January’s $10,000 Challenge WinnerFXCM and DailyFX are happy to announce the winners of our first $10,000 Monthly Challe
January’s $10,000 Challenge Winner
FXCM and DailyFX are happy to announce the winners of our first $10,000 Monthly Challenge for the 2016 trading year! January’s $10,000 contest proved to be one of the most exciting yet with two close finishes. Only one percentage point separated our second (Georgi C.) and third (Jessica F.) place finishers as well as our fourth and fifth place contestants. Our winner Phong V. however stood out among a field of tens of thousands of contestants to become our new Challenge winner! Congratulations to all of our winners and participants for the month of January!
Past Performance: Past Performance is not an indicator of future results.
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.
To gain some insight into January’s competition, I was able to interview this month’s first place finisher Phong V. Phong is a self-described day trader that has been active in markets for the last five years. While he began trading equities, his primary focus for the last two years has been concentrated in the Forex market. For him, the appeal lies in market availability. Most of his trading revolves around US Dollar based currencies pairs. Given this proclivity, he likes to take advantage of the early morning volatility provided by the London – New York market overlap.
In 2015 DailyFX completed a study, which reviewed 24 million trades. One of the main focuses of this study was on how trader performance may vary widely by time of day. Typically, trader profitability declines as volatility increases during early morning hours. However, Phong was able to adapt his strategy to fit these active market conditions for his trading in January. To get a better look at how volatility can affect the market, view the hour by hour change in prices experienced by the GBP/USD in the graphic below.
Average Hourly Absolute Change in GBP/USD from 2005-2015
Data source: GBP/USD price data derived from FXCM’s price servers from 2005-2015.
Learn more about the best times to trade with the Trade, Register for our free E-Guide HERE
As I mentioned earlier, Phong noted that he mainly focuses on trading USD based pairs. For the month of January, he primarily traded commodity pairs, which included both the NZD/USD and USD/CAD. While he does not directly follow the commodities market, he did take advantage of the large moves in these markets. For the month of January, the USD/CAD rallied as much as 877 pips!
One important part of Phong’s strategy relies on tracking news events. Both the London and New York trading sessions are known for a series of news events that historically move the market. During these events, prices can quickly reach extremes. It is during these moments that Phong plans his entry into the markets. Once he has judged that a currency pair has become overbought or oversold, he begins looking to trade retracements back in the currencies primary direction.
What is in store for the US Dollar in 2016? See our Analyst forecast here!
Because trading around times of high market volatility can be risky, Phong directly mentioned the importance of risk management. While he manually trades all of his positions, he stated that he first determines his risk on the charts prior to entering into a position. While he did exceptionally well in January, Phong also mentioned that every trader has room for improvement. For him, this means continuing to work on his Risk/Reward ratios as well as perfecting his price action trading skills.
After learning a bit about Phong’s 1st place finish for Januarys $10,000 Trading Challenge, I concluded the interview by asking him if he had any advice for new traders and challenge participants. He wanted to convey the notion that traders should always trade with confidence. For Phong this meant practicing a strategy to help prepare for the psychological stress of trading a live account.
What is the FXCM $10,000 Monthly Challenge?
FXCM wants to thank Phong V. along with all of our January 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.
February’s contest is quickly wrapping up. If you want to follow the action, you can view our leader board at any time. Click HERE for more details!
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.
