The tournaments for traders — one of the real ways to break into professional trading without starting capital. Competitions allow not only to earn real money, but also get valuable prizes or become a Manager of your PAMM-account without any investments. What a trader can get participating in tournaments, we will discuss below.
The tournaments for traders — is it worth the time?
Almost every broker (with rare exceptions) in the attraction of new customers holds tournaments for traders. Someone holds daily, someone weekly or monthly tournaments. They all differ in starting conditions (the initial deposit, the traded instrument, etc.), but almost all have the ban on automatic trading and the use of locking (hedge, that is, simultaneous exposure of 2 opposite positions) strategies.
Skeptics have serious doubt in tournaments for traders. Arguments are:
since in most cases trade is conducted on a demo account, as the prize, the winner gets the money as bonuses. To withdraw them, you need to replenish your account with real money and spend on it a certain amount of lots. Traders perceive it as yet another attempt to lure customers and in principle they are right. Brokers doesn’t bring client with small amounts on the real market, so the bonus is a kind of leverage and they have nothing to lose;
despite the fact that the tournaments of traders are constant, almost no broker publishes their open results. The thing is, not only to see the profit of the winner, but also information about his experience and the strategy to be applied. And it is unlikely that he will give you the opportunity to contact the winner directly, for example, to exchange the experience.
In most cases the tournaments for traders — is only a testing of your own strategy and the taste of the excitement, it makes no sense to expect more. But there are exceptions. For example, one trader holds a unique contest — the tournament of robots. Trade on demo account is allowed only with the use of expert advisors. The trading period is 3 months. Though it’s not the greatest period for testing, but this is a unique opportunity to see how really robots are acting with the same starting conditions and the tool.
Real chance to get something – is to attend the tournaments for traders in prop companies and exchanges, that is, bypassing brokers (although the prop-company itself may be a broker. In the first case, the winners, the last who passed few stages of selection on demo accounts, have the opportunity to become a member of a team of professionals. This gives a trader access to a system of risk management, and training with experienced traders and PAMM-account without investment (under the control of the employees of the proprietary company).
The Moscow stock exchange holds a contest “Best private investor” for 11 years in a row. The trader selects any market (about 20 categories), the trading period is 3 months. The average number of participants from year to year is the same — about 10.2 thousand people, the cumulative turnover of about 30 billion rubles, last year the cumulative loss amounted to 350 million rubles, this year, the traders went into profit — 550 million rubles. The peculiarity of the tournament — trade with real money. However, the prize is real too. Any start-up capital, the goal is to show higher profitability. The average starting capital of 50 thousand rubles, the yield of the winners 200-800%. Theoretically, the tournament for traders was intended to promote private trading, but eventually became a contest for professional traders. Prize for winners — 500 — 1000 thousand rubles in real money.
Summary. Tournaments for traders is not so much an opportunity to earn, but an opportunity to try your hand and to hone your skills. Participation in tournaments of brokers will unlikely give anything for the trader, because to win you need to be a professional, and professionals will not participate in competitions on demo accounts. Who is the real winner, the brokers do not tell. Much more interesting are the tournaments of prop-companies or of the Moscow exchange, but it will not be easy for beginners here as well.
