There the second Automated Trading Championship finished. Many thanks to Organizers and Sponsors for that opportunity to compete with hundreds of traders from all over the world. Traders gained invaluable experience and tested their abilities in the severest conditions. That experience will surely help them in their real trading on financial markets. We saw a great variety of Expert Advisors. Very different ones took turns in taking the first place - long-term EAs and scalpers.

The last year brought both the rapid increasing in the amount of trading developers and the qualitative change in the very approaches to developing of trading systems. Traders became more experienced, most of them submitted much more sophisticated and advanced Expert Advisors at this Championship. I think ATC'2007 unlocked the capabilities and prospects of automated trading to even greater extend than the preceding Championship. If somebody doubted about opportunities given by automated trading before, those doubts are dispelled now.

Many thanks to the developers of the MetaQuotes Software Corp. for the provided opportunity to be turned to modern technologies. I'm glad that the sky is the only limit for them and they have already started to develop a new version of their trading platform, and a new programming language. Perhaps, MQL5 will be used in the next Championship?

First, I would like to thank the contest Organizers (MetaQuotes Software Corp.) and the contest Sponsors (ODL Securities Limited, Alpari (UK) Limited, FXDD and TRADERS' Magazine) for making this 2nd annual Automated Trading Championship possible. This contest is a great platform for experienced and novice developers to test their trading strategies in a public global environment. I’m sure, most participants were like me in that we felt the contest EAs were like our own children. We hoped we had raised them properly and they would behave well in public, not make too many mistakes, and in the end, make us proud parents. I am proud and very lucky. My child (EA) did well.

To fellow participants, I would like to say thank you for having the dream to be contest finalists and the courage to act on that dream by developing a trading strategy, writing an Expert Advisor and entering the Automated Trading Championship 2007. There were many Participants in this year's contest that made over 2.5% Return on Investment (R.O.I.). Even the 2.5% R.O.I. equates to over 10% annually. This is as good of a return as many investments, such as major stocks, mutual funds, CDs and individual retirement accounts (IRA, 401k). I am proof that simple logic in developing successful trading strategies can work. Don't be afraid to put your trading ideas to the test, that is the only way we learn. Just remember in FOREX trading, "Study the past to get a glimpse at the future!

I would like to congratulate all participants and organizers of the Championship on its completion! I would also like to express special thanks to Organizers of the Championship for their excellent work! The market put all Participants into perspective again. To be honest, I did not prepare for the Championship: I had heard about it to start soon just 2 weeks before it started. I wrote my EA for trading, not for the competition, so I hardly had time to modify it according to the Rules. I didn't expect to take the third place at all. However, the chain of favorable events had helped my EA literally a few days before the Championship ended.

I'd like to believe that all of us will correct the errors we made, use new algorithms and mechanisms, and show the same exciting competition to the last dollar next year.