I Can’T Win Trading Competitions

[⭐ analyst75]

“We’ve seen plenty of traders over the years make huge returns on their accounts, well over 1000 per cent in a relatively short period of time, but as soon as they hit a drawdown period they just as quickly give it all back. This is because they were trading well beyond risk limits in the first place.” – Charlie Burton

The currency markets have many benefits that are no longer secrets: the biggest daily turnover, inability of Smart Money to control the markets permanently to their favor, interesting fundamentals, high liquidity, 24-hour availability, low spreads, etc. As a result of the increasing popularity of the markets, many types of programs are coming up in the financial industry; and one of them is trading competitions.

I once participated in some of the competitions and never won a single one. In spite of my trading knowledge, I’ve never even ended in the top 50, not to mention the second or third position. Why?

On demo and live accounts, I don’t usually risk more than 0.5% or at most 1% per trade. I need to do this consistently so that it becomes my second nature. Trading is a game of survival, but in those kinds of competitions, even if I make 2000 pips in a month, my profits would only be 10% or 20%. Now, someone else could make less than 500 pips in a month and achieve 500% profits. The difference lies in the amount of risk per trade. Can you now see why I can’t win a trading contest?

In most competitions, a contestant who achieves the highest returns within the shortest time duration is usually declared the winner. A trading competition - usually a demo accounts competition – tends to last for one week or one month only. Every competitor thus strives to achieve hundreds or thousands of percentage of returns during the short period. I’ve seen a competition in which a participant made 3000% returns in less than one week! I’ve seen a trading competition in which a participant made 700% returns in a month. Does this means they’re the most proficient traders on the planet? The answer is NO.

When the market is favorable to your trading method, you’ll be making money with new orders, no matter what. A winning streak can last for days, weeks or months, before it’s alternated by a losing streak (before another winning streak comes again). It’s too common that most people who make money in winning streaks give back more than their profits during losing streaks, as a result of excessively high stakes and lack of risk control methods.

Most types of trading competitions encourage people to make the highest possible money as quickly as possible. This kind of indoctrination can’t favor traders that aspire for a lasting career. Just as speculators who get hundreds of percentage of profits because of excessively big position sizes, but soon they’re no longer in the markets; one who risks too much per trade is a gambler, but one who takes risk control method serious is a real trader. When a competing gambler is in a winning streak, she/he can make hundreds or thousands of percentage returns when 20%, 30%, 40%, 50% or 60% (or more) of the portfolio is risked per trade. Nevertheless, the higher the stake per trade, the higher the loss or the drawdown when something goes contrary to the trading method. That’s why some of the so-called expert traders or trading champions later crashed and burned in the markets. They’ll still tell you trading is great and they can trade very well, but they’re no longer in the markets because their suicide trading methods backfired at them.

Would you prefer to get rich quickly and have a temporary career or would you want to make small and constant gains? What matters most to you: the safety of your account or big profits as soon as possible?

There are also certain trading competitions in which organizers rule that winners must accurately predict the exact price of a particular trading instrument within a specific period. Isn’t that hard? Market wizards all agree that future prices can’t be predicted, yet we can harness gains from them. How can I predict the exact future prices when I’m not clairvoyant or psychic? If psychics could even do that, I guess they’d have become billionaire traders. Should you predict an exact future price within a specific period and win, it is by pure chance.

The Types of Trading Competitions I Can Win

There are types of trading competitions I can win, but sadly, they’re not that common in the Forex world.

I can win a trading competition that rules that winners would be those whose accounts are still intact and positive after making 1000 trades (or at least 500 trades) within some years. How many gamblers can win that type of competition? I can win a competition that gives awards to those who achieve the least amount of drawdowns after several months or years. I can win a trading competition that recognizes contestants who makes most pips, not most profits within several months.

Yes, if that kind of trading competition allows contestants to compete for 10 months or even years, I can win it. One week or one month is definitely too short to test the reliability of a trading system.

A good trader is someone who deals with losing streaks successfully and recovers from them, not someone who makes great profits in winning streaks and crashes in losing streaks.

The most important thing a good trader can do is to keep an account permanently safe in the face of the vagaries of the markets. Making profits is a secondary aim, for there must be an intact capital before profits can be made. If the capital is gone, there’s no means of carrying out additional transactions that could be successful. One best way of keeping our accounts safe is to learn how permanently victorious traders have managed to keep their portfolios safe for decades.

Conclusion: Most speculators who’ve made billions of dollars from the markets have become extremely rich because their portfolios are huge and they make relatively small, consistent gains. They haven’t become billionaires because they achieved 100% gains over and over and over again within very short time periods. They achieve their aims by looking for low risk investment opportunities, and capitalizing on them by giving their winners enough leeway. This is easier said than done, for most traders find it difficult to run their winners – it’s really difficult. But it’s essential for long-term survival.

