LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The United States Investing Championship today reported the final standings for the 2020 competition, which involved 124 participants from around the world. More than 300 traders have joined the 2021 competition. The United States Investing Championship is a real money verified competition which gives up and coming traders an opportunity to showcase their talent on the world stage. Prior top performers include Paul Tudor Jones and Louis Bacon. Participants specify an account number at the beginning of the year for tracking purposes. Brokerage statements associated with that account are used to verify performance claims. The competition began in 1983 and ran for fifteen years. It was restarted in 2019.
The top finisher in the $1,000,000+ stock division is George Tkaczuk, + 119.1%. Mr. Tkaczuk is a portfolio manager at RCM Wealth Advisors in Chicago, as well as a medical doctor. He was also at one time a professional volleyball player. In second place is Bill Roller, +15.2%. Leading the $1,000,000+ division in Enhanced Growth, which allows futures and/or long option trades, is Vivek Subramanyam, + 60.6%, from London. Mr. Subramanyam is founder and CEO of a technology focused investment bank, Technology Holdings. Mr. Subramanyam was born in India, studied business management there, and then spent a decade each in New York and London. In second place, + 22.7% is Luiz Pinto, from Doha, Qatar. Mr. Pinto, who has a Ph.D. in economics, was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In third, +12%, is Hsiu-Ping Peng.
Among participants in the stock division trading less than $1,000,000, the winner was Oliver Kell, + 941.1%, from Philadelphia. This performance easily broke all prior USIC records. Mr. Kell was born in San Francisco. His father was a market maker on the Pacific Stock Exchange. Finishing second, + 497%, is Tomas Claro. Mr. Claro was born in Chile. He worked for twelve years for a number of large Chilean Institutions, including a five year stint as head of international trading. In 2017, he left Chile and moved to Chicago where he received an MBA from the University of Chicago. He is a full time trader. Third, + 448.4%, is Ryan Pierpont, from Los Gatos, California. Mr. Pierpont graduated from Santa Clara University with a degree in business. He currently does financial planning for ServiceNow corporation. Fourth, + 346%, is Matthew Caruso, from Montreal. Mr. Caruso is a Chartered Market Technician and Certified Financial Analyst. From 2008 to 2012, he was a trader and market maker for National Bank Financial He also taught a class on trading as an adjunct professor for Concordia University. He currently trades professionally for his own account. Fifth, + 322%, is Shahid Saleem. Mr. Saleem was born in Pakistan and studied petroleum engineering in college. His first job in the industry was as a reservoir engineer for Schlumberger. He has also worked for ENI, Talisman, and CNR (Canadian Natural Resources). Mr. Saleem currently lives in Aberdeen, Scotland. His trading success has allowed him leave the petroleum industry and trade full time. He, like a number of other USIC trading stars, attributes much of his success to Mark Minervini, a former USIC winner. The rest of the entrants reporting profits in the stock division are: Anish Sikri + 209.6%; B.J. Patel, + 187.7%; Ricardo Valenzuela, + 161.4%; Vibha Jha, the top female performer, +155.2%; Vitan Peychev, +142.3%; Evan Buenger, + 141.8%; Sunil Ravindran, + 134.9%; Sean Ryan, + 128%; Alok Bhatia, + 105.5%; Rohan Sahani, + 86.5%; John Caccavale, + 77.1%; Ralph Koppel, + 72.5%; Michael Gulyn, + 67.5%; Javi Medina, + 59.6%; Trent McGraw, + 59.4%; Gordon Elvey, + 58.2%; Jean Pierre, +57.9%; Adrian Palmer, DMD, + 54.7%; Steve Kao, + 53.7%; Manoj Panda, + 48.8%; Bruce Morley, + 39.6%; Bill Roller, + 39.6%; Jose Burgos, + 38%; Perry McCarty, + 35.3%; Ray Sit, + 28.8%; Carlos Perez-Ruixo, + 24.4%; Menair Capital, + 16.9%; Mohammad Alseaidan, + 14.9%; John Plisky, + 11.9%; Paul Wimmers + 10%, and Robert Schwagerl, + 9.9%.
Among participants in the enhanced growth division trading accounts of less than $1,000,000, the top finisher is Kenneth He Huang, + 428.7%. Mr. Huang was born in China. He obtained a BS and MS degree in chemistry from Nankai University, and his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Minnesota. He worked for fifteen + years in pharmaceutical R&D, leadership and startup. He is now founder CEO of Optimum Wealth Inc., a capital management and consulting firm in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Second, + 203%, is Joseph Bakhash. Mr. Bakhash was born and raised on Long Island, graduating from Hofstra University with a degree in business. He initially pursued a career as a filmmaker. His most notable film was “Deadline,” starring Norman Reedus of “The Walking Dead.” He now trades full time. Third is Sheldon Thomas, + 199.5%, from New York City. Mr. Thomas has a Computer Science degree and is a software engineer. Fourth is Rick Jarosh, + 146.6%. Mr. Jarosh was born in Exton Pennsylvania and currently lives in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Fifth is Jon Wu, + 120.9%. Mr. Wu is originally from Shanghai, China. He now lives in Ridgewood, New Jersey. The other entrants reporting profits are Jeff Watts, + 45.5%; Travis Wilkerson, + 34.5%; and Adrian Palmer DMD, + 32.5%.
Over the years, the United States Investing Championship has attracted legendary traders, including Paul Tudor Jones, Louis Bacon, Dr. Edward O. Thorpe, Mark Strome, Mark Minervini, David Ryan, Doug Kass, Sheen Kassouf, Marty Schwartz, Frankie Joe, Tom Basso, Cedd Moses, Gil Blake, Robert Prechter, Jr., and Bruno Combier.
The standings appear on the website financial-competitions.com, and are carried by various media outlets. Financial-competitions.com allows traders to enter the competition and provides copies of past articles about top performers which appeared in Barron’s, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and other financial publications. Late entries are tracked from the date of their entry, so everyone starts with a gain of zero percent. The competition is run by Dr. Norman Zadeh, a former Stanford professor, former professional gambler, former publisher of the magazine Perfect 10, and son of Lotfi Zadeh, the creator of fuzzy logic. Dr. Zadeh recently published a book, Hold’em Poker Super Strategy, available on amazon.com. According to Dr. Zadeh, thirteen of the top stock performers are current clients or students of Mark Minervini, a former United States Investing Championship winner.