Est. 2017 · Smeal College of Business
About the Society
A serious place for Penn State undergraduates to learn how businesses are analyzed and how markets work.
Founding history
How the Society began
Christopher R. Peckyno began organizing the PSU Trading Society in 2016 while an undergraduate at the Smeal College of Business. Over that year he defined the Society’s mission, shaped its curriculum, and recruited the students who would form its first executive board.
The Society launched officially in 2017. Its sessions covered the full arc of financial analysis, from the three financial statements through valuation and discounted cash flow modelling to technical analysis, behavioral finance, and live market commentary.
Our mission
To give Penn State undergraduates a rigorous, practical education in how businesses are analyzed and how markets work, and a community in which to practise it.
Our core values
Five words we held ourselves to
- 01
Curiosity
Genuine interest in how businesses and markets work, shown through what a member reads, follows, and asks.
- 02
Coachability
Openness to feedback and the willingness to rebuild a model or rewrite a pitch until it is right.
- 03
Commitment
Reliable attendance and real contribution to sessions, events, and the Society’s community.
- 04
Competitiveness
The drive to prepare harder, pitch better, and measure yourself against the best student investors in the country.
- 05
Courage
Always doing the right thing, especially when it is not the easy thing, and helping others do the same. It also means the nerve to state a view and defend it under questioning.
How we teach
Educational philosophy
Fundamentals first
Accounting and valuation come before trading tactics, because every market view rests on an understanding of the underlying business.
Learn by building
Members build the model, write the thesis, and present the view themselves.
Defend the argument
Every view is open to questions. Clear reasoning matters more than being right on any single call.
Leave it better
Materials were written to be reused, so each class of members could build on the last.
What we study
Areas of focus
Financial markets
How equities, fixed income, and derivatives markets are structured, how prices are formed, and how participants interact.
Investment research
Reading filings, building models, forming a thesis, and presenting it with evidence: the core workflow of a research analyst.
Professional development
Communicating clearly under questioning, working as a team, and preparing for careers in finance.
Interview prep and resume review
Mock interviews with the executive board, line-by-line résumé feedback, and a written preparation plan for every member heading into recruiting.
Timeline
The Society through the years
- 2016
Organizing year
Christopher R. Peckyno begins organizing the Society at the Smeal College of Business, defining its educational mission and recruiting its first leaders.
- 2017
Official launch
The PSU Trading Society launches as an undergraduate organization at Penn State, with Peckyno as Founder and President and a founding executive board.
- 2017 to 2019
Educational program
The Society runs sessions across financial accounting, valuation, discounted cash flow analysis, technical analysis, behavioral finance, and market commentary, alongside group events including Penn State football games and THON.
Partnerships
Partnership Firms
Professionals from these firms spoke to, hosted, or worked with the Society and its members, and Society alumni have gone on to work at them. Out of respect for their privacy, individual speakers are not named.
- BNY Mellon
- BlackRock
- Blackstone
- Evercore