This article is ended by the quote below:

“Pace yourself, take small gains and small losses, trading is not a sprint towards riches, it’s a marathon towards financial independency.” – Alesh Patel

[Kolyo09]

oh, come on. Winning a trading competition is so Easy. If you seriously take this as a REAL TRADING you can win from Demo contest too. Contestant should follow Money management, Technical analysis and Trading strategies so Carefully. I won several contest with OctaFX broker.

Winning was so easy for me because I got maximum supports and facilities from broker. It provides technical analysis so accurately and shares financial news faster that ever. Currently, OctaFX has 2 types of Demo contest and 1 Real contest. OctaFX Champion demo contest and Trading sprint demo contest are the 2 demo contest by this broker.

This broker also has a King of the road real contest. So you can take anyone of them to win. I often take a part with demo contest. Getting winning bonuses, I use them on live trading to win real profits.

[John Bryce]

It is mostly due to wrong selection of the company to work with, as majority have contests or competition for show off. I would recommend you to try OctaFX, as their contest of cTrader is just perfect for any newbie; it is just one week lasting contest, so we can show our skills completely and even if it does not work out next week is open to participate again and prize is 150 USD for first position, so I can assure you if you have got any skills even little you would win it like I did previously.

[dante]

and the post writing all in black font. i guarantee there's no one read 1st post throughfully.well, Anybody willing to survive in this business must always take money management into consideration when doing this business,the good thing about proper money manage is that even if our entry is wrong we are still gonna end up making something from the market,though it will require time and patient but the truth is that it will surely pay off and yield good profit as well. find many resource you need, and start with reading fx basic knowledge, alternatively you may prefer to watch video tutorial http://www.armadamarkets.com/video-tutorials/ had a wide range teaching material at structured course outline.

[CahCuncun]

Can't win trading comptetition is not a problem as long as we can try to more improve our skills by learning from our experience. In trading contest, we can learn how to minimize the risk, learn more how to manage account in forex. I also never win contest but, using demo account in TenkoFx, i can hone skill.

[Guest gaban]

each trader has a chance of winning the competition. but it depends on the ability of each trader. With the ability we have much to learn and practice trading well so we will be able to succeed in this business

[Keith Park]

I think there could be many reasons we might not be able to win it mainly it is because we are simply not good enough or sometimes others are better, so we need to accept these factors but if all of this is not the case then we should trade with a better broker who we can trust with contest. I trade with OctaFX broker since they are regulated, so their contest is also great. In fact, I have also won Champion contest prize of 300 USD once and I am regularly trading with their new cTrader weekly contest.

[uncung]

I think for winning any kinds of competition it is very important to have a great knowledge in Forex . Although many trading platform arrangement at many competition demo or live for increasing their popularity but I think it can be a grand source to prove yourself. Bu the way, I participated a demo contest from ‘ProfiForex’ that was with real prizes. I took the first position in that contest then I transferred this balance in my live account.

[Sam Patrick]

The risk in the forex market is a very simple issue. You can’t trade in the forex market without any risk. Trade and losses are connected with each other. Trade without losses in the forex market is nearly impossible. I trade with a Forex4you. They are a very reliable broker. I face losses sometimes.

There's always a risk in the forex market but that doesn’t mean I will stop trading. My broker is one of the best brokers I have ever worked. They provide minimum spread and maximum leverage. They provide a very easy process to open an account. Their endless supports always help me to build up my forex knowledge.
 

[Nilde Lucchese]

Forex trading is the most famous and profitable business in the world. Anyone can start trading and earn a lot of money from the forex market. A reliable broker strong knowledge is the most important thing for trading. You have to gain strong knowledge and choose a reliable broker for earning money. My broker Eurotrader is very reliable. They are one of the best brokers I have ever worked with. They are very helpful.

[uncle gober]

The selection of an existing broker must be able to be considered properly, this is needed and necessary so that traders can become better and can be more maximal in carrying out trading activities in accordance with expectations with Tickmill.

[Jo Eshuijs]

Any successful trader will tell that traders must build a good trading plan and follow it. No one can trade for long time without a trading plan. Traders should develop a FX strategy and test it thoroughly. Make an adjustment if needed. Then repeat it until it generates heathy profit. My broker Forex4you provide demo account where I can easily test my trading strategy.
 

[Ross Edwards]

A proper plan is very important for trade in the forex market. Without a strong or proper plan, you can't survive in the forex market. Proper guidance, a proper plan, strong knowledge are very important things for a trader. If you make a proper plan and everything goes under that plan then you will earn profits no doubt. I always try to create a better plan. My broker TP Global FX helps me a lot to make it in a very proper way. They are very supportive. They never make disappointment to their client.
 

[tradesprint]

Not only a plan but everything is important in forex trading like money management, risk management, emotional management etc. I believe we can learn all those skills however many new traders wants to get rich over the night from trading indusrty but they don't want to learn all those necessary skills required to trade profitably.