April's $10,000 Challenge Winner
FXCM and DailyFX are happy to announce the winners of April's $10,000 Monthly Challenge! April's $10,000 contest concluded with a pair of brothers from Norman, Oklahoma beating a field of tens of thousands of contestants to take first and second prize. Ananth S. finished first with an amazing return of 448%. Visu N. came in a close second with a return of 415%. This was followed by H.V. in third (370%), S.P in fourth (332%) and finally, M.Y. came in fifth with a 240% return. Congratulations to all of last month's challenge winners!
Past Performance: Past Performance is not an indicator of future results.
Contest winners leaderboard shows the top five contest winners and does not represent a typical contestant's return. Please be aware that trading in this contest does not guarantee positive returns. All contestants have the potential to experience losses in excess of deposited funds.
After the conclusion of last month's contest, I was able to interview our newest first place finisher, Ananth S., in order to gain some insight into his trading. Ananth has been an active trader for four years, but trading hasn't been his only life passion. Ananth is a nuclear physicist by trade and holds a doctorate degree in atomic sciences. He became interested in trading by chance after reading the story of legendary investor Nicolas Darvas. After seeing the potential possibilities available in the markets, he began learning everything he could about them despite his friends' reservations.
When it comes to his trading strategy, Ananth considers himself a strict technical trader. He doesn't specifically analyze any one currency pair, and prefers to let the charts do the talking. This method employs integrating a series of EMA's (Exponential Moving Averages), trendiness, and 3 Hour charts into his analysis. So, how does this all work? First, Ananth applies a series of EMAs to his three-hour chart. Next, he will draw a series of trendlines using price action to find areas of support and resistance on his chart. Finally, he will enter into a trade when prices have retraced his trendline and momentum is signaled back in the direction of the trend with the EMA's.
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Ananth also places a heavy emphasis on risk management in his trading. He mentioned that all traders should be prepared to be stopped out at times, regardless of the strategy that they use. That is why traders are best suited setting up stop loss orders when they open their positions. He also mentioned that since he is following the trend, he expects to close out losing positions quickly while letting his profits run in directional markets. DailyFX has done a series of studies on risk management that include analyzing risk reward ratios. Looking at the graph below, our research showed that traders who traded 1:1 or higher risk-reward ratios were ultimately three times more likely to turn a profit.
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Profit and Loss by Risk-Reward
Data source: FXCM accounts excluding Eligible Contract Participants, Clearing Accounts, Money Managers, and Hong Kong and Japan subsidiaries from 3/1/2014 to 3/31/2015.
Now that we know a bit about Ananth's trading methods, I wanted to ask him if he had any tips or trading suggestions for new traders. His first suggestion was for new traders to remain calm and to find their Zen in trading. This means not getting overemotional about losses or too excited about winning positions. Also, he had some great insights on designing strategies. He suggested that new traders should keep their trading simple, and not to overcrowd their charts with too many unneeded indicators.
These points are all solid recommendations in my opinion, and after talking to Ananth about this month's contest, I wanted to know what was next for his trading pursuits. Ananth made it clear that he is not through trading, and is excited to enter into and potentially win another $10,000 challenge! Also, he is excited about putting his trading strategies into print and potentially writing his own book of trading tactics!
What is the FXCM $10,000 Monthly Challenge?
FXCM wants to thank Ananth S., along with all of our April participants, for taking part in our $10,000 Monthly Challenge. If you are unfamiliar with the contest, the $10,000 Monthly Challenge is a currency trading contest hosted by FXCM, which gives away $10,000 in total cash prizes every month: $5,000 for the trader with the highest trading return, $2,500 to second place, $1,500 goes to third place, $750 for fourth, and finally a $250 prize for fifth place. For more information on the $10,000 Monthly Challenge and to read the rules for entry and how to win, click here.
May's contest is quickly wrapping up. If you want to follow the action, you can view our leaderboard at any time. Click HERE for more details!
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Unique experiences and past performances do not guarantee future results! Testimonials herein are unsolicited and are non-representative of all clients. Past performance is no indication of future results.
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