The Cambodian Securities Exchange (CSX) will hold a real-market stock-trading competition in a bid to raise public awareness and increase liquidity, it said in a statement yesterday.

The competition will run from November 21 to January 16, 2017. Two winners – one an existing investor and the other a first-time investor – will be picked according to the highest percentage return on their investments. Each winner will receive an 8-million riel ($2,000) prize, the release said.

“During the competition, participants and all investors will receive a special commission fee rate of 0.25 percent without minimum fee charged,” it said. “Moreover, each participant will be reimbursed for the loss in proportion of 400,000 riel [$100] during the competition period.”

Lamun Soleil, deputy director of market operations at the CSX, told the Post that the exchange will select 500 investors to join the two-month trading competition.

“We want people to know how to trade stocks and we want them practice real-world trading on the stock exchange so that they will know how to trade profitably,” he said.

“The most important thing is to encourage more active trading.”

He said the CSX’s decision to cover each investor’s losses up to $100 aimed at motivating first-time investors to join the competition.

“This is an insurance policy to encourage investors to join the tournament,” he said, “because most of them worry about losing, particularly those who have never traded on the stock exchange before.”

Registration for the competition runs from October 1 to November 11.

Cambodia’s stock exchange launched operations in 2011, but has struggled to attract investors. The shares of four companies are traded on the exchange: state water utility Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA), garment manufacturer Grand Twins International (GTI), port operator Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP) and industrial park operator Phnom Penh SEZ.