TL;DR - The U.S. Investing Championship (USIC) is a real-money trading competition run since 1983 by Dr. Norman Zadeh, in which traders nominate an actual brokerage account and are ranked on its percentage return for the calendar year. The minimum account is $20,000, and a smaller account has its profit divided by $20,000 anyway. Accounts holding futures or long options go into the Enhanced Growth division, everything else into the Stock division, and a $1 million tier called Money Manager Verified Ratings (MMVR) runs the same two divisions for larger accounts at a $1,000 fee. There is no cash prize; the product is an audited public result. The 2026 standings list 707 entrants, and at mid-year only 17% were profitable. Past winners include Martin Schwartz, David Ryan, Mark Minervini and Oliver Kell; the 2025 records were set by Martin Luk (+969.8%) and Utsarga Adhikary (+2,115.1%).

The USIC is the stock trader's equivalent of the World Cup Trading Championships: a year-long contest on real money, verified from broker statements, whose result follows a trader for a career. It produced several of the names in Jack Schwager's Market Wizards and it still produces new ones every year. This article covers the rules as the organizer publishes them, the divisions, how to enter, the record of winners, and what the traders who placed recently say about it. For the head-to-head with the futures championship, see WCTC vs USIC.

The rules in one paragraph

You nominate a real brokerage account before the year starts (or join late, in which case your starting value is the close on the day you enter). Your starting value is the account's close on 31 December. Your result is the percentage increase over the year, computed from your brokerage statements. The minimum account size is $20,000; if your account is smaller, your profit is divided by $20,000, so a small account cannot inflate its percentage. Standings are published through the year, monthly on the organizer's site at financial-competitions.com, with official audit updates in between. The account does not have to be in your own name; a client's or relative's account you trade is accepted.

The four divisions

The contest runs two tiers, each split by what you trade.

• USIC, Stock division ($20,000 to $1 million): stocks and ETFs, long or short, with leverage and option writing allowed; no futures, no CFDs, no long options.
• USIC, Enhanced Growth division: any account that holds futures or long option positions at any point.
• MMVR, Stock division ($1 million and up): the same rules for accounts of $1 million or more; a smaller account has its profit divided by $1 million.
• MMVR, Enhanced Growth division: futures and long options at the $1 million tier.

A trader whose account grows past $1 million during the year is promoted to the MMVR tier the following year, which is why several names appear in both tiers across consecutive seasons.

How to enter

1. Open or choose a real brokerage account you trade, funded with at least $20,000 for USIC or $1 million for MMVR.
2. Register on the organizer's site and pay the entry fee: $1,000 for MMVR; USIC fees have been reported at $350 to $475 in different years, so check the current figure on the site.
3. Submit the account and monthly brokerage statements for audit.
4. Trade as you normally do. Monthly listing is optional; a competitor can choose to appear only in the quarterly or final standings.

There is no cash prize. What a placing buys is recognition: Deepak Uppal, fifth in 2023 at +259%, describes what changed after his name reached the leaderboard:

"People want to know exactly how you did it. It opened doors, invitations to interviews, chat groups, a following on X. USIC is held in very high regard, being counted among the traders who've come out of it is an honor."

How hard it is

The 2026 eight-month standings list 707 entrants. The organizer's mid-year release counted 688 competitors, of whom 115, about 17%, were showing a profit while the S&P 500 was up 10.2%. Most entrants in an audited real-money contest lose money or trail the index, which is the context every winning number below should be read in. Thawin Suksathaporn, third in the 2025 Enhanced Growth division, entered for exactly that test:

"I wanted to see if I could still perform under that kind of pressure."

Winners on record

The organizer publishes standings by year and division; the table lists the champions this site has on record with the organizer as source. Earlier years are incomplete in public archives; the USIC's own historical year pages were offline when this site checked them on 20 October 2026.

David Ryan's three consecutive Stock titles are the subject of David Ryan: three USIC wins in a row; Minervini's method is in Mark Minervini: USIC champion and SEPA; Schwartz, who also won the 1992 World Cup in futures, is in Marty Schwartz: the Pit Bull story.

