So, the Automated Trading Championship 2008 has started. Over two months of registration are over, as well as the ten days of tedious waiting of Participants that successfully completed the registration. None of Participants can make any changes in their Expert Advisors, and everyone has become an observer of this significant event in the world of automated trading.

This year the first week of the Championship appeared to be a short one – Expert Advisors had only three days for trading before markets were closed on Friday, the 3rd of October 2008. But these three days were enough to make the Championship start very dramatic.

The very first day we all were impressed by a Participant from Latvia ANG3110 who managed to increase his balance up to 20,000 USD. This has never happened in the Championship history. But despite a not very aggressive trading style, the excessive trading activity (more than 100 trades within three days) had a pernicious effect upon the financial position of this Participant.

Fig.1 .Balance of the Participant ANG3110 after the first three days of the ATC 2008.

On the second day of the contest a Participant from China archer89 became a leader. This participant easily came round the previous one getting close to 30,000USD. His equity graph amazed by its steepness and many Championship observers focused their attention on this EA. But this Participant did not manage to stay as a leader more than one day as well.

Fig.2. Balance of the Participant archer89 после after the first three days of the ATC 2008.

The size of positions opened by this EA was significantly smaller than that of the first-day leader. Having executed 50 trades within the first three days he also bore losses and is now only in the first hundred of Participants.

The third day of the contest was a triumph for another Participant – Gold_member from Russia. His balance reached more than 40,000USD having executed 26 trades.

Fig.3. Balance of the Participant Gold_member after the first three days of the ATC 2008.

Even after losses obtained on the day of Non-Farm Payrolls release, as of the fourth Championship day he still preserves his position in the top ten and from time to time appears on the first position getting close to that 40,000USD. His Expert Advisor is the most aggressive of all the three leaders. Whether this Participant can reach relatively safe Balance and Equity, for which trading by the maximal lot (and possible losses) would not be so baleful, - this will be clear by the end of the current week.

Having analyzed trading of these Expert Advisors we can conclude that the number of trades is inversely proportional to the stability of results: the oftener an EA traded, the harder it was to preserve money on a trading account. Many visitors of the Championship website note in their comments the too risky character of current leaders. So, the question whether we will see anyone of them at the end of the Championship is still open.

Here is the table of ten leading Participants after three days of the Championship:

#	Login	Name	Country	PF	Balance	Profit	Equity
1	600232	FxGuru	Ukraine	0.00	30 153.76	0.00	30 153.76
2	600257	Gold_member	Russia	1.87	28 141.00	0.00	28 141.00
3	600208	figurelli	Brazil	1.50	7 960.00	18 008.00	25 968.00
4	600185	eniksoft	Germany	44.32	19 095.80	4 964.25	24 060.05
5	600385	maximich	Russia	0.00	21 540.32	2 046.00	23 586.32
6	600612	thezen	Malaysia	0.00	24 394.00	-1 004.00	23 390.00
7	600652	Vita	Belarus	0.00	13 078.80	9 721.49	22 800.29
8	600223	FsShoman	Russia	18.74	12 328.40	6 525.60	18 854.00
9	600633	trohoang	Canada	0.00	16 003.00	1 161.60	17 164.60
10	600493	QBTrader	United States	3.91	17 496.00	1 024.00	18 520.00

Here we will close the survey of the first three competition days. They were marked by three triumphal rises and promise the further intrigue of the Championship. We wish good luck to all Participants!