IQ Capital Trading Competition Gameshow Overview
Victor Weiss Overview
Six traders, two teams, one long day. Four team rounds in the London session, then an individual New York session for the title. Filmed on the big LED wall with 11 cameras.
Who needs to arrive at what time?
Wednesday 14 October, Pixojam Studio B32. All times are Dubai time.
Technical crew: 07:30
Technical team on site for power-up and setup. Graphics, capture, network, OBS, ATEM and Resolume ready for the technical run. All technology finished by 10:00.
Traders: 09:30
All six traders at the studio. Bring laptop, charger and DeepCharts login. Connect screen sharing and fit heart-rate straps before the 10:15 briefing.
10:15: briefing for all traders and crew. 10:45: traders in position. 11:00: recording starts, draft first. Commentator arrival time is still to be confirmed; commentators attend the 10:15 briefing.
The day at a glance
Technical crew 07:30, traders 09:30, briefing 10:15, recording starts 11:00. Technology must be finished by 10:00 and stays locked after the briefing. Trading ends 00:00; wrap is about 00:20. Fixed market times: 11:00 London open, 16:30 CPI, 17:30 New York open, 00:00 New York close.
Shoot 1, London session
Blind draft picks the teams, then four team rounds. No eliminations: every trader plays every round and the teams stay the same all day.
Round 1 scalping, Round 2 one indicator, Round 3 everyone trades together, Round 4 trades the CPI number.
Shoot 2, New York session
Individual. Everyone trades for the highest PNL from start to finish and can trade whatever they want. The winner takes the $1M in funding.
Accounts reset at 18:30. Trading runs to the New York close at 00:00.
Key facts
- Venue
- Pixojam Studio B32, Me'aisem First, Dubai Production City, Dubai
- Build day
- Tuesday 13 Oct from 12:30, about 5 hours, every camera operator on site
- Crew call
- 07:30 technical team, 09:30 traders Confirmed
- Briefing
- 10:15 to 10:45, all traders and crew. Technology finished by 10:00; locked after the briefing.
- Recording
- 11:00 at the London open, draft first, then the team rounds.
- Wrap and return
- About 00:20 after the result and closing interviews. Rental equipment returned Thursday 15 October, morning.
- On-site contact
- Ferdinand Platz, PLACEMedia, office@placemedia.at
- Graphics output
- 7200 x 2000 px at 25 fps, graphics laptop via OBS to the LED wall.
- Platform
- DeepCharts through IQ Capital, live simulated accounts, USD, $500K per trader
- Prize
- $1M in funding for the New York winner. Trophy and cheque are branded as the IQ World Championship
- Audience
- No live audience
- Output
- Edited from the camera ISOs, screen recordings and audio. One video or two (London and New York) is still open
Run of show
Wednesday 14 Oct, Dubai time. Updated from the shoot-day schedule, issued as of 13 October, 22:00, with trader arrival updated to 09:30 by Victor. The linked PDF still lists the earlier 09:00 trader call. Technology finished by 10:00; after the briefing nothing is touched. Download the shoot-day schedule. Exact start and end times for the individual London rounds still need confirmation.
Build day, Tuesday 13 Oct
Build starts 12:30 and takes about 5 hours so Wednesday is only shooting. Status is taken from the group chats on the morning of 13 Oct, so please correct anything that has changed.
Shoot day, Wednesday 14 Oct
Rounds and scoring
Same two teams in every London round. Captains are Fabio and Imre. Nobody is eliminated.
Round 2 indicator list
Each team picks the other team's single indicator from this list. The Round 1 winner picks first. Proposed list, confirm it is final
How winners are decided
- Each round: the team with the highest net PNL wins the round.
- London: the team with the most round wins takes the London shoot.
- Four rounds can finish 2 to 2. The tiebreaker is not decided yet Open
- New York: highest PNL across the session wins the $1M in funding.
After every round
- All positions closed and PNL recorded at the round end time.
- Every trader is interviewed. Question list is owned by Chris Open
- Result goes on screen and the winning team's clip can play Proposed
Studio and cameras
The studio is an LED volume: an 18 m curved wall, an LED ceiling and a movable LED gate. This is a proposed layout adapted from the production brief to six traders. Exact positions get fixed on build day against the real floor plan.
Schematic, not to scale. Tables are in two rows of three. The producer confirmed 11 cameras for six traders.