Notable records from the two most recent seasons: Martin Luk's 969.8% is the highest Stock-division return on record; Utsarga Adhikary's 2,115.1% is the highest across all USIC divisions; Law Wai-Sum's 353.9% in 2024 broke Minervini's 334.8% MMVR Stock record; and Law Wai-Sum and Judy Lai, who are married, finished first and second in the 2024 MMVR Stock division in the same year. The 2026 interim leaders after the first-quarter audit were Tin Chun Jimmy Li in Stock (+396.6%) and Omar Barkawi second in Enhanced Growth (+798.0%); the year closes on 31 December 2026.

What recent podium finishers say

Adrian Law, third in the 2025 Stock division at +264%, entered mid-year with the account he was already trading:

"I was not trading two separate accounts or using a different approach for USIC. I was simply reporting the results from my personal challenge account to USIC. So the trading format did not really change. The strategy, risk control, and execution were the same. USIC was more like an audited record of the challenge I was already doing."

Florian Philippi, third in the 2024 Enhanced Growth division, on the trade that made him enter:

"I saw NVDA developing a perfect VCP in December '23 and it made me decide to participate in the USIC."

Christian Flanders, second in the 2024 USIC Stock division and second in the 2025 MMVR Stock division, asked whether first place is the goal for 2026:

"I am disappointed with my performance this year but as long as you keep your drawdowns controlled there is always next year! The game never ends."

And Baran Kayhan, a fund manager on the 2026 MMVR Enhanced Growth podium after the first quarter, on how he found it:

"I once came across USIC on social media and thought it would be a nice proving ground."

Who should enter

A stock or options trader with at least $20,000 who wants an audited, citable record rather than a prize. Futures and forex traders have the World Cup Trading Championships instead. A trader with less capital, or one who wants to test a method before putting a real account on a public board, can start with a free paper contest from the competitions listing and come back to the USIC with a year of journal behind them. The value of a USIC placing comes from the audit and the field, as described in how to evaluate a trader, and it is one of the five records in how to prove you are a good trader.

Frequently asked questions

What is the US Investing Championship?

A real-money trading competition run since 1983 by Dr. Norman Zadeh in which traders nominate an actual brokerage account and are ranked on its audited percentage return for the calendar year. It has a Stock division and an Enhanced Growth division (futures and long options) at a $20,000 minimum, and the same two divisions at a $1 million minimum under Money Manager Verified Ratings.

Who won the US Investing Championship?

The 2025 winners were Martin Luk (USIC Stock, 969.8%), Utsarga Adhikary (USIC Enhanced Growth, 2,115.1%), Law Wai-Sum (MMVR Stock, 252.3%) and Bob Weissman (MMVR Enhanced Growth, 115.4%). Historic champions include Martin Schwartz (1984), David Ryan (1985 to 1987), Mark Minervini (1997 and 2021) and Oliver Kell (2020).

How much does it cost to enter the US Investing Championship?

The MMVR tier costs $1,000. USIC entry fees have been reported between $350 and $475 depending on the year; the organizer's site lists the current figure. There is no cash prize; the result is the audited public record.

What is the minimum account for the USIC?

$20,000 for the USIC and $1 million for MMVR. Smaller accounts can enter, but their profit is divided by the minimum to compute the percentage, so a small account gains no advantage.

Is the US Investing Championship real money?

Yes. Results are computed from the brokerage statements of a real account nominated before the year begins, which is why only about 17% of the 2026 field was profitable at mid-year.

Related

• WCTC vs USIC: which trading championship should you enter? for the comparison.
• David Ryan: three USIC wins in a row for the most famous run.
• How traders are rated for where audited championships sit among rating systems.
• Hall of Fame for every verified placing.

Sources: U.S. Investing Championship and MMVR, official site, USIC first-half 2026 standings (BusinessWire), CTE research sheet on the USIC.

Last reviewed 2026-10-20 by the trading-tournaments.com editorial team. Quotes are verbatim from published interviews; standings are the organizer's; corrections via the Suggest a change form.