First CME Back to School Futures Trading Challenge

I traded for 4.5 hours today beginning 1 hr before market open...out of the 5 or 6 days the challenge was available. Been traveling and haven't always had internet. Also have a buddy to take care of, can't make him wait around.

But nevertheless I came in 226th place out of ~1,500...not all the people who signed up were active participants though I'm sure. however, when I was slightly negative I was in ~350th place, so I assume the majority lost money.

I can tell the top dogs used fundamentals, as well as technicals, to make their profits. Much respect to the winner, he closed out his positions half-way through today when he hit 50K. Before that he had 13 trades, suddenly 25 trades.

Looking forward to learning more about how the futures and forex markets tick and being a part of this challenge next year!

I will use CME's practice simulator for my paper trading. Like the layout, the products available...it promotes longer-term trading vs. instance action...which is what I need. It also includes slippage, 1 pt either way so is more realistic. Comissions not taken into account though. However, I have reason to believe these will be less important, than slippage certainly.