there is risk of possible professional 'misconduct' all professions have insurance for 'malpractice' insurance. lawyers, doctors, financial advisors. even companies have insurance on risk. bank deposits are 'insured' smart business people buy insurance so no trust. one screw up and your business can go bankrupt. one bad trade can put you out of business in trading and in debt. that is the risk or one rogue trader at a bank with 'complete' trading authority on bank money can put the company into bankruptcy.. your trades are monitored by supervisors if you trade other people money or client money.. the client reviews his account daily. and any screw up, your are fired. or sued. or lose your professional license. etc. or pay fine for trading violations.
Seems like you would be better of having strict risk controls on the account (most brokerages can place these on their so its taken out of your control) Daily Loss Limit = $________ Weekly Loss Limit = $______ Max Drawdown (Fixed) - or Max Drawdown (Trailing) = $__________ probably could have a doc signed that is given to brokerage that says that you by yourself cannot change the established dollar amt risk parameters nor can you delete them from the account unless the investor(s) authorized representative also signs off approving any change Just a thought
Good comments, everyone. I'll have to do some further research on my own before making a decision. Like I said - I already have my own account that I'm trading. So, basically looking to see if I can add to my bottom line by accessing additional capital as my own account is not making large nominal dollar returns just yet. Judging from the comments, it may seem like TST is still the way to go. If going at all. Best regards, Howard
Check out Darwinex. Current top trader is managing 5M+. Unlike the copy trade business model, they do not share your trades with investors.
the way OnUp handles drawdown, makes it impossible to trade in a volatile market.....today I was up usd 3000 and then lost 2000 and they cut me out claiming it was the real time dradown analisys..... this makes this One UP trading a big fraud and are just taking a=our money.
yeah -- some companies calculate the trailing max drawdown amt from your intraday session peak profit
Ouch yeah that sucks. I traded CL today on Topstep combine and was up $3K, then down to $500, then climbed back up to $4,600 and called it quits. On TopStep, no problems, sounds like on OnUp I'd be knocked out.
Hi, all, Any news? I didn't spend much time looking into these programs or other options as I've been mostly focused on my own trading and improving that. I'm gaining consistency in my own account now. The profits are not huge in nominal dollars, but they're fairly consistent now. I need some more testing to gain confidence in my approach, but if I can continue like this for another month, I would probably want to find a way to leverage my returns. The best would probably be to receive some kind of backing and I am considering those programs, although I have some second thoughts with all their restrictions and rules. Seeing how their drawdown rules are designed you're not really trading a 150K account, but a 3K account. 15 lots is the maximum size, but obviously not realistic within those risk parameters. 15 lots on ES = 3000 / (15 x 50) = 4 ES points. Let's say you take on 5 lots then. A 3K drawdown equates to a 3000 / (50 x 5) = 12 ES points. I agree that this is some what reasonable for a decent day trader. But 3K is the weekly limit too. So, you basically can't have 2 losing days in a row at 6 ES points each. Still somewhat reasonable if you're a top day trader, but not much leeway there. Solution? Scale down further to say 2-3 contracts. That gives you a daily/weekly loss limit of 20/30 ES points. Now it's a bit more realistic. But you're still far from the illusion of trading a 150K account. Of course - you could simply put up 3K yourself and trade your own bucks with a high chance of blowing out. TST lets you do it with their money though, but you need to pay them $375 and trade in simulator for at least 15 days before passing. It may be a deal worth taking as I think I can realistically pass it, but not decided yet. Other options I'm considering: - Taking out an additional loan with my own trading account as collateral. Effectively, this means that I will borrow the same amount as my current account (10K) and put on a maximum drawdown rule of 25 % of my new account size at 20K. If I hit a 5K drawdown - I will then pay off the entire loan from my trading account and as a result have taken a 50 % hit on my real account which now stands at 5K. The upside is that I should be able to compound/grow my account at a faster rate if I can maintain consistency. - Simply continue growing my own account patiently and accepting that it will take a longer time than I initially expected. I'm fine with this too, but the problem is that it most likely means I need to return to the work force for a while. I'm in a unique position right now being able to do this full time, but I'm not likely to sustain myself for much more than 4-5 months from here. It is possible I can grow my current account sufficiently in that amount of time, but access to more capital obviously makes it easier. I need another month or so with the same consistency I'm seeing lately to make a choice. PS: Another option is to simply increase my risk % per trade and increase the current leverage. But I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with that. Maybe I can grow into that if I see that I'm able to stay consistent. Best regards, Howard
you're not really trading a 150K account, but a 3K account. YES that is great point so why do they call 150K account? a marketing gimmick So to be funded by TST and like you have to pass the test... + pay the fees meaning a break even point you might be profitable in your current style but doe s that satisfy TSTs conditions If not then you might loos the test fee also Perhaps funding on First loss idea be better have skin in the game
Hi @Howard, I am happy to set up a call with a member of our team if you'd like to learn more about opportunities with TopstepTrader. Feel free to send me a private message here, or email support@topsteptrader.com. Thank you to everyone who provided their input. If you have any questions, please reach out. Thank you, Eddie B