Four students at Southeast Missouri State University won TD Ameritrade's second annual collegiate trading competition, beating 1,600 students from 166 colleges and universities in 44 states.

The 2015 thinkorswim Challenge was from Oct. 12 through Nov. 6, and was open to all students at postsecondary education institutions in the United States.

Each of the 476 competing teams started with $500,000 in virtual money to invest in real time using the paperMoney program on TD America's thinkorswim platform.

Nicole Sherrod, managing director at TD Ameritrade who heads the firm's young investors program, said there is nothing like trading in a real-life environment.

"The thinkorswim Challenge provides an unparalleled experience for students to try investing with the paperMoney safety net, but with all the real activity like earnings announcements, breaking news and other events that shape the direction of the markets every minute of every day," Sherrod said. "There is no substitute."

Prizes were awarded to the top team whose portfolio had the highest percentage gains in aggregate value at the end of each trading week. The three teams with the highest percentage overall also were awarded prizes at the close of the competition, as well as their respective schools.

The winning team consisted of Zac Rankin, a business administration major from St. Louis, Missouri; John Racanelli, a social science major from Fenton, Missouri; Chelsey Winsor, an accounting major from Portageville, Missouri; and Ben Asselmeier, a technology management major with an option in computers/multimedia graphics from Chester, Illinois.

Calling themselves "Gettin' Paper," the Southeast students won the competition outright, boasting a 162.50 percent portfolio gain and a final portfolio value of $1,312,521 after four weeks of trading.

Each member of the team received $3,500 to be deposited into his or her own TD Ameritrade brokerage account. The students won $3,000 as the prize for winning the challenge overall and $500 for winning week two of the competition.

As the school affiliated with the overall winning team, Southeast received $30,000 from TD Ameritrade for its role in teaching students about the importance of investing.

Rankin, the team's captain, attributed the team's success to taking big risks.

"Since we were using fake money, we had nothing to lose. We basically decided we were going to take as many risks as necessary," he said. "I would say we definitely had more losing trades than winning trades, but that just comes associated with taking big risks. We were looking for the home run shot on every single trade. Well, we hit it a couple times, and it was enough."

That strategy paid off, taking them from one of the last-ranked teams after week one to first place at the end. Their biggest break occurred during week two, purchasing an index fund for 3 cents and selling it later for $1.42 a share.

"Anybody who wants to be interested in the stock market, this is a great thing to do. I can't even explain how much information I learned that I'm going to be able to take with me in my future for trading," Rankin said. "It's been one of the most amazing experiences of my life."

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