Willie O'Reilly of Today FM stormed into first place with a massive 250 per point position on Brent Crude oil.

That is equivalent to over 1.5m worth of exposure to the oil market, which paid off as the price rallied early in the week and netted O'Reilly a 44% return.

Another trader to profit from a buoyant oil market was property developer Sean Dunne, who gained 57% in just three days to be a close runner to lead the competition. Dunne also profited from an opportunistic trade on the Eurodollar that did no harm to his account valuation.

The Irish equity traders had a great week, with Ken MacDonald of Hooke & MacDonald rewarded for his patience as his investments started to pay off with his 100 position on CRH up almost 10,000. Footballer, and last weeks leader, Niall Quinn also profited from a resurgent Irish equity market gaining 17%. But it was MacDonald's stock selection that made the difference as he posted a 27% return over the week.

He was sticking to his guns on Thursday. "I could sell out and take profits on some of the winners but I would only want to buy them back again, " he commented, before doubling his positions on Anglo Irish Bank and AIB.

Our fulltime currency traders, Tanya Airey of Sunway Travel and John O'Shea of GOAL, had a week of consolidation, earning 2% and 9% respectively.

Both have been remarkably consistent in their trading, turning in good performances each week.

This week it was O'Shea's position on the euro against the dollar that came out on top.

Bill Kelly, of Kellys Hotel, could be a promising choice for readers next week as he shows signs of turning his performance around. Kelly has been beset by bad fortune as the US market struggled to perform over the early part of the competition.

After some ruthless culling of underperformers, and a more focused strategy to recoup losses, Kelly has seen some late gains this week from a daring short position on Google.

Other traders with US exposure who did well this week are Gay Mitchell, TD and MEP, who made 28% over the week on his S&P and FTSE index positions.

Michael Dwyer of Pigsback. com also had a great week gaining 44% as his Dow Jones position surged ahead taking him into fourth place in the competition overall. .

Readers who wish to switch celebrity traders should make their changes by 3:00pm next Monday. The new selections of traders will become active on Tuesday morning.

To change your selections log onto www. deltaindex. ie and follow the Celebrity Trading Challenge link.

Do you want to trade for real?

Delta Index is running a series of workshops for those who want to learn to trade for real.

Workshops are being held next month in our offices on Lower Mount Street. Call Delta Index on 1850-88-2020 to book a place.