Did anyone here participate in the current 4th Quarter CTA Star Search contest organised by tradepipe.com? If so, what have your experiences been? Will you contest again? Did anyone apply for the 1st quarter 2004 series of the contest beginning Jan 1, 2004? If so, have you heard from them- were you selected for the contest, any news? Thanks.
Anyone?! I applied and have not heard back from them. I wonder if there is anyone here in a similar situation or who has previously applied or is taking part in the current contest. Please let me know. Thanks!
I'm quite surprised that even with over 20,000 members/traders on this forum, it seems no one knows anything about this, has applied or is a current contestant. Amazing!
I noticed the contest (1st prize $15,000) on Futures September 2003 issue, together with www.robbinstrading.com and www.worldcupadvisor.com . Are they all designed for marketing/ promotion of some sort?
The World Cup Advisor does seem to have a marketing/promotion aspect to it. Hence it is of no interest to me. However, the tradepipe.com contest is meant to be a way of discovering new trading talent for potential presentation to large institutional investors and inclusion in a large fund.
The ad of tradepipe says "50 traders chosen quarterly to trade $100,000 each", and "Apply online - Deadline 15th day of month before each calendar quarter". I wonder trading with paper-money would be an issue.
The $100k could be "notional" funding. Futures are so highly leveraged that traders seldom commit more than about 20% of their capital to margin at any one time. With notional funding, the allocator provides some amount, say $25-50k, with instructions to trade it as though it is $100k. It's a way to make the capital work harder, but unfortunately the trader can also go bust quicker. The problem with trading contests is that they encourage bad (high risk) trading practices. If you look in "Futures" magazine, you will see that the top traders typically have performances that would go entirely unnoticed in a contest. If you win the contest, then you have to try and maintain the high return you showed. You will likely either disappoint the client or go bust. If you tone down the risk to stay in business, you cannot make a living on $100k funding. If you don't mind the harsh glare of publicity, and you think you have a methodology that could produce a dazzling return, go for it! [Richard]