You trade real markets with a paper account. We read that account once an
hour, score it, and rank the field. No money moves at any point, in either direction.
Two accounts to set up, a short walk through how it is scored, and then you are in.
Account
First, your AIC account
Your place on the board, your cup points and everything you open from the
wheel land on your AIC member profile, so we need to know whose they are.
Already a member from an event or the newsletter? That is the same account.
Log in rather than making a second one, or your history does not follow you.
Broker
Then an Alpaca paper account
Alpaca is the broker we read from. A paper account is a full simulated
account: real prices, real order types, no real money. It is free.
Create an account, or sign in, at app.alpaca.markets.
In the top left of the dashboard, switch from Live to Paper Trading. Everything
after this must happen on the paper account.
Open the API Keys panel and generate a key pair. The one we want is Key,
starting PK. The PA… number above it is the account number, not the key.
The secret is never listed on that page, only the key is. Press Regenerate
and Alpaca shows the secret once, right then. Copy it before you leave the screen.
If you keep several paper accounts, regenerate on the one you are entering with.
Regenerating breaks whatever was using that account's previous key.
A live key is rejected on purpose. We only ever accept paper
credentials, so there is no path from this competition to your real money.
Taking part
You bring your own paper account
Open an Alpaca paper account, generate a key pair, and paste it in once. That
account is then locked to you for the rest of the cup, and one account can back exactly
one member.
Trade it however you like. The terminal on this page is a convenience, not the
only way in: orders you send from Python, from a notebook or straight over HTTP score exactly
the same, because we read your fills from Alpaca rather than from this page.
Paper keys only. A live key is rejected. Your secret is encrypted at
rest and never shown again, and revoking it in Alpaca cuts our access instantly.
Scoring
70% what you made, 30% how efficiently
Making money is the larger half, because this is an investment competition. The
other 30% is your return divided by your volatility, so a steady climb beats a lucky spike and
the same return taken with half the swing scores better.
Both halves are scored as your placing within the field, not as raw
numbers, which is what lets them be weighed against each other at all.
Volatility is sampled daily, not hourly. Hourly sampling would hand
equity traders a pile of flat overnight hours and flatter their numbers against a crypto book
that trades around the clock.
The weights
Then two weights apply
Time in the cup
Trading days you held a real position, over the trading days the cup has run. Joining
late or sitting in cash costs you in proportion.
Spread of book
Your average effective number of positions, against a target of five.
Both are linear. There is no threshold to clear and then coast: every trading day
and every position moves them, right up to the last session.
Concentration costs you when you are down as well as when you are up. You
cannot shrink a bad score by taking a wilder bet.
Guardrails
Two ways the maths gets gamed, and the fix
Toe in the water
The efficiency half of the score is blind to size: 10% of your account in five names is
as efficient as 100% in the same five. So a day only counts if at least 20% of your account
is in the market, on a day the market was open.
20%
Dust positions
Seven tiny holdings next to one big bet is not a spread book, and counting symbols would
say it was. We measure by weight, so 80% in one name plus four small ones scores about
1.5, not 5.
1.5
Cup points
Cup points, and why joining today is worth more
Cup points unlock spins, lootboxes and the summer collection. They live inside
this competition only: they do not touch your AIC member points, level or tier.
Joining with a verified paper account
50
Joining early
500 on the first day, falling by about 10 every day after it, 0 on the last.
500
Each trading day you hold a real position
No cap.
10
A spread book
Scaled to five effective positions.
50
Your placing in the standings
Needs five or more traders in the cup.
300
Points are not a second leaderboard. The standings rank on
performance alone and no amount of luck moves you up them. Your points total sits on
your own card, where it is a balance and not a placing.
Fair play
How we keep it honest
Other books are delayed 24 hours
The cup is open, so you can see how anyone traded. You cannot see what they hold right
now. A live feed on the leader's book is worth more to everyone else than to them.
We score from our own hourly record
What your account looks like at the closing bell on the last day cannot change the
result.
Orders are logged before they are sent
Every order placed through the terminal is written to an audit trail first. A reset
account or a swapped key is detected and pauses scoring.
