Italy’s Simone Ferrarese wins Alpari Skipper Trading Challenge

After three months of intense competition, the Alpari Skipper Trading Challenge came to an end at Match Race France in Marseille on 26 September, with Italy’s Simone Ferrarese winning the contest with an amazing GBP176,925 profit. Having trailed the opposition for most of the Challenge, Simone came good in the last week to steer his team into the top spot.

Craig Erlam, Market Analyst at Alpari (UK), compared Simone’s strategy with an eBay auction: “He waited until the very last minute to swoop into the top spot with some inspiring deadline day trades. Starting with smaller trades he got to know the MetaTrader 4 platform and learnt the market, before gradually increasing his trade size as he gained confidence.”

35% return in three months

Risk management tools and regular visits to the Alpari Clubhouse onsite at events eventually helped Simone to turn his initial losses into a winning formula. Simone placed 106 trades altogether, making a profit on more than 57% of them. He finished the Challenge with a profit of GBP176,925.11, an impressive 35% return in three months.

Celebrating his win, Simone said that he had never placed a trade before: “The whole process appeared rather daunting at first but it didn’t take me long to get really excited about it all.

“I got the hang of it quickly and found that it wasn’t anywhere near as difficult as I had expected. Actually, it’s quite a lot of fun too.”

Learn to navigate and then sail away

Simone said that learning to navigate the Forex market before working out a strategy was crucial for success. He said: “I think you have to complete a few test trades to understand how it all works before you can start thinking about a strategy.

Just like in sailing, you have to learn how to handle a yacht before you can compete in a strategic match race. Knowing a little more about trading now, I believe having a strategy when you trade is as important as a strategic approach is in sailing. The two activities are not that different when you look at them closely.”

It's been a hectic few months in the Challenge, with the lead switching back and forth several times before the dramatic conclusion. Back in July, the teams were equipped with Demo accounts on the popular MetaTrader 4 trading platform and GBP500,000 in virtual money.

Huge congratulations to Simone Ferrarese and his team who took the victory and with it, a prize TAG Heuer Aquaracer watch each.

For further details, visit: http://www.wmrt.com/tour-info/trading-challenge.html