ALADDIN STOCK TRADING PLATFORM
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<strong>ALADDIN</strong> <strong>STOCK</strong> <strong>TRADING</strong> <strong>PLATFORM</strong><br />
Mohammed G. Alhallafi<br />
EDCI650 Curriculum Design & Development<br />
Andrews University<br />
Dr. Faith-Ann McGarrell
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY<br />
• Aladdin Stock Trading Platform (ASTP) is a Web-based exchange platform replicating Saudi Arabia’s<br />
national stock market, Tadawul<br />
• ASTP is designed to train high school students grades 11 and 12 in the protocol and practices to Tadawul<br />
securities trading<br />
• We use the same multi-asset trading platform infrastructure as the financial sector, so that buying and<br />
selling operations take place in a simulated real-time exchange environment<br />
• Our products and services enable students to train as traders in conducting equity swaps, derivative and<br />
stock trading, as well as investor strategies for gaining the most from the alternative securities segments, oil<br />
and other commodities trading, as well as the Islamic insurance markets in a single environment
GLOBAL PROSPECTUS<br />
• Global prospectus to market entry of the ASTP curriculum is timely, and in line with the<br />
expansion of Islamic stock exchange around the world<br />
• The recent announcement of Tadawul’s expansion in cooperation with other national<br />
exchanges outside of the GCC region, indicates that the demand for knowledge sharing<br />
and expertise, “open[ing] the door for people development” and encourage exploration of<br />
future opportunities “in matters related to capital market development, particularly in the<br />
area of Islamic finance” is growing (MENAFIN.com, 2014)
NICHE MARKET SEGMENT<br />
• The ASTP training curriculum, was developed to instruct high school students, grades 11 and 12, in stock<br />
trading is the first of its kind<br />
• The ASTP (Aladdin Stock Trading Platform) is the sole curriculum product that instructs students in the<br />
trading activities of the GCC markets<br />
• Focused on simulated financial transactions, stock trades where students ‘buy’, ‘sell’ and ‘call’ or ‘put’<br />
securities contracts, ASTP is unlike other similar products on the market<br />
• Stock contract structuring (Sukuk) transactions include Islamic insurance contracts (Takaful) on the<br />
secondary markets, comprised of re-insurance assets and fund management, are the core investing<br />
products tested in the simulation environment
PRODUCT STRATEGY<br />
• Aladdin niche differentiation strategy reflects the high technology focus of the stock market exchange<br />
simulation software company<br />
• The unique and specialized product is designed to compete by narrowing global market segmentation<br />
by way of Performance, Size and High End solutions<br />
A number of advantages are sought:<br />
• Competitive advantage in eliminating barriers to entry and potential substitution by competitors<br />
• Strong customer segmentation response exceeding expectations<br />
• Promotion of lead brand identity through differentiation and consistency in quality<br />
• Broad representation of the trading platform to market segments<br />
• Venture capital funding supports the niche market priority of R&D new product innovation and market<br />
expansion
INSTRUCTIONAL VALUE<br />
• The simulation commences with a brief Introduction to the Islamic Law of Contracts<br />
The Islamic law of contract - exchange and usufruct<br />
Partnership contracts (Wakala)<br />
The rules regarding foreign exchange transactions (Sarf)<br />
• Simulation activities orient students to the stock selection process<br />
• Students are also introduced to the concept of Islamic investment funds<br />
• Analytics include graphical illustration of exposure risk to ‘buy’ and ‘sell’ decisions is part of the<br />
exchange dashboard
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS<br />
• What are the instructional requirements of GCC market brokers, and especially those trading<br />
on the Tadawul in respect to Shar’ia rules on contract definition, transaction, and transfer?<br />
• How will ASTP’s pioneering simulation techniques contribute to future development of<br />
exchange trading platforms relevant to GCC and other markets guided by Islamic law?
ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS<br />
• The course begins with an introduction to the practice of buying and selling securities<br />
• Students learn how stock transactions are affected by share prices, and fluctuations in bear and bull<br />
markets<br />
• Sharia’a rules to contract transactions and buying and selling operations conducted on the ASTP<br />
exchange inform enduring understandings of GCC investment practices<br />
• Lessons learned from the simulation rounds in reporting of individual and training group performance<br />
inform future decisions in securities trading on the Tadawul or other exchange
THEORETICAL CONSIDERATION:<br />
BACKWARD DESIGN<br />
Global in perspective, Backward Design offers foundation to the ASTP curriculum project<br />
Backward Design is an experimental methodology using goal setting as the basis for project<br />
development in a three (3) stage design process:<br />
1. Identification of desired outcomes<br />
2. Determination of reliability in evidence and levels of acceptability<br />
3. Activities effective in producing results
THE WHERETO OF ASTP<br />
The WHERETO principle of Backward Design theory is integrated in the Aladdin Stock Trading Platform (ASTP)<br />
Stage Design process guided by PBL principles:<br />
• W – Where the product is the destination of broker training<br />
• H - Holds the attention of trainees throughout the simulation<br />
• E – Equips trainees with simulated real time experience<br />
• R- Rethink big ideas, Reflect on progress, Revise curricula<br />
• E – Evaluation of progress and self-assessment leads to lessons learned<br />
• T - Tailored for exponential performance<br />
• O - Organize to optimize understanding
PBL SIMULATION<br />
The Problem-Based Learning (PBL) theory is one of the core curriculum design concepts applied to digital<br />
simulation<br />
The Problem-Solving Model offers resolution of thinking strategies and domain knowledge in development of<br />
the ASTP stock exchange simulation curriculum<br />
Simulation events are sequenced in:<br />
• Definition of the problem<br />
• Gathering financial information from analysis<br />
• Developing portfolio strategy<br />
• Finding and sharing solutions to risks<br />
• Implementation of decision
ACTION-BASED PROBLEM SOLVING<br />
• Action-based problem solving (AbPS) simulation links student brokers trading on the exchange<br />
• AbPS supports a problem-solving chain, that includes portfolio investment advice from leading financial<br />
market analysts (Barlow et al., 2011)<br />
• Confidence levels are part of the real-time simulation, built into each stage of the curriculum to guide<br />
student engagement<br />
• Performance reporting of individual and team investment decision informs evaluation of the curriculum
SIMULATION MAP<br />
Aladdin Stock Trading Platform<br />
Aladdin Stock<br />
Trading Platform<br />
Tadawul Simulation Exchange<br />
Cross-portability Blackboard<br />
and WebCT<br />
Homepage User Portal<br />
Tadawul Trading<br />
Platform SaaS<br />
FAQ/SITE MAP<br />
Stock Market<br />
Analysis<br />
User Dash<br />
Performance<br />
Monitoring
<strong>ALADDIN</strong> SAAS<br />
• Aladdin’s selection of an exchange trading simulation curriculum required engineering of a software<br />
application as system (SaaS) product<br />
• The SaaS offers universal compatibility with a number of real-time exchange trading platforms<br />
• The company’s goal of creating a truly global stock market experience in one multi-asset trading platform<br />
• Our electronic trading technologies are exceptional in global client management capabilities<br />
• Synchronize direct access and order routing trading platform partners all in one effective solution
PRODUCT FEATURES & SPECIFICATIONS<br />
Chart 1<br />
Product Features & Specifications<br />
Core Framework * Java: J2EE 1.4 or above, J2SE 1.4.2 or above on browser side<br />
* J2EE based services<br />
* CORBA : any OMG compliant CORBA<br />
* JDBC<br />
* JNL : numerical library for Java by Visual Numerics<br />
* XML<br />
* FIX/FIXML 4.2 and higher<br />
* HTTP/HTTPS : default version supported by JVM in browser<br />
* HTML 4.0, JavaScript, DHTML, CSS<br />
Databases * Sybase 12.5 and higher<br />
* SQL Server 2005 and higher<br />
* Seamless Integration with other Databases<br />
Browsers * Netscape 7.0 and higher, Mozilla browsers<br />
* Internet Explorer 6.0 and higher<br />
Platforms * Windows NT, 2000, 2003, XP<br />
* Solaris 8 and above<br />
* Linux<br />
Servers * Windows NT, 2003, XP Professional<br />
* Solaris 8 and above<br />
* Linux<br />
Web Servers * IIS 5.0<br />
* Iplanet Enterprise Server 6.0 and above<br />
Application Servers & Servlet Engines * Integration with any servlet engine that supports Java Servlet 2.0<br />
* Weblogic, Websphere<br />
Third Party Systems * Reuters Java SSL<br />
* Tibco Rendezvous<br />
* MQ Series, any JMS implementation<br />
Chart 1. Aladdin specifications<br />
(FinTrack, nd.).