Optional
You can trade it in four lines
Once you are in, your keys work anywhere. The research toolkit, the quickstart
notebook and the Alpaca reference are all linked on the guide tab.
from alpaca.trading.client import TradingClient
from alpaca.trading.requests import MarketOrderRequest
from alpaca.trading.enums import OrderSide, TimeInForce
client = TradingClient("YOUR_KEY", "YOUR_SECRET", paper=True)
client.submit_order(MarketOrderRequest(
symbol="AAPL", qty=1, side=OrderSide.BUY, time_in_force=TimeInForce.DAY))
Top 10
A private tour of Euronext Amsterdam and the closing gong ceremony, ringing the bell that
closes the trading day.
Top 3
All of that, plus AIC merchandise, a certificate and exclusive member cosmetics. Further
prizes to be announced.
Places are taken from the standings and never from cup points, so the
wheel cannot buy you one. A place needs three qualifying days.
Based in the Netherlands, your prize is guaranteed. From outside it we cannot
guarantee one: the visit is in person at Beursplein 5, travel is not covered, and we agree an
alternative with you case by case.
Last step
Connect your Alpaca paper account
You need to be signed in to your AIC account before you can join, because this
is where your points and crates land.
Once you are in, click your account name at the top left. Paper accounts are listed under
PAPER ACCOUNT.
Go to Account Management
At the bottom of that menu, choose Account Management, then Manage Accounts.
Create a new paper account
Press New Paper Account, give it a nickname, and leave the funds at the default
100000 so everyone starts on the same basis. Save.
Generate your key pair
On that account press Regenerate. Alpaca shows the Secret once and never
again, so copy both values straight into the form on this page before you navigate away.
Paper only. A live key is rejected. If you lose the secret, press Regenerate
again and reconnect with the new pair.
12 August to 30 September 2026
…
Loading the cup…
Log in to take part
Points and crates land on your AIC member profile, so we need to know whose they are.
A place on the board needs at least five daily
results and three sessions holding a position, and there are no longer enough days left
in the cup for a new run to reach that. Rather than hand you a scoring page you could
not place on, we have closed the form. The last day to join was
—.
The standings and the Guide stay open below, and the
cup closes —. If you connected a key earlier and it lapsed, you
can still reconnect the same Alpaca account.
Paper keys only. A live key is rejected. Your secret is encrypted at rest and never
shown again. Revoke it in Alpaca at any moment and that instantly cuts our access.
What we do. We read your account, positions and fills to score the cup, and the
terminal places orders into that paper account when you press the button. We never move money.
Connect your Alpaca paper account
Generate a key pair on a paper account and paste it below. We read your
account once an hour to score the cup. You connect one account, once, and it is locked to
you for the rest of the competition.
Time left
Top of the field
Top 10 over time
Return since each member joined, as a percentage of
the balance they started on, so runs that began on different days and different balances are
comparable. Click a name below to take that line out. On a computer you can also drag across
the chart to zoom into a stretch of days.
Standings
Ranked 70% on how much you made and 30% on how efficiently you made it, then weighted by how much of the cup you actually ran and how concentrated your book was, plus up to 5 points for joining early. Cup points play no part in this order. One lucky bet in one name does not win this.
How the score works
Trading, up to 95. Joining early, up to 5.
Performance70% return 30% risk adjusted
×
Time in the cupsessions you held a real position
×
Spread of bookeffective positions ÷ a target of 5
+
Joining earlyup to 5 0 on the last day
=
Score0 to 100
Cup points are not in this. Full detail is on the Guide tab.
The prizeTop 10 ring the closing gong of the Amsterdam stock exchangeA private tour of Euronext Amsterdam. Top 3 also take AIC merchandise,
a certificate and exclusive member cosmetics.
Prize partner
Based in the Netherlands, your prize is guaranteed. From outside it we cannot
guarantee one: the visit is in person at Beursplein 5, travel is not covered, and we agree an
alternative with you case by case.
Your portfolio
Private
Live from your Alpaca account, read the moment you
opened this tab. Only you see this. Your place on the board is scored hourly, so a figure here can
be ahead of the one on the Leaderboard. Working orders are on the Terminal tab.
Equity since you joined
Your own record, the series you are scored on.
Holdings
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Watchlist
Account
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Order ticket
Advanced
Find something to trade
Search every tradable symbol on Alpaca, or start from what is actually moving today.
Baskets
Click a symbol to open it on the Terminal.
