Trading Championships · U.S. Investing Championship
The Leaders Who Left the Board
Up 2,854% in August, gone in September
2026 standings through 30 September · 712 entrants · 85 reporting profits
Last reviewed: 14 November 2026. Every figure below comes from the organiser’s published standings at financial-competitions.com and its Business Wire release of 30 October 2026, unless it is labelled as our own arithmetic. Complete Trader’s Edge has not seen any account statement, and the 2026 competition is not over.
Part of our championship research
Every modern winner, every division and the month-by-month evidence behind this piece live on our U.S. Investing Championship hub, with an explorer you can filter by year, board and name.
On 31 August 2026, Omar Barkawi led the $20,000+ Enhanced Growth Division of the U.S. Investing Championship at +2,854%. That was higher than any year-end result in the contest’s history. Tom Doub led the $20,000+ Stock Division at +1,038%. Jandy Lam led the $1,000,000+ Stock Division at +87.3%.
On 30 September, none of the three names appeared on the board.
The organiser’s nine-month release, published on 30 October, named new leaders on all three boards and gave no explanation for the absences. This piece sets out what the standings show, what a missing name can and cannot mean, and why it is the most useful thing the 2026 contest has taught so far.
The 2026 boards, August against September
| Board | Leader at 31 August | On the 30 September board? | Leader at 30 September |
|---|---|---|---|
| $20k+ Enhanced Growth | Omar Barkawi, +2,854% | No | Tito Adhikary, +1,919.5% |
| $20k+ Stock | Tom Doub, +1,038% | No | Martin Luk, +785.8% |
| $1m+ Stock | Jandy Lam (JMS Group), +87.3% | No | Abdulmajid M. Al Qurashi, +80% |
| $1m+ Enhanced Growth | Vikash Raniga, +120.1% | Yes | Vikash Raniga, +130.2% |
What the U.S. Investing Championship 2026 nine-month board shows
The organiser publishes one board per division each month. Returns are time-weighted and cumulative from 1 January. We compared the top five names on each of the four boards at 31 August with the full boards at 30 September.
| Board | Top five at 31 August | Missing at 30 September |
|---|---|---|
| $20k+ Enhanced Growth | Omar Barkawi +2,854%, Tito Adhikary +1,887.6%, Jacob Congrove +252.2%, Emanuela Elias +200%, Baran Kayhan +153.2% | Barkawi, Kayhan |
| $20k+ Stock | Tom Doub +1,038%, Martin Luk +844.5%, Victor M +354.6%, M Suk Capital +234.8%, Gabriel Blanco +220% | Doub, Blanco |
| $1m+ Stock | Jandy Lam +87.3%, Abdulmajid M. Al Qurashi +52%, George Tkaczuk +48.6%, Inverteum Capital +23.3%, Sheri Marcus +22.7% | Lam, Marcus |
| $1m+ Enhanced Growth | Vikash Raniga +120.1%, Daniel Lee +69.5%, BJ Trading +54.9%, Gravity Analytica +46.5%, Joshua Wat +34.2% | BJ Trading, Gravity Analytica |
Eight of the twenty names in the August top fives are gone a month later, two from every board. Three of them were division leaders.
Three leaders, three paths
Each of the three had built the lead over several months. These are the cumulative prints we could trace in the organiser’s monthly archive.
| Month-end 2026 | Tom Doub ($20k+ Stock) | Omar Barkawi ($20k+ Enhanced Growth) | Jandy Lam ($1m+ Stock) |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | +32.3% | – | – |
| February | +150.1% | – | – |
| March | +190.5% | +798% | Not named |
| April | +286.5% | – | – |
| May | +453.1% | – | – |
| June | +880.7% | +1,656.3% | +17.2% |
| July | +982.3% | +2,313% | +60% |
| August | +1,038% | +2,854% | +87.3% |
| September | Not on the board | Not on the board | Not on the board |
Tom Doub runs Arcadia Analytics in Tennessee and previously taught as a clinical psychologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, according to the organiser’s first-quarter and half-year releases. He took the Stock Division lead at the half-year and widened it in July and August.
Omar Barkawi is from Seattle and holds a master’s degree in systems engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, according to the first-quarter release. He was second on the Enhanced Growth board at three months with +798%, then led from June. By the end of July he had passed Tito Adhikary’s all-division year-end record of +2,115.1%.
