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Round notice

October 2026 round notice

PTQA monthly trading competition · Published 23 September 2026 · Rules: version 2 (23 September 2026)

This notice opens the October 2026 round, as section 4 of the competition rules requires. Where this notice and the rules differ, the rules win, except for the round details below.

Dates

  • Entries: open now. They close on 1 October 2026 at 00:00 US Central time (CDT).
  • Measurement: from 1 October 2026 at 00:00 CDT to 31 October 2026 at 23:59:59 CDT.
  • Results: expected by 7 November 2026, once every entry has been confirmed as measured.

Who can enter

  • Anyone aged 18 or over with a current Part-Time Quant Academy membership or a current paid PTQ subscription, using a verified account. One entry per person.
  • Countries: open in every country, except where taking part in a skill competition or receiving a cash prize is prohibited or restricted for you by local law. If that applies where you live, you can't enter this round (rules, section 3).
  • Staff and anyone running or judging the competition, and their immediate families, can't win.

What you can enter

One strategy built in the competition strategy builder. Markets: US stocks and ETFs, FX, futures and crypto spot, as the builder offers them. Rule types: breakout, mean reversion and momentum, plus the builder's advanced and quant options. Your strategy locks when you submit it.

How it is simulated

  • Every entry is measured forward over the month, on simulated money. No real trades are placed.
  • Positions are sized from your risk per trade and your stop. The same engine and settings apply to every entrant.
  • Entries are simulated at the close of the bar that gives the signal. Signal exits happen at the next bar's open, and stops and targets are checked within each bar.
  • Costs of 6 basis points per side on every trade, covering spread, commission and slippage together.
  • Open positions are valued at every bar's close, so a drop during a trade counts.
  • Market data: PTQ's own sources (Yahoo for stocks, FX and futures; Bitget public data for crypto).
  • Results are percentages, so the size of the simulated starting balance doesn't change your standing.

How it is ranked

Return over the month divided by the largest peak-to-trough drop during the month. An entry that can't be measured is shown as not measured, never as zero.

The public leaderboard shows positions and names only. You see your own strategy's simulated results in your competition account, and nobody else's numbers are shown.

Prize

  • $500 (US dollars) to first place. One prize.
  • We'll email the winner at the address on their competition account within 7 days of the results. They have 14 days to reply and confirm their details.
  • Paid by bank transfer or PayPal within 14 days of that confirmation.
  • A position on the leaderboard isn't a confirmed prize until the entry is verified under the rules.