There is a common scam in the futures industry. If an organisation ever wants to sponsor a new guru and build him up (in return for kickbacks when the guru goes on to fame and fortune on the seminar and black box selling circuit), it is very easy to give someone legendary status.

There are several things that prevent a trading contest from being really a fair indication of a trader's ability. First of all, the guys running the contest have plenty of scope to cook the books. The guru might make a dozen trades a day and then only the profitable ones are counted. Sceptics will have a list of buy and sell contracts confirming that the trades did in fact happen.

Next, even honest contests never mention the losers. You only see the top traders at the end of the day. If someone desperately wants to break in to the trading guru scene all he has to do is enter as many trading contests as possible and trade aggressively. One day he'll enter a contest and one of his risky trades will come off nicely. Next thing you know the guy is charging $10,000 for one day seminars and has his name to a black box trading package.