I think a lot of guys here are not realizing they can trade their "own" accounts along side this account. In fact, they can trade completely different strategies or use different risk thresholds between the accounts. They can trade their own account more conservatively and trade the TST account aggressively. It's not an either or, it can be both. Not sure why these guys are not thinking about that. At my previous prop firm where guys traded "their" own capital, they jumped at the chance to manage other people's money in addition to their own. Not one of them turned it down. Not sure why this idea is so foreign here. LOL.
Since you are the biggest cheerleader here, I think it's appropriate that you should get funded by this firm. Or is it getting a "job" with the firm, as Mike the owner emphasized that the combine is a job interview. Moreover, I think you should be given a waiver on the combine thing. Your over-the-top enthusiasm, energy, and time spent answering people's questions are worth at least a free shot at getting funded. Just offering my honest opinion.
Regardless of how one passes the combine, the trader still must adhere to the same criteria as the combine PLUS the additional metrics found within the trading plan once they are funded and begin trading a live account. The only exclusion is the profit objective. If a trader utilized a strategy to pass the combine but in doing so violated the metrics found in the trading plan (example: never adding to a loser), then passing the combine to "game the system" is virtually useless. After all, the point here is not only to pass the combine, but also to trade the live account well enough to build the profit cushion and start collecting a check!
It is difficult to disagree with the above statements if one is observing this model for the purpose of getting funded. When the funded trader reports were being posted, we saw THREE traders who were aggressively trading CL in their final day. Obviously, the scouts reviewed the reports and found justification to have them get funded. The recent trader who posted slightly over $1,000 in total profits by developing and executing a custom combine also got funded. TST claims that scouts use a subjective approach in deciding what qualifies for funding. If icarus618 utilized the above strategy while maintaining strict risk discipline, in my opinion it would be difficult to structure a defense as to why the above would NOT qualify for funding, especially if all of the other performance critera are being met.
volente: Click "trading plan" found in the bottom of the page in the link, and you can pull up the .pdf with all the rules. http://www.topsteptrader.com/fundedtrader
I am traveling and working on the hedge fund business until Tuesday. No trading till then. Best of luck everyone! surf
For those talking about metrics objectives and profits targets. You CAN customize your Combine Objective. Our goal is to find trading talent. If you submit a proposal and the scout team approves it we will ask you to trade as advertised. Do that, and we are in business. If you do not achieve it on that Combine and you start again that Custom Objective stays with you (unless you re-submit a new proposal or request to go back to the standard scouting evaluation). This allows you to work on what you want and get yourself in a position to be reviewed by the scout team. http://www.topsteptrader.com/customevaluation mp
This thread is funny. Who doesn't drop $160 in the first hour of evaluating a new business opportunity or even on a nice dinner? Nine out of ten times they go down the toilet, what is the big deal?