2025 Trading World Champion Rankings

Paul Skarp won the 2025 World Trading Championships futures division with an audited return of approximately 256%, the highest verified competition return of the year and one of the strongest World Trading Championship results in recent history. The World Trading Championship, administered by Robbins Trading Company since 1984, requires real-money accounts with full third-party broker auditing — making it the gold standard for verifiable trading performance.

Skarp traded futures across multiple asset classes through a US-based account, concentrating risk during periods of maximum market dislocation. His equity curve peaked above 330% mid-year before a significant drawdown brought the final number to 256% — still more than 100 points clear of second-place finisher Allen Swiontek, who posted a strong 146%. The ability to generate that margin even after giving back substantial gains speaks to the quality of his trade selection.

Based on publicly available data, Skarp appears to be a discretionary trader who favors directional bets on index and commodity futures. His approach involves aggressive position sizing during high-conviction setups — a style that generates both outsized returns and meaningful drawdowns. In a competition field where many participants trade conservatively to preserve capital, Skarp traded to win.

Limited public information exists about Skarp's trading career prior to 2025. What is known is the result: 256% audited, in real money, against a competitive field that included five traders above 48% and three above 76%. In one of the most volatile years in recent memory, that's enough. Full article »

Chris Rokos returned 21% net at Rokos Capital Management in 2025, a standout result on more than $22 billion in assets under management. The former Brevan Howard co-founder made approximately $1 billion in a single month betting against the Federal Reserve's rate path — one of the largest documented single-strategy gains by a macro trader all year. Twenty-one percent doesn't sound like a competition number, but doing it on $22 billion is an entirely different proposition than doing it on a six-figure account.

This followed a 31% return in 2024, cementing consecutive years of elite macro trading performance. Rokos focuses on rates and global macro — the most competitive corner of the institutional hedge fund world — and routinely outperforms firms with far more resources and headcount. When his former firm Brevan Howard's main fund returned 0.8% in the same year, the gap between the two tells you everything about who had the better year.

Thorsten Helbig won the 2025 World Trading Championships forex division with an audited return exceeding 52%, the strongest verified forex competition result of the year. Based in Germany, Helbig is a systematic forex trader who brings a methodical, algorithm-driven approach to currency markets and has competed in the World Trading Championship across multiple years.

In a year where most forex traders struggled with central bank policy divergence and rapid regime changes across major pairs, Helbig's systematic approach found consistent edges that discretionary traders missed. His performance across the full calendar year — avoiding the large drawdowns that eliminated many competitors — separated him from a strong field that included Nick Ridley (UK) and Bashar Almarzouq (Kuwait).

Darren O'Neill returned to the World Trading Championship in 2025 and finished among the top futures competitors for the year, trading a multi-asset approach across equity index, commodity, and currency futures. His results placed him in the upper tier of a strong competition field.

O'Neill is the founder of Vector Ridge and a multi-year World Trading Championship participant whose track record across competition formats and asset classes earned him a spot on this year's list. His consistency as a repeat competitor — in a field where most entrants appear once and disappear — is what separates him from the broader pack.

Rob Citrone's Discovery Capital Management returned over 35% in 2025, one of the strongest results among global macro hedge funds. A former Julian Robertson protégé and Tiger Cub, Citrone capitalized on tariff-driven volatility and geopolitical dislocations that defined the trading year. His ability to position around policy announcements — and reposition quickly when the narrative shifted — demonstrated why he remains one of the best macro traders of his generation.

Discovery has been a consistent performer in environments characterized by government intervention and policy uncertainty, and 2025 was tailor-made for Citrone's style. With more than two decades of experience running global macro capital, he represents the institutional end of world-class trading — a complement to the competition traders who dominate the top of this year's list.