LEARNING ORGANIZATION BENEFITS<br />
• The Aladdin unified exchange platform is compatible with standard distance learning platforms for total<br />
integration with a client’s existing virtual learning infrastructure<br />
• Our curriculum product leaves no footprint, so that institutions are ensured of automated updates, and<br />
sustained interaction<br />
• The learning platform comes with ticker interface with actual GCC stock exchange listings, as well as<br />
investor advisory simulations<br />
• Aladdin instructional solutions comply with current financial industry-standard technologies (i.e. Java,<br />
J2EE, XML, FIXML, FpML and HTTP/HTTPS) with Web based SaaS automatic update and cloud data storage
EVALUATION<br />
The ASTP Quality Assurance audit covers all components of the simulation from product development to<br />
evaluation for redesign of the next iteration in the product series:<br />
1. Curriculum Developer/Designer Self-Evaluation<br />
2. Student/Participant Evaluation<br />
3. Expert External Evaluation (Checklist)<br />
4. Peer Evaluation (Checklist)
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT<br />
• Future research and development of the curriculum focuses on performance and benchmarking of<br />
training outcomes<br />
• The ASTP simulation model allows for continuous performance reporting<br />
• Evaluation of fidelity and validity in user reporting improves reliability; attributing to development of the<br />
simulation design concept over time through: 1) Live simulation; 2) Virtual simulation; and 3) Constructive<br />
simulation in a synthetic environment
SALES & MARKETING<br />
• Aladdin is poised to take advantage of two priority regional markets where Islamic Shar’ia rules to<br />
securities trading applies to growing population of Muslim investors:<br />
• Asia Pacific<br />
• Gulf<br />
• Our sales and marketing objective is to expand the GCC multi-asset trading solutions to both developed<br />
and emerging markets
REFERENCES<br />
• Barlow, M., eds., et al. (2011). The Problem Solving Experience: Classroom Curriculum Designed to<br />
Promote Problem Solving in the 21 st Century. Future Problem Solving Program International, Inc. Retrieved<br />
from: http://www.fpspi.org/pdf/Curriculum%20Coursework%20Introduction.pdf<br />
• Bley, J., & Chen, K. (2006). Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stock markets: The dawn of a new era.<br />
Global Finance Journal 17(1), 75-91.<br />
• Fritzsche, D. J., Rosenberg, Richard D. (1989). Business ethics, experiential exercises and simulation games.<br />
Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Learning 16,46-49.<br />
• Insurance IPOs approved (2007).MEED: Middle East Economic Digest 51 (3), 28.<br />
• Saudi-Tadawul, Bursa Malaysia sign cooperation agreement (2014). Menafn 20 Feb 2014. Retrieved from:<br />
http://menafn.com/1093773869/Tadawul-Bursa-Malaysia-sign-cooperation-agreement<br />
• Sukuks – A new dawn of Islamic finance era…..(2008). Global Investment House Jan 2008. Retrieved from:<br />
http://www.menafn.com/updates/research_center/regional/special_ed/gih0108.pdf<br />
• Tadawul (2014). Saudi Stock Exchange. Available at: http://www.tadawul.sa.com<br />
• Wiggins, Grant and McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by Design, Expanded 2nd Edition.