Jandy Lam went from ninth on the $1m+ Stock board at the half-year to first a month later. The organiser has published no biography. Our profile of Jandy Lam traces every result.
Is a missing name a loss?
Not necessarily, and the organiser does not say. But the nine-month board narrows the possibilities more than the earlier ones did.
The release reports that 85 of the 712 competitors are reporting profits. The September boards list 85 distinct names, by our count, with one trader appearing on two boards. The board therefore looks like the complete list of entrants reporting a gain for the year. Each of the missing leaders was either below zero for 2026 at the end of September, or had stopped reporting. We cannot tell which, and we are not going to guess.
The first possibility is worth putting into numbers, because cumulative returns hide how far an account has to fall to get back to its starting point.
| Trader | Board | Return at 31 August | September loss needed to fall below zero for the year (our arithmetic) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Omar Barkawi | $20k+ Enhanced Growth | +2,854% | About 96.6% |
| Tom Doub | $20k+ Stock | +1,038% | About 91.2% |
| Gabriel Blanco | $20k+ Stock | +220% | About 68.8% |
| Baran Kayhan | $20k+ Enhanced Growth | +153.2% | About 60.5% |
| Jandy Lam | $1m+ Stock | +87.3% | About 46.6% |
| BJ Trading | $1m+ Enhanced Growth | +54.9% | About 35.4% |
| Gravity Analytica | $1m+ Enhanced Growth | +46.5% | About 31.7% |
| Sheri Marcus | $1m+ Stock | +22.7% | About 18.5% |
An account up 2,854% is worth 29.5 times its starting value. Falling back below the start in a single month means losing roughly 96.6% of it. That is possible in the Enhanced Growth Division, which allows futures and long options. It is much harder in the Stock Division, though margin, short selling and written options are all allowed there.
The second possibility has precedent. In 2023, Goverdhan Gajjala was absent from the June, July and August boards of the $20k+ Stock Division, reappeared in September, and won the division at +805.1%. Reporting is voluntary, and a missing name can come back in January.
It has happened before
The 2026 absences fit a pattern our hub has tracked since the contest’s modern archive began.
| Trader | Year and board | Peak published standing | What happened next |
|---|---|---|---|
| James Hatzigiannis | 2024, $20k+ Stock | +584.9% at six months, leading | Not published on any later 2024 board, including the final |
| Y. Chiu | 2025, $20k+ Stock | +779.9% at seven months, leading | +635.1% at eight months, then absent from every later board |
| Dr Terry Potter | 2026, $20k+ Enhanced Growth | +1,678.8% at three months | Absent from the April to July boards |
| Tin Chun Jimmy Li | 2026, $20k+ Stock | +431.5% at five months, leading since January | Absent from the June and July boards |
| Tom Doub | 2026, $20k+ Stock | +1,038% at eight months, leading | Absent from the nine-month board |
| Omar Barkawi | 2026, $20k+ Enhanced Growth | +2,854% at eight months, leading | Absent from the nine-month board |
Leaders who stay on the board give ground too. Martin Luk was at +1,358.2% at the end of November 2025 and finished the year at +969.8%, a fall of about 26.6% in December by our arithmetic. He still won the division and set its record. In 2024, Leos Mikulka was above +960% at eleven months and finished at +409.6%. Our study of the monthly standings covers both cases.
The field behind the leaders
The departures sit inside a hard year. At the half-year, 115 of 688 competitors were reporting profits, or 17%, while the S&P 500 gained 10.2%. At nine months it was 85 of 712, or 12%. The organiser’s own summary was that “it has been an extremely difficult year.”
For comparison, through ten months of 2022, a bear market, 26 of 316 participants reported a profit, or 8%. Our analysis of why only 8% made money explains why the share in profit is the most useful number the organiser publishes.
