📊 Wave Capital Pro
Run an investment firm. Buy from and sell to rival firms while economic waves hit the market, with leverage, short selling and margin calls.
How a wave works
What you trade
Each firm starts with AED 40m: 50 lots of each asset (AED 5m each) and AED 10m in cash.
The waves
- 1
📈 The rate-hike wave
The central bank raises interest rates by 0.75 points to fight inflation and hints that more hikes are coming.
What it teaches: When rates rise, bond prices fall (new bonds pay more), and long-duration assets like tech and property are hit hardest. Gold barely moved.
- 2
🛢️ The oil-shock wave
Shipping routes are disrupted and the oil price jumps overnight. Global markets are nervous.
What it teaches: Oil shocks reward oil producers and safe havens. The UAE market can benefit from higher oil revenue while importers suffer.
- 3
🤖 The AI-boom wave
A wave of artificial-intelligence investment lifts technology companies and demand for data centres.
What it teaches: In a growth boom, money rotates from safe havens into risky growth assets. Concentrated bets pay most, and are also the most dangerous.
- 4
📉 The recession-scare wave
Global factory orders fall for the third month in a row and unemployment starts to rise.
What it teaches: In a downturn, bonds and gold protect the portfolio. Diversified funds lose far less than funds that bet on one risky asset.
- 5
🌅 The recovery wave
Inflation falls, the central bank cuts rates and consumers start spending again.
What it teaches: Rate cuts lift almost everything, especially property and growth. Funds that sold in panic during the scare missed the rebound.
The trading ticket
| Buy · Hold · Sell | Each asset | Choose a side for every asset. Hold means no order. |
|---|---|---|
| Lots | Each order | How many lots to buy or sell. Quick buttons: 5, 10, 25, Max. Selling more than you hold (up to 20 extra) is a short sale. |
| Limit price | Each order | Buy: the most you will pay. Sell: the least you will accept. The ticket shows whether the market maker would fill you. The auction picks the one price that matches the most lots between firms; your limit decides whether you are in. |
| Cash and mandate | Live summary | The summary shows cash after trading, fees and your portfolio mix. Above 35% in one asset breaks the mandate. Negative cash uses your AED 12m credit line at 1.5% per wave; borrowing above half the fund triggers a margin call. |
| Private tip | Some waves | Trade on it, ignore it or report it to compliance. Trading on it risks a fine and −25 trust. |
How you are scored
Event cards
- The market maker steps back. Spreads 2.5× wider: trade with firms.
- Circuit breakers. Price moves capped at ±7%.
- Regulator audit. Every tip trade is caught.
- Fee war. Commissions drop to zero.
- Banks tighten credit. Credit lines halved, interest 3% per wave.
Students: join in 30 seconds
- Scan the QR code on the big screen, or open playbook.inlabsgroup.com/wave-capital-pro and type the code.
- Type your first name. No app, no account.
- Join a firm or create one. You get a role: CIO, economist, trader, risk and compliance, client relations.
- Each wave: read the news, fill the trading ticket, predict your return, submit.
Student vs Pro
| Wave Capital | Wave Capital Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Assets | 4 | 6 (adds tech and oil) |
| Waves | 4 | 5 |
| Leverage | No | Credit line, interest, margin calls |
| Short selling | No | Up to 20 lots per asset |
| Mandate | 50% per asset | 35% per asset |
| Spread / fees | 4% / 0.5% | 3% / 0.3% |
For facilitators 5 waves · about 60 minutes
Facilitator access
- On the projector laptop open playbook.inlabsgroup.com/wave-capital-pro/?host.
- Enter the Playbook facilitator PIN.
- In Setup choose Team, Individual or Hybrid, team size, waves and minutes.
- Press Q for the big join QR code; students appear in People.
- Press Start. Reveal each wave, read the market tape and price chart, then draw an event card.
Joining with the QR code
- As a team
- One trading ticket per firm, submitted by the CIO (Lead).
- Alone
- Every student runs a fund: more traders, busier auctions.
- Hybrid
- Everyone trades on their phone; the firm score is the average.
Console controls
Start, Reveal, pause or set the timer, step back, draw or write event cards, message every screen, freeze the projector, spotlight a firm, hide names, add bots, move players, award or fine, change score weights, rerun with the same seed and download the CSV of every order and result. Keys: P projector, Q join QR.
Debrief questions
- Which wave surprised your firm most, and which news line should have warned you?
- When did trading with another firm beat the market maker, and who lost on the other side?
- What did you do with the private tips, and why is trading on them illegal?
Reflection and evidence
In 80–120 words students explain how one wave moved two assets in opposite directions, and how diversification changed their result. The Data tab exports every order, trade result and reflection as CSV.