Rules/How to report

There are currently two divisions, stocks and enhanced growth. It is possible to enter the competition with less than $1,000,000 but in that case if you do not add money your profit will be divided by 1,000,000 to determine your percentage increase. Accounts that contain long options or futures positions (whether long or short), will appear in the enhanced growth division. To participate, you must specify an account number for us to track (it doesn’t have to be your own account, it can be a client’s or relative’s), and pay an entry fee. You may specify more than one account number if needed to reach the $1,000,000 minimum, without any additional charge. You may enter two different divisions if you desire, with two different account numbers, but then you must pay two entry fees to do so.

You may trade foreign securities, ETFs, trade long or short, and use margin. The competition is open to everyone, in any country. Late entries (those who enter after January 2, 2025), will be tracked from the close on the day they enter. So if you enter on April 15, up 20% for the year, for the purposes of this competition, you will be entering at the close on April 15, up zero percent. Only gains you make after you enter will be considered as part of your performance.

If your account is denominated in a foreign currency, we reserve the right to do a conversion into US dollars if that would have a material impact on your performance. In that case, your percentage increase will be obtained by converting the starting and ending account values, and possibly also monies added and removed, into US dollars.

In order to appear in any of the monthly standings (which is optional – you could just appear in the quarterly or in the final standings if you desire), you must send an email to normanz@earthlink.net, providing the following information: How you want your name to appear in the standings, the division you entered, your percentage increase since you entered, a copy of your monthly brokerage statements from the time you started, and your start date if you entered late. Once you have sent a copy of your January statement, we don’t need it again. At the end of the competition, we will need at most one copy of each monthly statement.

Determining your percentage increase

This is easy if you use a brokerage house that computes time-weighed returns, like Interactive Brokers, Fidelity, or Schwab. (Ask your broker if they can compute time-weighted returns; most can.) In that case, in addition to your brokerage statement, you email to normanz@earthlink.net a page showing your time-weighted return. It’s that simple. If you entered after trading started in 2025, the report you provide should give your time-weighted return from your starting date to the end of the most recent month.

If you do not use a brokerage house that automatically computes time-weighted returns, the process is still easy unless you added or removed large amounts of money. If you just added or removed modest amounts of money, you will need to tell us the net cash added (or removed) and the dates when cash was added or removed. If net cash were added, we would compute your percentage return as your ending account value minus the net cash added minus the starting value divided by your starting value plus the maximum net new cash added at any point. So if you started with $1,000,000, added $500,000, and then removed $500,000, your profit would be divided by $1.5 million to get your percentage return. If net cash were removed, your percentage return would be your ending value plus the net cash removed minus the starting value, divided by your starting value. So if you started with $1,000,000, removed $200,000, and ended with $1,400,000, your profit would be $1,400,000 + $200,000 – $1,000,000 = $600,000. Dividing by $1,000,000 gives a 60% return.

If you have made at most two large additions or removals of cash and are not using a brokerage that computes time-weighted returns, you can request a compounding. In that case, we will need the dates when money was added or removed, the amounts, and a print screen or photo of the account value at the close on the day of any substantial monetary addition or removal.