Meet the investors who won thousands of dollars betting on the tech-stock bull run in a Globe contest

Winners of The Globe and Mail’s Trade Off competition earned huge returns by going all in on tech stocks’ recent market dominance, receiving $10,000 in total cash prizes in Season 2 of the investing simulation contest.

As the Nasdaq 100 Index rose roughly 23 per cent during the 12-week contest period, the top trader in The Globe’s free stock-market game saw a whopping 159-per-cent return by using his own sector knowledge to select some of the hottest companies thriving through the AI-fuelled stock rally.

Competing against thousands of other participants, each Trade Off player started with $100,000 in virtual cash to build their own portfolios. They were able to make changes to their stock picks and rode the market over three months with the contest wrapping up on June 14.

The grand-prize winner won $5,000, second place won $3,000 and the third-place winner took home $2,000.

Here’s a look at two of the winners’ strategies, why they went for broke on tech and how they harnessed the hype to win big.

Albert Ngo, 32, Vancouver

What he won: $5,000 for first place

His stock picks: ON Semiconductor Corp. ON-Q, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD-Q, Dell Technologies Inc. DELL-N, Microchip Technology Inc. MCHP-Q, and Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO-Q

What he learned: Drawing on your own expertise is beneficial, and so is committing to the market.

Software engineer Albert Ngo beat out thousands of competitors and took home the top prize by sticking with his initial five stock picks throughout the whole competition. “Day traders have a lot of stress in their lives, and in the end, the amount of time in the market is better than timing the market,” he said about his strategy.

Mr. Ngo, who said he got into DIY investing after the pandemic arrived, created a basket of large-cap growth stocks, informed by his expertise in the technology sector. His logic? The artificial-intelligence boom is fuelling the demand for microchips, semiconductors and memory, so it made sense to trust in the bull market.

“I really did believe in tech booming,” he said.

Because of recent industry-wide IT security incidents, Mr. Ngo said he considered Cisco as potentially the most volatile company in his basket. But the tech conglomerate’s stock continued to climb. (Cisco’s recent stronger-than-expected sales forecast produced its stock’s biggest jump since 2011.)

Mr. Ngo said his portfolio in real life is much more diversified than his Trade Off picks. And he suggested taking his winning contest strategy with a pinch of salt: “Taking advice from someone who won a contest might not be the best idea, because of how volatile the markets could be.”

Roby Lee, 43, Edmonton

What he won: $2,000 for third place

His stock picks: Micron Technology Inc. MU-Q, Western Digital Corp. WDC-Q, Sandisk Corp. SNDK-Q, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Alphabet Inc. GOOGL-Q

What he learned: Investing through index funds is “safer” and requires little maintenance, but much greater returns can be had by picking stocks and getting lucky.

Roby Lee also cashed out on going all-or-nothing on the technology sector. The health care worker, who responded to The Globe via e-mail, said he also did not adjust his contest portfolio throughout the 12 weeks, opting for a high-risk, high-reward approach.

Mr. Lee began DIY investing in 2016, but said he is typically less of a stock picker and leans more on balanced index funds. For the purposes of Trade Off, though, tapping into the semiconductor and AI surge brought him solid returns.

Calgary-based Nhon Ta came in second place, winning the $3,000 prize.

Watch for the next season of Trade Off, The Globe and Mail’s free, online stock-picking contest.