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A worldwide online trading contest that started Sunday, Feb. 7, set new benchmarks for the extent of cash and other prizes offered, and linking traders globally through social networking, as well as giving market speculation expertise greater recognition.
The “GFT Trading Challenge” sets a benchmark for prizes, trading strategies and social networking in a market where the three have never come together such as this.
“We expect a truly worldwide rivalry of thousands of traders to challenge each other for the top prizes, which include prestige, recognition and rewards beyond their profits,” said Gary L. Tilkin, president and CEO, GFT.
With a grand prize of $50,000 cash, GFT hopes to bring a heightened sense of excitement to the financial markets that once were open to very few people. Now, almost anyone can trade forex and other financial derivatives, which is why the company has designed the competition based on profit margin.
“Since the contest is based on an overall percentage, it really levels the playing field for all traders participating. They could start with several thousands of dollars or tens of thousands, but all traders will have a shot to win the cash grand prize,” said Tilkin.
The cash prizes are not the only thing making this competition one for the record books – social networking will be used for the first time in an online contest of this nature, bringing traders around the world together in a way that hasn’t happened before.
All Twitter ‘followers’ of @gftforex, @gftuk or @fx360 who use the hashtag #tradeGFT will be entered to win weekly prizes – to the value of $3,000. As interactive components of the Twitter contest, GFT will deliver a wide range of tweets, including trading tips, questions to spark a dialogue for traders to share ideas, prize clues as well as other breaking news related to both the trading and Twitter contests.
To go even further with prizes, participation and sharing news with the public, GFT plans to offer traders in the challenge an opportunity to win prizes each week they are in the contest (at random). Five others who remain eligible throughout the contest will receive consolation prizes (together, the total value of weekly and consolation prizes is over $8,000).
In the U.S., the contest will involve trading forex in an attempt to profit from exchange rate differences. Outside of the U.S., in Europe, Asia, Australia or the Middle East, traders will compete in forex or CFDs – the popular derivatives used for trading stocks, indices, commodities and other common financial markets.
“This is the type of competition that will bring traders out into the mainstream and give them the full recognition they deserve as they see how their skills match up against other traders,” said Tilkin.
All worldwide contestants are able to track their position, as well as competitor locations, on an official Challenge leaderboard as they compete against fellow traders for big winnings. The leaderboard will be updated daily, reflecting the individual's total percentage gain
GFT will award three cash prizes: $50,000 for first place; $25,000 for second place and $10,000 for third place. Fourth- and fifth-place winners will receive upgrades applied to their GFT trading account, each worth over $2,500–combined with the weekly consolation and giveaway prizes the total prize payout is over $100,000 (USD).
The GFT Trading Challenge kicks off today and runs until April 30, 2010 (ET), giving traders and tweeters nearly three months to compete for prizes, prestige and cash. Visit the official “GFT Trading Challenge” website by clicking here. | 
