By Mary Wolters, Design Editor
Over the pandemic, junior Jeffrey Wang developed an interest in an aspect of market trading: stock options, which are contracts that give the buyer the right to buy or sell a stock for a specific price at a later point. However, due to the complexity of option buying, Wang noticed a lack of resources and free option simulators online. To help introduce youth and beginners to option trading, Wang teamed up with senior Rohan Anne to develop and launch the award-winning website LemonadeChains, named after the example of a lemonade stand to explain basic economic concepts. This January, the program placed second in the Congressional App Challenge, a state-level competition where high schoolers can submit computer science programs and earn recognition from government officials.
“Something that I like doing is thinking about how to take my skills and make something out of it,” Wang said. “You’re going to run into a lot of problems in life. And for me, that problem was I couldn’t find any simulators online that I wanted to try. After you’ve run into those problems, you’re going to realize that you actually have the ability to solve a lot of them.”
In LemonadeChains, users can complete educational lessons using stock options. The website has two sections, LemonadeLearn and the Simulator, to help users develop trading skills and then apply them in a simulated market.
The goal is to get users comfortable and help them succeed in the real market. Since its public launch in 2024, LemonadeChains has engaged over 534 users who have made accounts and participated in the Simulator by buying and selling stock options. The team used multiple computer science languages and libraries to implement this project.
“There’s a reason why no one has done this before. It’s because it’s pretty difficult to do, but then (by) embracing that and seeing there are resources online that are free, we’re able to take advantage of (them),” Wang said.
The duo submitted its website to U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan for the Congressional App Challenge. The competition was first launched in 2015 to inspire students around the country to develop online programs to solve real-world problems.
“It (the award) helps when talking to other people about (the app),” Wang said. “But I think for me, personally, it mattered more that we created something that was usable and could actually do something.”
In the future, Wang and Anne plan to continue developing LemonadeChains and improving its technical interface. Wang hopes that the users of LemonadeChains will benefit from trading in the Simulator and have the skills to make informed choices in the future.
“We’re not trying to create something just because we want to practice our coding skills,” Wang said. “It’s because we wanted to reach that group of people that I know exists because I was part of that group of people who were looking for a simulator online that was free (and) easy to use. I’m hoping other people gain that experience that I didn’t have.”
Mary Wolters can be reached at [email protected].
