WOW...!:eek: Patak buddy you called my bluff...! Allright... I did talk the talk... Now I'll attempt to walk the walk...! I'd be interested in this... I'll send you a PM... Regards, CTD
Michael Since inception why has the combine went from free, to $30, then $60 and now $160-400 if it is truly about finding talent and not generating combine revenue ? Also are the numbers set in stone ? Say a trader makes $2400 in the 30k 10 day combine, will you still fail them ? Why are traders forced to trade every single day of the combine ? There will be times when a high probability trade is just not there to be taken yet this rule forces you to do exactly that. Also if a trader passes combine and goes live and generates 5k profits in the 30k account, do you remove the strict rules or still keep them handcuffed even though your money is no longer at risk ? Successful trading is about flexibility and I think using fixed statistics is a surefire way to miss out on potential profitable traders
CooltraderDude- Just catching back up with the ET posts. Sorry for the delay. Great news you are interested. We have a couple other people at Big Mikes Trading doing the same things and updating the thread daily. They are not getting the nice deal that we worked out here as they signed up on their own; but we are more than happy to have you apart of this test or if successful apart of our live (funded) trader team. If you are still interested in proceeding please contact our scout desk at 312.252.9858 or email scouting@topsteptrader.com. Looking forward to you moving forward with us and understanding what we are all about. Good or bad performance, either way I do ask that you keep an open mind. We don't have traders focus on margin or teach a strategy. We have you come in and showcase your talent, develop and work on your risk management. We do have classes each day for you to learn about the fundamentals and mechanics of trading. But ultimately we believe each trader develops their own trading methodology and style. Lastly I encourage you to use the tools we provide and also participate with others in the pits (interactive chat room ie. TST Squawk Radio). We set up a virtual trading floor type feel where you can talk to other traders and hear what they are seeing and saying. This is valuable not because we want you doing what they are doing, but because you will pick up information that will better help you in your trading decision (this is how we communicated in the trading pits as floor traders). Final note: I have a lot of respect for those that blog and post their trading performance shows a lot of accountability and humility, very cool that you stepped up like you did, shows good character. mp
Volente- Lets answer these questions: mp- First you mentioned, since inception why has the combine went from free, to $30, then $60 and now $160-400 if it is truly about finding talent and not generating combine revenue ? The Combine has massively developed since we first started. It is not just trading on a SIM. We have an hour long class daily with a 25+ trading veteran. We have a squawk radio broadcast with a breaking news service (better than ransquawk, tradersaudio etc), real-time data feed that does not cut the recruit off after 1 month, an in-house Trading Psychologist that speaks to the entire room every two weeks (you can ask any question, email you questions in beforehand and you will have high prob your questions gets asked by the market broadcaster to the trading psychologist), our scout provide feedback after EVERY Combine, we have added trader reports and profiles etc. So needless to say our cost have gone up. I want everyone to look at our program and compare all of that to ANYTHING out there. I mentioned ransquawk or tradersaudio above. They are $150-$350 a month. For Squawk and breaking news. We have this we provide FREE for those in the Combine or members. You can go with them but you can not trade, test strategies, or develop you trading risk free while you listen to them and you will not get evaluated and you will NOT get funded. Lastly to this point... there is a price point to getting people to break what they are doing (habit wise) and follow our program. FREE does not get people to change. Volente- your next question was: Also are the numbers set in stone ? Say a trader makes $2400 in the 30k 10 day combine, will you still fail them ? mp- You can customize your Combine Objective. This is what we evaluate you on. http://www.topsteptrader.com/customevaluation and change your Profit target and performance criteria that you need to meet to get reviewed by the scouts. If you say you are going to profit X and do this and that performance wise.... you need to profit X and do this and that performance wise.. ie. trade as advertised. This is if you send in a proposal that gets approved. If you do not send in a proposal you must adhere to the Combine objective. We do not move the line in the sand. Volente- Why are traders forced to trade every single day of the combine ? mp- They are not forced to trade everyday. We have a 10 dya or 20 day Combine. In the 10 day Combine you will need to find 10 trading days withing 30 calendar days to complete your Combine. In the 20 day Combine you will need to find 20 trading days within 60 calendar days to complete the Combine. A trading day is a day when you receive a filled order. So you could be working something off the market today and never have it get filled. Today would not count as a trading day, thus allowing you to wait for the market to come to you rather then force anything. Volente- Also if a trader passes combine and goes live and generates 5k profits in the 30k account, do you remove the strict rules or still keep them handcuffed even though your money is no longer at risk ? mp- That is EXACTLY what we do. If they stay above $5,000 in profits for the example above they are a PROVEN trader in our eyes. We open them up. If they request a larger daily loss limit, fine. More buying power, that is fine as well. If they want to trade other products that will most likely get the ok there as well. All of this withing reason but the point is as long as you have fund built up in your account we work with you and will do what we can to keep you with our group. The more funds you keep the greater your opportunity becomes... here is a breakdown: http://www.topsteptrader.com/fundedtrader Lastly trading is about flexibility as you mentioned above. It is also about risk management and proper trade management DAY IN AND DAY OUT. We allow the flexibility and look for those that manage risk and trade management each day at TopstepTrader. Hope that helps.. good questions. mp
Appreciate the answers. I only have one last question If one goes live with a 30 k account and gets it to 36k and then falls back down to 34k, how much will you allow the trader to lose before you send them back to the combine if the account is over the initial balance ?
Question Hi Michael For your live funded accounts Would you consider making a change to lowering the 5 k minimum equity requirement for some traders ? For traders with a low risk strategy in order for some to take a monthly paycheck Possibly reduce it to a 3 k equity maintenance requirement for your low risk traders ? thanks
Volente- A trader never goes back to the Combine if they are above their initial balance. The only time a trader is at risk of going back to the Combine is if they are well below their initial starting balance. mp
hitnrun- We had this lower and ran into situations where traders ask for withdraws then go through a rough patch and run the risk of getting sent back to the Combine. The $5,000 cushion allows them to weather these situations much better. Lastly we are always open to working with our funded traders on a case by case basis. But as a majority rule we want all funded traders to keep the cushion or buffer in their account that we require. mp