Calculating risk, spotting opportunities and changing direction at lightning speed are all skills exhibited on the Alpari World Match Racing Tour (AWMRT) by the world’s top sailors. At first glance match racing has a lot in common with currency trading, but how easily can you convert a match racing skipper into a profit-making Forex currency trader? Alpari offered the nine Tour Card Holders a chance to find out by setting the skippers a challenge – to navigate the Forex markets.

Launched last month, the Alpari Skipper Trading Challenge is already proving a hit with the sailors as they start to make waves in the global currency markets. Equipped with Demo accounts on the popular MetaTrader 4 trading platform and GBP500,000 in virtual money, there is still everything to play for at the end of the first month’s trading. 

Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team shot to the top of the Challenge leaderboard after the first month of the challenge, finishing July with an astonishing £12,618 profit. Unlike other skippers, Johnie has taken a longer-term approach to currency trading, keeping four trades open since the beginning of July. This strategy maximises risk as the trade is open to the continuous market movement, but also gives the opportunity to take additional profit if the upward trends continue in the trader’s favour.

Craig Erlam, Market Analyst at Alpari (UK), says: “In Forex, some people close their deals within seconds (scalping) and others keep them open for weeks. In Johnie’s case, the trades have gone his way so far, although he has to be careful that the market doesn’t suddenly move against him. He could lose all his gains and more if he doesn’t react quickly in such a situation.”

The Challenge has identified clear differences in the way that certain skippers handle risk. Simone Ferrarese (ITA) Ferrarese Racing Team was seen to place large stakes from day one, whilst others, including Ian Williams (GBR) GAC Pindar, Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA) Vannes Agglo Sailing Team and Laurie Jury (NZL) Kiwi Match Sailing, were more risk averse, starting small, and putting just a pound or two on each point as currencies moved up or down.

It’s still too early to say which technique and which Tour skipper will ultimately prevail, but with the results due to be announced at Match Race France in Marseille on 26 September, the competition is certainly hotting up.

Check out the latest leaderboard at http://www.wmrt.com/tour-info/about-alpari.html

Can’t wait until next month’s Alpari Skipper Trading Challenge review? Follow Alpari Sailing on Twitter @AlpariSailing for more updates.