Local high school students will get a taste of Wall Street during the JA Stock Market Challenge student event, while the evening event features forty corporate teams . The teams compete to see who can grow their "mock" stock portfolio to achieve the highest overall net worth. Teams are issued $500,000 in mock stock to invest in 26 fictious companies. For the high school event, each trading day lasts just sixty seconds, while the trading days for the corporate event last 80 seconds. On-site traders with PDA's make buying and selling instantaneous, so trading is fast, furious and fun.

Periodic news releases and "hot tips" reflect fictious world events and industry developments, which in turn cause stock prices to fluctuate. Participants must be on their toes, constantly reacting to the market's ups and downs.

Prior to the actual event, students participate in the JA Take Stock in Your Future curriculum at their school. Presented by business volunteers, the goal of this classroom program is to provide students with a fundamental understanding of the stock market, and equip students with the skills needed to successfully compete in the JA Stock Market Challenge student event.

Funds raised through the JA Stock Market Challenge corporate event, make it possible to offer the student event at no cost to schools, as well as provide funds for JA's many other programs, again at no cost to the schools.