Most active
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Top gainers
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Top losers
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Market news
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Crypto movers
Gainers
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Losers
The summer wheel
One spin free on joining, then each spin costs more than the last —
50 points, then 150, 300, 500, 750 and up. The wheel hands out lootboxes, single items,
timed multipliers and bonus points.
Spins left
0
Next spin at
—
Lootboxes
Every box holds 2 random items, never one you already own.
Every item in the set has the same chance of coming out.
0
unopened
Active multiplier
1x
Your collection
The summer set is 52 items: 10 characters,
21 illustrated cards, 11 isometric and 20 retro pixel. Nobody can collect them all
this year — every item has an equal chance, but each spin costs more points than
the last and no member can hold more than 24 in a season. You keep what you open; the set retires 31 August.
Score vs cup points
Two numbers. Only one is the competition.
Score
Decides the board
Performance?70% how much you made, 30% how much you made per unit of risk, which is your return divided by the volatility of your daily results. Each half is your placing within the field, not the raw number, because a 15% return and a Sharpe of 1.0 are not on the same scale.70 / 30
×Time in the cup?Trading days you held a real position, over the trading days the cup has run. A day counts only if at least 20% of your account is in the market, and only on days the market was open. Joining late or sitting in cash costs you in exact proportion.0-100%
×Spread of book?Your average effective number of positions against a target of five, measured by weight and not by counting tickers. Seven dust positions around one real bet is not an eight-name book: 80% in one name plus four small ones comes out near 1.5.0-100%
+Joining early?Up to 5 of the 100, and the only term added rather than multiplied. Full on the first day, nothing on the last. Enrolment stays open until 30 September, so this is what a member joining today gives up against the members who were here from the start.0-5
Cup points
Buys spins and crates
Joining?Awarded once, when you connect a verified Alpaca paper account.50
Joining early?500 on the first day, falling by about 10 a day, 0 on the last. Fixed at the moment you enrol, so it never drifts afterwards.500
Each trading day?Every day you hold a real position, with no cap. Needs at least 20% of your account in the market, the same bar the score uses.10
A spread book?Scaled by the same diversification weight as the score, against a target of five effective positions.50
Your placing?Scaled to where you sit in the standings. Needs five or more traders in the cup before it pays anything.300
The wheel?Bonus points from spins, plus timed multipliers while they run. This is the only part luck touches, and it touches points only.25-50
Points never move the board. Your placing
earns you points; your points earn you nothing on the board.
Your score is a placing, not a mark. Both halves measure where you sit against the
other members who have traded. So your score can move when someone else trades, even on a
day you did nothing. While few people are trading each place is worth a lot; as more join
in, the steps get smaller and the board steadies.
Why "effective" positions. Holding seven tiny positions alongside one big bet is
not a diversified book, and counting symbols would say it was. We measure concentration
by weight, so 80% in one name plus four small ones scores about 1.5, not 5.
You have to actually commit. The efficiency half of the score is blind to size:
10% of your account in five names is as efficient as 100% in the same five.
So a day only counts toward your time in the cup if at least 20% of your account
is in the market, and only on days the market was open.
Other traders' books are delayed 24 hours. The cup is public and you can see how
anyone traded, but not what they are holding right now. A live feed on the leader's book
is worth more to everyone else than it is to them.
On fairness. We snapshot your account every hour and score from our own record, so
the result does not depend on what your account looks like at the end. Your Alpaca account
is bound when you join: it can back exactly one member, and a reset or a swapped key is
detected and pauses scoring. Every order placed through the terminal is written to an
audit trail before it is sent.
What you are playing for
Euronext Amsterdam, Beursplein 5. The top 10 tour it and ring the closing gong.
Top 10 private
tour of Euronext Amsterdam and the closing gong ceremonyEuronext
Top 3 all
of that, plus AIC merchandise, a certificate and exclusive member cosmetics+ more
Places are taken from the standings and never from
cup points, so the wheel cannot buy you one.
Based in the Netherlands, your prize is guaranteed. From outside it we
cannot guarantee one: the visit is in person at Beursplein 5, travel and accommodation are not
covered, and joining on the day depends on what Euronext can accommodate. You compete on
exactly the same terms either way, and we agree an alternative with you case by case.
Trade it with code
The terminal is a convenience, not the only way in. Orders placed through
the API score exactly the same, because the cup reads your fills from Alpaca rather
than from this page.
