 more users view the contest each day.
"I want to learn more about the foreign exchange market through the contest," said Jacky.
"Because the forex market may provide another investment vehicle for me, when the current banking interest rates are in record low and the stock markets are in doldrums. "When I get more experience from the game, I may consider playing the true forex market," he said.
"Besides,the contest is just a game and it will cost nothing for me even if I lose all the money in my account." Each player gets a same sum of capital in electronic currency at the beginning of the game.
Shanghai is China's top forex trader.
Last year,the Shanghai branch of China Communications Bank reported its forex business up to US$3billion in the first nine months,accounting for 30 percent of the bank's total.
(eastday.com April 10, 2002)
