In the last year or 2 there has been a lot of attention given to Patak's firm for funding traders based on simulated combines for futures. Who is doing this on the stock or equity side of the business? If no firm is emphasizing in house technology to scout talent, then who is the closest? Are there add'l regulatory issues with stocks? Please do not reply with the typical anti-Patak propaganda. We are all aware of the controversial responses to their marketing. Regardless of where you come down on the company, the concept of scouting talent using the rawest merit based technique should not be overlooked. Certainly TopStep can't be the only firm/hedge fund using real-time metrics for farming talent? Are they?
They make 99% of their money by people sending them a couple hundred bucks a month to trade on a demo. Why do you need a scout? Open a prop account with $5k and your P/L will tell you if you are a good trader or not.
Where in my OP did I ask how they make money? I realize this is asking a lot from the ET community: If you don't have a direct response to the original inquiry, please don't reply. We're all better off if you DON'T...
lol, ok. so you don't know. you've got just as much chance losing your deposit with a prop shop than taking a chance on passing the top step trader simulation and getting your money back when you get pass.
See the thread titled "TopstepTrader and Patak Trading Partners- Any and all questions answered here""
Sorry, you asked me about this awhile back and I never got back to you. I think it's a horrible business model for stocks. I think ultimately more advantageous for the trader but between all the regs and the insane amount of capital needed to fund it, I don't see how Patak or anyone else would stay solvent. It definitely would have worked 10 years ago. In fact, that's pretty much what we had 10 years ago. The only other market I think a firm like Patak could enter into would be FX. Low start up, low capital requirements and good risk controls. That's a healthy diet.