SHANGHAI: More than 4,000 university students have registered for an online virtual stock trading competition that begins today.

Organized by the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics' Stock Studies Society, the game is the first of its kind for the city and has attracted entrants from its 17 universities.

Nilson Lin, a finance major and president of the society, told China Daily that the competition would run for one month and be based on real data from the Shanghai stock market.

He said: "The competition will be run via our website at www.shufestock.com.

"Each person starts with 200,000 yuan (about $26,000) start-up capital, which they can then use to buy and sell stocks using actual data from the Shanghai stock market.

"When the competition ends on May 10, the person with the most money in their virtual bank account will be declared the winner, and collect 10,000 yuan (about $1,300) in real cash."

With such high levels of interest in the competition, some have suggested it might lead to students neglecting their studies.

Lin said: "Thanks to the currently bullish market, a lot of students are now interested in playing the market. This competition is designed to help students boost their knowledge of stock and trading."

He said that as the competition will only last for a month and that it was unlike other online games, there was no reason to think students would become addicted or neglect studies.

Duan Han, who is majoring in economics at Shanghai University, said: "It is always good for students to have some knowledge of finance no matter what they major in."

She said the competition might one day help them avoid losing real money on rash stock market decisions.

Duan said: "Of the 250 students from my university who have entered the competition, just 20 per cent of them are finance or economics majors. There are also about the same number of male and female students taking part."

Yan Hengli, who majors in micro-electronics at Jiaotong University and also founded the stock studies society there, said: "People who worry that students will waste all their time following the stock trend charts are simply demonstrating their own lack of knowledge."

Successful trading was not about speculation, said Yan, who opened an account on the Shanghai stock market last year after graduating from high school.

"I am a rational, long-term investor. I look at the charts just once every few days after class," he said.

Wu Zhikun, a marketing major at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, said: "My mother was worried when I told her I had entered the competition, but my father supported my decision, as he believes it will be a good learning experience for me."

Lou Wei, Party secretary of the Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade, said that while such competitions could be enlightening for students, they must remain prudent when investing and also maintain a balance between studying and playing the game.