I had a chat with the guys at Tradeview about trading competitions, because they're running one atm - they have a "marathon" competition going for 6 months and 6 x 1 month "sprint" competitons - cash prizes but the account you use has to be your own funded live account which can be as large or as small as you like - the results are based on % gain over the competition period (and its all algo-based). According to them, traders who go for the sprint are using higher risk strategies on small accounts, but they are very unlikely to be consistent hence why they go for the sprint (my guess is they give it a go every month on the basis one month their EA will hit a purple patch and they will win that month). The highest monthly sprint result so far by one trader is 400%, and other than a couple of traders in the 80-100% range everyone else is below 50%. The traders in the marathon are achieving far more conservative returns. Not surprising since competitors are trading with their own money.
