The All Ordinaries has just posted five straight weeks of gains, and all eight traders are in the black after week three of the race. However, frontrunner Hina Chowdhary, head of research at Kalkine, looks hard to beat. Chowdhary's small-cap-heavy portfolio has put her well in the lead, at $108,052. But her success relies heavily on aerial photography company Nearmap, which has held on to the gains of the previous week when its share price rose more than 50 per cent.

Of course, small caps are volatile by nature and even more so right now, so a bad week for Nearmap could send Chowdhary plummeting down the leaderboard.

It would also be unwise to discount esteemed Money editor and canny racer Caitlin Fitzsimmons, who is not far behind in second place, and whose portfolio of 10 stocks worth $105,780, is more evenly spread.

Fitzsimmons's standouts are skincare maker BWX, South American car classifieds website LatAm autos, and her own employer Fairfax Media.

Fairfax is one of the week's best stocks, gaining an impressive 16 per cent in the third week of the shares race, helped by a flood of news including merger talks between Fairfax and APN News and Media to merge their New Zealand media assets.

BWX remains a tipster's favourite, held by three of our racers. The Melbourne-based company's star is on the rise, and it has padded the (imaginary) pockets of Fitzsimmons, third-placed The Australian Financial Review veteran Phil Baker and last-placed 80 20 Investments' Angie Ellis.

Small miners remain the weakest stocks in the race, and Millenium Metals and Lithium Australia continue to hold back the gains for dartboard and chartist Richard Pritchard respectively.

The All Ordinaries gained 1.3 per cent for the week, but on a stock-by-stock basis, conditions remain volatile, potentially setting up an exciting final week for the shares race.

Shares Race is a fantasy shares game. Players choose 10 stocks and start with $10,000 in each. Email caitlin.fitzsimmons@fairfaxmedia.com.au to express interest in playing.