Twenty (20) finalists head for the finish line when trading in the Challenge Finals ends at 8:00am this Saturday morning, December 19.

They will all be trying to outdo the competition’s leader, Swee Loke Ong, whose overall portfolio gain as at December 13 was a staggering +1,453%, with a cumulative portfolio value of over $15.5 million “virtual” dollars.

Two of the finalists have pitted their “amateur” trading talents against the professional traders to come out on top.

Raji Kazzi, one the 10 weekly winners, works in business development in the construction industry, and has been “trading on the side” for several years.

“I saw the competition on CNBC and thought it looked like a really good opportunity to test my trading skills,” Raji said. “I’ve been immersed in it for weeks and think it’s been a really well-run competition.”

David Touri, of Sydney, said he watches CNBC “all the time” and as he enjoys trading as a full-time “hobby”, decided to put his trading experience to the test.

“I’m a self-taught trader so I’ve really enjoyed the Challenge and learned many new things from it,” David said.

Both agreed that the Challenge had been “very well-designed”, and were particularly enthusiastic about the amount of research they found through the competition website which they could use on a daily basis.

“There’s so much information I could get my hands on that I never knew existed,” Raji said.

Both contestants also said the online tutorial was a great feature of the CNBC Currency Challenge, which was designed to provide contestants who have never traded before with the tools to be “virtually” buying and selling currencies just like the professionals.

“Although I’ve been trading for a long time, I still learned from it,” David said.

The competition has challenged contestants to build up their foreign exchange portfolios, so that the finalist with the highest total value at the end of the finals will be declared the potential Grand Prize Winner.

During the initial eight-week phase, a weekly FXCM prize valued at A$1,000 has been awarded to the trader with the highest percentage of weekly growth. In the ninth week, two winners were chosen to join the other eight weekly winners to play in the nerve-wracking, one-week Challenge Finals, which started on December 14 2009.

These 10 finalists are joined in the Challenge Finals by the top 10 participants with the highest portfolio valuations.

The ultimate winner out of the 20 finalists will drive away with the Alfa Romeo 159 Ti.

“The CNBC Currency Challenge comes two years after the launch of our Australian programme, Trading Matters, which provides Australian investors with real time, actionable information on local share and market performance,” said Matt Christie, Regional Manager, Australia and New Zealand, CNBC Asia Pacific.

Each day, CNBC’s Australian anchor, Oriel Morrison, highlights the top performers of the day and week during the “Currency Challenge Update” segment on CNBC’s Trading Matters programme at 4pm.

Oriel will announce the winner of the CNBC Currency Challenge on Trading Matters on Monday, December 21.

CNBC’s Currency Challenge is sponsored by Forex Capital Markets (FXCM), one of the foremost currency trading firms, and partnered by Alfa Romeo. 

For further information visit our website at http://cnbc.com.au or email inquiries to currencychallenge@cnbc.com.

About CNBC Asia Pacific

CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, provides fast, accurate, actionable and unbiased business news and analysis to over 340 millions households worldwide.  

CNBC Asia Pacific is uniquely positioned to speak to viewers from across the region. Headquartered in Singapore, the network provides nine and a half hours of live Asia-produced programming, which is complemented with coverage of live market action from Europe and the US. CNBC Asia Pacific's channels, which include CNBC Asia, CNBC-TV18 (India), CNBC Pakistan, Nikkei-CNBC (Japan) and soon to be SBS-CNBC (South Korea) are available in more than 21 countries across the Asia Pacific region. CNBC also has a strategic alliance with Shanghai Media Group, which wholly owns a subsidiary, China Business Network. The channels are distributed via satellite, cable and terrestrial broadcast networks, as well as broadband. CNBC content is also distributed on the 3G telecommunication platforms throughout various markets.

For more information, please visit us at http://asia.cnbc.com

*The CNBC Currency Challenge is open to Australian residents aged 18 and over who hold a current driving licence