Data Sources & Verification

Championship audit (primary source)

World Cup Trading Championships (WCTC). worldcupchampionships.com. Robbins Trading Company audits all entrants' real-money brokerage statements. Cited extensively across FTM rankings 2023-2026 for active competitors including Darren O'Neill (2025 multi-division), Andrea Unger (multiple divisions historically), Stefano Serafini, Michael Cook.

US Investing Championship. Real-money equity competition. Used for Mark Minervini, Oliver Kell, David Ryan cross-references.

Independent broker-statement audit

Independent broker-statement auditing. Used for cross-referencing individual-trader claims where championship participation is absent or limited.

Regulatory disclosure

BarclayHedge. Hedge-fund disclosure database. Used for institutional / fund-management subjects.

SEC ADV / PF. US-registered investment-adviser disclosures. Used for cross-references on US-based subjects.

What we don't use

Telegram-screenshot P&L without broker-side corroboration. Discord boasting. Social-media follower counts. Affiliate-paid 'review' content. Self-reported P&L tables without raw broker statements. Subject-supplied 'audited by [unverified third party]' claims.