Who leads now
| Board | Leader at 30 September 2026 | Second | Third |
|---|---|---|---|
| $20k+ Enhanced Growth | Tito Adhikary, +1,919.5% | Jacob Congrove, +338% | Emanuela Elias, +190.3% |
| $20k+ Stock | Martin Luk, +785.8% | Victor M, +363% | M Suk Capital, +249.1% |
| $1m+ Stock | Abdulmajid M. Al Qurashi, +80% | George Tkaczuk, +36.7% | Alavanca Trading, +21.5% |
| $1m+ Enhanced Growth | Vikash Raniga, +130.2% | Daniel Lee, +70.5% | Tim Garner, +60.4% |
Two of the four leaders are defending champions. Tito Adhikary won the $20k+ Enhanced Growth Division in 2025 with the all-division record of +2,115.1% and is 195.6 points short of it. Martin Luk won the $20k+ Stock Division in 2025 with its record of +969.8%. His 2026 figure has drifted down since July, from +868.6% to +785.8%, or about 8.5% off the account by our arithmetic, while he moved from second to first.
What transfers, read through Mind, Method and Money
The lesson in each pillar
| Pillar | What the 2026 board teaches |
|---|---|
| Mind | A large open gain is a new reference point. Traders defend it, chase it, or freeze. None of that shows on a leaderboard, and none of it is visible in your own equity curve until it has already cost money. Decide in advance what you will do after a big run. |
| Method | A cumulative percentage is the end of a path, not a description of it. Chain the monthly prints and you can see whether a year came from one month or twelve. |
| Money | Gains and losses are not symmetrical. A 50% loss needs a 100% gain to recover, and a 96.6% loss erases a 2,854% gain. Position size decides which side of that table an account lands on. |
The sizing arithmetic behind the last row is set out in our guides to risk of ruin and position sizing, and you can run your own numbers in the trading calculators.
The counterweight
Absence is not a loss. The board points to two possibilities and the organiser has confirmed neither. Any account on it can reappear in the final standings.
We have seen no statements. Every figure here is the organiser’s, checked against brokerage statements by the organiser. That is stricter than a screenshot and looser than an audit.
One month is a small sample. Eight of twenty top-five names leaving at once may reflect a sharp month in the markets these accounts traded. We have not tested that, and we do not know what the accounts held.
December decides. The organiser normally publishes final standings in late January or early February. This page will be updated when the October board and the final results appear.
Eighty-six lives read through Mind · Method · Money, from Livermore reading a chalkboard in 1892 to the traders still working from those ideas today. Told as they happened, with the losses left in, and every quotation traced to a source.
Frequently asked questions
Who is leading the 2026 U.S. Investing Championship?
Through 30 September 2026: Tito Adhikary leads the $20,000+ Enhanced Growth Division at +1,919.5%, Martin Luk leads the $20,000+ Stock Division at +785.8%, Abdulmajid M. Al Qurashi leads the $1,000,000+ Stock Division at +80%, and Vikash Raniga leads the $1,000,000+ Enhanced Growth Division at +130.2%. There are 712 entrants.
What happened to Omar Barkawi and Tom Doub?
Both led their divisions at 31 August 2026, Barkawi at +2,854% and Doub at +1,038%, and neither appears on the 30 September board. The organiser has not explained the absences. The board appears to list every entrant reporting a profit, so each was either below zero for the year or had stopped reporting.
How many traders are making money in the 2026 U.S. Investing Championship?
85 of 712, or 12%, through 30 September 2026, according to the organiser. At the half-year it was 115 of 688, or 17%.
When are the 2026 final results published?
The organiser normally publishes final standings in late January or early February. The 2025 finals were released on 2 February 2026.
Sources and how we built this piece
Standings come from the organiser’s current board at financial-competitions.com (nine-month standings, read 14 November 2026) and its previous-standings archive (January to August 2026). Biographical details come from the organiser’s Business Wire releases for the 2026 first quarter (30 April), first half (28 July) and first nine months (30 October). The 2023 to 2025 cases come from our transcribed dataset, free to download from the championship hub. Figures labelled as ours are derived from the organiser’s cumulative returns and assume the same account across the months shown. Complete Trader’s Edge has no relationship with any trader named here.
Continue Learning
- The U.S. Investing Championship: Winners, Records and Results by Year
- Up 960% in November, Third by December: What the Championship Leaderboard Hides
- Only 8% of Traders in the U.S. Investing Championship Made Money
- The Best Trader in the U.S. Investing Championship Has Never Won It
- Jandy Lam (JMS Group): Ninth to First on the $1 Million Board in Two Months
- World Cup Trading Championship vs U.S. Investing Championship
- The Psychology of Losing
- The Three Pillars: Mind, Method, Money
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