Camera list Proposed allocation
Studio, as published
| Element | Spec |
|---|---|
| Main LED wall | 18 m arc, 5 m high, 90 m2, about 7200 x 2000 px |
| LED ceiling | 15 x 6 m, 75 m2, about 3846 x 1538 px |
| LED gate (movable) | 3 x 3 m |
| Mini LED gate | 2 x 1 m |
| Lighting | Grid with key lights and soft lights, ARRI SkyPanels, lighting desk |
| Rooms | Production room, post suite, dressing, make-up, VIP area |
Light and look
- Green atmosphere lighting to match the IQ Capital brand Confirmed
- Key light on the traders from the grid, front and slightly to the side.
- Wall dimmed to roughly 25 to 40 percent so it sits about one stop under the faces.
- No blown-out wall, no traders sitting in wall spill, no light grazing the wall from above.
- Everything shot and played at 25 fps so the wall does not flicker on camera.
Screens and content
Graphics output is from the graphics laptop via OBS to the LED wall, 7200 x 2000 px at 25 fps. Camera windows are built in OBS; Resolume is reduced to one clip. The commentator laptop uses the screens page. Platz controls scenes with the Stream Deck. The existing creative direction remains an atmospheric wall, with detailed edit graphics added in post; final use of live standings on the wall is still open.
On the LED wall and ceiling
- Walk-in trailer and the trader intro clips
- IQ Capital background video, on screen most of the time
- Clean background video whenever trader screens are shared over it
- Team winner clips (Fabio, Imre) in the London rounds, individual winner and defeat clips in the New York session
- Ceiling loop on the top screen
- A branded loop on the LED gate behind the commentators
Added in post, see the Done in post tab
- P&L, rankings and timers
- Trader names and introductions
- Trade details and explanations
- Head-to-head comparisons
- Replays, key moment alerts and winner graphics
Video files
Delivery checked 14 Oct: 25 files uploaded in the final folder. Export target is 25 fps; wall playback testing is still required. All clips can be reviewed in the Videos tab.
Physical items
Videos
All 25 videos currently available in the final delivery folder, including its subfolders. Select Play preview to review a clip here, or open the original in Drive. Open all final files.
Backgrounds and ceiling
Default background, clean screen-share background and ceiling loop.
Trader intros, all six
Chris, Fabio, Gianluca, Imre, Patrick and Pietro.
Individual winners, all six
Individual New York session result clips.
Individual defeats, all six
Individual New York session defeat clips.
Team results, four clips
Fabio and Imre team wins and defeats. Team defeat files are available; their use is optional and must be agreed with the producer.
Stream Deck keys Proposed
A starting point for the producer and the motion team to agree. It matches the open decision on the key list.
| Key | Clip | When it plays |
|---|---|---|
| Background | IQ Capital background | Default, on most of the time |
| Screen share | Clean background | Whenever a trader screen is shared |
| Ceiling | Ceiling screen | On the LED ceiling for the whole day |
| Walk-in | Walk-in trailer and six trader intros | The draft and Patrick's walk-in |
| Team winner | Team Fabio winner, Team Imre winner | After each London round result |
| Team defeat, optional | Team Fabio defeat, Team Imre defeat | Only if agreed with the producer |
| Trader winner | Six individual winner clips | New York session results |
| Trader defeat | Six individual defeat clips | New York session results |
Done in post
Nothing here is forgotten. These items are added in the edit on purpose, so the LED wall stays clean and cinematic during the shoot and the graphics look their best in the final video.
