Brian Eckerly, 22, who won first place, received $100,000 in prize money. Eckerly recently graduated from Ohio State University with a degree in electrical and computer engineering. Eckerly traded a mix of stocks and options, using S&P 500 ETFs and the options on that, earning a profit of $294,190. ââ¬ÅIt was a contrarian strategy which looks to identify price extremes and then bet against them,ââ¬Â Eckerly explains in an interview with Advanced Trading. If the market has gone up too much, Eckerly would bet the market is going to retreat. ââ¬ÅAnd if itââ¬â¢s gone down, I would bet that itââ¬â¢s going to go up,ââ¬Â says Eckerly, who has dabbled in looking for stock picks and short-term trading since he was seventeen.