Why bother? It's a long-only contest that doesn't let you short stuff, so it's not much good these days.
What was the final result of the last contest? I remember the allegations of cheating, but I never heard whether or not the contest was completed.
With the presence of all the UltraShort and UltraLong ETFs, just buy those in which direction you want.
[edit] Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge (2007) CNBC.com's Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge, a virtual stock-picking contest, ran from 2007-03-05 to 2007-05-25.[61] CNBC hosted a similar contest the previous year, called the Squawk Box Fantasy Portfolio Challenge. [edit] Contest "Multiple Accounts" controversy The Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge, which was sponsored by OptionsXpress,[62] became embroiled in controversy after just its first week when it was revealed that one participant, Nancy Beaumont from California, registered 800 separate portfolios in the contest, exponentially increasing her probability of winning the $1,000,000 first prize, and leading to her occupying no fewer than nine places in the Top 25 Leader Board.[63] The express terms of the Rules, however, provide in material part: Description of the Contest: The contest is a stock trading game that provides Participants with a fictional trading account, One Million (1,000,000) fictional dollars ("CNBC Bucks") and the fictional ability to trade individual stocks on the NYSE, NASDAQ and/or AMEX exchanges.[62] The Rules further state: Trading: Each participant begins the Contest with One Million (1,000,000) CNBC Bucks to create a fictional portfolio of the NYSE, NASDAQ and/or AMEX-traded stocks. ... Each participant can make a maximum of fifty (50) trades per Day, based on the time the trade is entered by the Participant.[62] As a result of Nancy Beaumont's registration of 800 accounts, therefore, she has $800,000,000 CNBC Bucks available to her in the contest, spread over 800 separate accounts, and the ability to make a total of 40,000 trades per day. Other participants who registered one account per the express terms of the Rules, by comparison, have $1,000,000 CNBC Bucks available to them and can only make 50 trades per day. As a result, the probability of Nancy Beaumont winning the contest is dramatically skewed in her favor. [edit] After hours trading controversy