What gets added in the edit
| Item | What it is | Built from, captured on the day | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| P&L, rankings and timers | Running PNL per trader, the ranking and the round clock on screen | Timestamped trading results, trader screen recordings, equal $500K start | Confirmed |
| Team scores and round results | Which team won each round, the round wins count and the London winner | PNL of every trader recorded at the end of each round | Proposed |
| Trader names and introductions | Name captions and short intros over the footage | On-screen names (12 characters at most), the intro clips | Confirmed |
| Trade details and explanations | Entry, size, direction and a short note on what happened in a trade | Trader screen recordings, interview answers | Confirmed |
| Head-to-head comparisons | Two traders or two teams side by side, with the PNL gap between them | Trader screen recordings, results log | Confirmed |
| Replays and key moment alerts | Slow replays of the big moments, with an alert when something happens | All camera ISOs, the key moment log with time and trader | Confirmed |
| Winner graphics | Round winners, the London winner and the New York champion reveal | Final PNL, the winner moment on camera | Confirmed |
| Interview commentary | Trader reactions cut in after the action, so the video flows with comments | Interviews after every round, possibly a confessional spot | Confirmed Confessional spot open |
| Overlays and B-roll | Main graphics layered over the footage, with cutaways to B-roll | Camera ISOs, existing B-roll of the traders | Confirmed |
| Round title cards and rules | A short on-screen explanation of each round so viewers follow the format | The rounds and rules from this page | Proposed |
| Heart rate on screen | Heart rate shown over the traders | Heart-rate straps (ordered). Needs a decision on wall or post, and the traders' agreement | Open |
Still live during the shoot
- IQ Capital background and the clean background for screen shares
- Trader intro clips and winner clips, played by the producer on the Stream Deck
- The ceiling loop
- Live standings on a separate monitor for the commentators
What the shoot has to capture for post
- All cameras synced, separate audio, all six screen recordings
- PNL for every trader at the end of each round, with timestamps
- A key moment log with time and trader
- Interviews after every round
The full routine is on the Capture and sync tab.
Capture and sync
Everything that makes the edit easy has to be captured on the day. If it is not recorded, it cannot be put on screen later.
Must capture
- All cameras synchronized, with timecode where available
- Separate audio for each trader, plus commentators and room
- All six trader screen recordings, with audio on to help sync
- Timestamped trading results at the end of every round
- A key moment log, with time and trader, kept live during the rounds
- Interviews after each round, possibly in a confessional spot Open
Sync routine
- One clap in front of all cameras at the start of each session.
- On every trader screen recording, open a note and type "sync" so the screens have a backup marker.
- Repeat the clap after any break longer than 15 minutes.
- Keep cameras rolling. Only the director calls a stop.
What is recorded where Proposed
| Recording | Where | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Camera ISOs | In each camera | Master for the edit |
| Program cut | Recorder on the switcher output | Director's live cut as an edit guide |
| Wall feed | Recorder on the wall output | Clean graphics and clips for the edit |
| Trader screens | Screen recording on each trading computer | Chart inserts and proof of every trade |
| Audio | Master recorder, timecode synced | Clean sound for all voices |
Moments not to miss
| Time | Moment |
|---|---|
| 11:00, draft first | Recording starts at the London open. Coin flip, each blind pick, Patrick's walk-in as Weapon X, teams choosing their names on camera |
| After the draft | Round 1 starts; exact time to confirm |
| After each round, times to confirm | Round results and the interviews that follow |
| Round 3, time to confirm | Round 3 entry, when everyone enters at the same moment |
| 16:25 to 16:30 | Cameras on every trader for the CPI release, then the reactions |
| 17:30 | New York market open |
| Before the 18:30 reset, timing to confirm | Round 4 result and the London shoot result |
| 00:00 to 00:20 | New York close, final result, winner moment and closing interviews |
Open decisions
Everything still to be settled, with an owner and a deadline. Settled items are collected at the bottom so nobody reopens them.
Already settled
- Six traders in two teams of three. Captains are Fabio and Imre. Same teams for all four London rounds.
- No eliminations in London. Every trader plays every round.
- Round 1 is a team round (an earlier note listing it as individual was a drafting error).
- A round is won by the team with the highest net PNL. London is won by the team with the most round wins.
- The $1M in funding goes to the New York winner.
- New York is individual: highest PNL wins, trade whatever you want.
- DeepCharts through IQ Capital accounts, live simulated, USD, $500K each.
- LED wall stays atmospheric. P&L, rankings and timers are added in post. Commentators get standings on a separate monitor.
- The producer (Platz) plays the wall from a Stream Deck. The IQ Capital background video is on most of the time, with a clean background video behind any trader screen share.
- Style of the individual winner and defeat clips is approved.
- All video at 25 fps. Wall canvas 7200 x 2000 px.
- No live audience.
- Event is branded IQ Capital green. Trophy and cheque are called IQ World Championship.
- The studio has been told trading runs until 00:00. The extra 20 minutes for the final result still need confirming (see decisions).
- Trader desks use ultrawide monitors, keyboards, mice and cabled noise-cancelling headphones. Traders bring laptops, USB-C adapters are supplied.
By role
Pick your role to see only what you need. Everything here is also on the other pages.