So I've been doing some research into these prop firms as an idea to have a backup funding source should something ever happen to my main accounts. I would like to point out something which I've discovered and consider very important. Which technology will you use to pass the combine? I have attached the PDF of my summary results exported from Tradovate as an example of what you can do with good technology. Yesterday however I started the next combine Earn2Trade and so far all I've seen are technology issues. I've seen: 1. Data feed slowdown 2. Bugs where my position was reversed while trying to flatten 3. Slow update of performance results 4. High CPU & GPU usage on the suggested web platforms. In general these issues have so far driven me to close positions early and in general spend a lot of extra time trying to deal with a rickety system. Yes Topstep needs 12% to pass, and about 18% profit to withdraw, but at least you are using what feels like extremely professional software. Until Earn2Trade improves their web offerings I unfortunately can't recommend that combine. Topstep has some issues, in general that I need to make 18% profit before I can actually withdraw any funds, but at least the system does what it's needed for: Get me in and out of trades, and show me how I'm doing.
This is a fairly objective example. I'm profitable in tradovate, and for topstep. With Earn2Trade I'm unprofitable using the same system on the same day under the same market conditions. Go figure
Doesn't Earn2Trade use Rithmic? This means you can connect to a bunch of platforms. Pick whatever platform you like, Rithmic is a very decent data provider, you don't have to use their platform. I use Rithmic and never had issues with positions being reversed while trying to close or anything like that. Neither did i ever have high CPU usage combining Rithmic with Ninjatrader or MotiveWave.
Yes they do but for Rithmic there are zero acceptable web based providers. They say: "Run bootcamp" to my questions about how to run a trading system on a macbook. Was not the age of Web2 2006? As an example I have uploaded two screenshots of the only available Web trading interfaces. One of which still has the developers `node_modules` shipped to the clientside. Finamark was very high on CPU & GPU usage, but I had a lot of connectivity issues with both so I can't narrow down the issue without a deeper dive. I've been doing this more than 10 years now and never seen a provider which didn't have a good web platform. I've never had to install someone else's software on my machine to trade before. In 2023 why start?
Firms offering Combines don't exist for people to make money. They exist to offer the hope to get rich for people with no money to trade (same as selling pills to loose weight, aka snake oil salesman). That's why they're charging for attempts. They don't make money by funding traders, but with fees to try to get there. Traders who can't make money on their own, without all the limitations imposed by firms with Combines, won't be able to make money in any way. So, technology should at the bottom of your priority with those firms. Anyhow, I guess a few guys here and there might pass their Combines and get funded and make money out of this type of system. You never know....
So basically the issue is there aren't any decent trading platforms you can use on your Mac with the Rithmic combination? Seems like that isn't an Earn2Trade issue and something you could have foreseen if you had done research before purchasing their service? Edit, isn't MotiveWave available for Mac?
It's not only that, I did my research but unfortunately it's harder to get all the research done without forking over the $ to actually use their service. This is mostly a PSA for others looking to join. In general I'm thinking now it's a better idea to just put 5k in a safe spot and join a real prop firm. Doing trading combines feels like walking on eggshells. I'm already a profitable trader, the 10% split would be far more than anything I'd pay to them in resets. Strange, and weird that a whole forum exists about this on ET. To newbs: Trading is hard enough, prop combines make it almost impossible.