Well if you cant pass a tryout challenge over and over again then most likely you cant trade your own money in your own brokerage acct profitably on a consistent basis either. All of those people who couldnt pass a challenge--imagine how much they would have lost of their own money if they were trading with their own savings compared to just losing the challenge fees and resets
I look at it differently, and this seems to have helped me. The leverage in the FTMO Challenge is astronomical. You can basically trade as large as you want. HOWEVER, it isn't the leverage or the ten percent that you should be focusing on . (This is because you can trade such a large size.) Rather, I look at it this way: You have ten percent DD and ten percent target. In other words, its a 1:1 scenario. The ten percent doesn't matter. It could be 20, 30, or even 50. It's all the same. They are also willing to give you a free reset as long as you are positive at the end of the month, and from what I see its as long as it takes. The Round 2 is 5 percent and 10 percent DD. Things actually get better for the trader. In other words, its 10 units vs. 10 units, and 5 units vs. 10 units. The leverage isn't relevant at this point. In the live account, there is no way I would crank up the leverage like that, but that's a different scenario as well. I also like the 5ers challenge, it is the typical 4/6 risk model, but you have 6 months to make it happen. Somewhere they will allow you to extend if you are profitable as well. (Off the top of my head I can't remember where I saw that, but I did.) The difference there is that you are only allowed to trade a specific size.
I cannot tell you how much money that saved me back then. I tried to become a proficient futures trader, and learned that I struggle with short-term day trading. That's ok, but it could have cost me something like 100k to figure out I am more of a swing trader.
Yeah thats why FTMO is better than alot of the others as they allow swing trading and holding over through sessions and dont make you have to be flat at end of each session like most of the rest.
Agreed.....a huge advantage. I know there is the whole "dead time" that can allow gaps that go against the firm, but since it isn't real money - its just another way to take subscriptions in.....after all, the real way to gains is to hang onto winners. That's part of the allure to offering 'funded futures accounts.'
You messed up everything. The 10% drawdown is what matter the most.To avoid breaking 10% drawdown ,one needs to lower leverage significantly. From my experiences, 1 mes for every $10000 is most you can trade in order not to break 10% drawdown.While in a live account you can trade 1es for every $10000 without risk of blowing up your account. On the other hand,if you trade 1 mes for every $10000, it is extremely tough to make $1000 for every $10000. Making 10% under 10% drawdown is as tough as making 100% in a live account.
Good Luck SelfMadeDude....I am over at the 5%er's thread going through their evaluation. But I come over here to watch and am keeping my fingers crossed for you. I agree with you about only trading the ES..the MES quotes are different action. ES