Get paid to trade. What could be better for a person without an account of his own? I wouldn't leave much of my profits in their hands, though. If you know what I mean, heh.
Your challenge with annual returns is the overall dead symbols you opt to trade. YM, ES, TY and US much of the time intraday are low-range and sideways. CL on the other hand is a "horse of different color", to paraphrase the Comanche term for Appaloosa horses. It stands out in the herd. Today's range was +$2,000 per each CL contract from 9am est to lows, and $2,000+ per contract back up into the 2:30pm close. Skilled traders can do way better than +100% annual per year with CL... but not necessarily every random 10-day segment chosen for a test. Some weeks or months are good for a lot more, some less. The unique challenge lies in hitting that type of performance inside of a limited window, regardless of 10 or 20 days.
Let's examine this for accuracy: "None of the metrics for trader evaluation are reasonable." That's your opinion. If I were looking for top trading talent, I'd have very similar metrics. Why screen for mediocrity? "I say this as I can provide a track record trading futures (YM, ES, US, CL, TY) profitably for the last 4 years." We have no way of knowing if this is true, but we'll take you at your word. "These are efficient and difficult markets that require substantial skill." I agree with you that the markets are difficult and definitely require substantial skill. "Anything over 20% yearly is fantastic IMO and to consistently make $3500 in 10 days with a $1000 loss limit is pure bullshit." Pure opinion and the facts say otherwise. TST has funded traders who successfully attained this goal in the combine, so how is that pure bullshit? And if a trader can do this in 10 days out of 30 with a $50K account, why is it fantastic to think they can't do that each month, giving them a yearly return of several times your personal limited belief? I have no doubt you're a consistently profitable trader, but what you have been able to do personally is not a bar above which all others are guaranteed to find insurmountable resistance.
#1: Someone with an account of their own AND a TST account which starts at $150,000 and goes higher upon performance #2: I wouldn't leave much of my profits OR capital with ANY brokerage, from IB on down with no exceptions. After what you and I have seen with our own two eyes per MFG and then PFG, a lot of other traders still praying to be made whole would agree.
Actually, I posted my track record from IB on this site a few years back... so, I can back up my stats. Come to think of it, if you're so inclined; let's talk about track records... please point me to a managed futures fund that has over 10mil in assets with risk to reward metrics of greater than 4-1, i.e. 40% returns with less than 10% drawdowns over the course of 2 years. Let's see it. Then... lets look at ALL other managed futures funds LOL that have survived greater than 2 years and toss out some percentages. Maybe we can have a legit discussion then? Don't get offended here NoDoji, but, anyone can make 3500 in 10 days.... anyone. Does that mean they're going to make 35k in 100 days, LOL??? If you still fail to see my point and want to give TST a try, then go for it. Its sounding like you're exactly the type of trader who will feed TST's monthly income revenue model.
How much higher? The $150K is not as relevant as the contract limits. Still, 15 to 20 contracts with no activity minimum and an 80/20 split is not a bad deal at all. The key is the no activity minimum.
How much higher is unstated, but I'd assume if one is steadily profitable and consistent for a reasonable period of time, that amount would increase substantially. I'm old enough now where I don't look too far ahead of the near-term goals. When I started out with this venture, my first objective was to finish net-profitable. I'll make that happen. Next would be to qualify for funding. We'll see how that unfolds. Then reach +$30,000 real-money gains. Then go from there. But first things first... I have five sessions left to reach $162,000+ and balance the win/loss ratio of trades. Nothing else matters to me in this exercise for now.
I missed that part to answer earlier If I were trading this size with no minimum profit objectives deadline, I'd cease trading each day at either -$2,500 or $2,500+ with this account balance. Right now I have a personal shutdown near -$2,500 but left upside open because of the +$12,000 objective in ten sessions. Otherwise, the -2.5 / 2.5+ ensure net profitable over time if you keep the max-loss days contained. That size max-loss should be rarely hit before acceptable daily profits are reached somewhere along the way. Everything else takes care of itself from there.
Nodoji demanded a $50,000 payment as ``opportunity cost`` for missing 10 days of real trading in Nodoji`s account. She has also referred to her TA based system as an ATM machine--- in addition to teaching noobs, her carefully crafted online persona as an expert BSD trader would never allow itself to be exposed in a controlled test like the Combine. I am happy to see Nodoji types as they serve as evangelists to keep the money flowing into the market. surf