It is not a question of who can trade or not it is a question of the ethics of marketing yourself to masses with a pipe dream when the real intention is to grab the the "test fees" + questionable definition of "Size of funded a/c, and Xela you are 100 % correct the "another one or two I mentioned" are in a totally diff business, called "true prop trading / market making" etc / as compared to "sell the test again and again business and fund few" No wonder there are so many copy cats, Any way guys perhaps I should start a business instead of wasting time in putting forward a reasonable question.. Here is the deal pay me $500 for a "Test" and if you succeed which I will make sure that it is hard to pass and those few who do pass will get to trade whopping 125000 USD! with a draw down of $500 ( obviously being ethical I wont disclose the following... 1) What % actually gets funded 2) the $125K is notional not actual lets see how many suckers I can find !
" Value proposition" would have been if there was no "Test fee". That in itself raises the question mark One may say why should there be no fee! , becasue that creates a conflict of interest, and this is not my idea I recently sat for entry test+ SIM for 2 props NO BS about Entry or test fees they have regular intake and it does not cost them too Much and they dont mind because REAL INTENTION IS TO FIND TALENT NOT grab for fees. Some mentioned that Prop firms charge desk fees: that is after you are in a prop and also sometimes it is a straight forward arcade model where you get the value of perhaps software, high speed connection and leverage again no BS about some sort of test and lure of funding One example in equity space is Bright trading, if you have the risk money + pass the govt exams you can get in and you perhaps get some edge as they seems to be a specialist in pairs trading ( I am not associated with them, just mentioning) any way caveat emptor
i can see why some people sense a faint foul smell emanating from the TopStep operation. They run this business for profit and as we all know to separate people from their money you often have to resort to some skulduggery.
running business for profit is no crime as we all know but the question on many people's mind is "what is the core business? when thousands loos the test fees they don't come forward becasue there is a believe that oh it is just 200-300$ it is not for me.. move on,, who benefits from such attitude the psuedo prop and then you multiply these $200-300 x thousands then the issues starts rising.. one day the proverbial shit is going to heat the fan... hence the foul smell ( from any such operation) as you pointed out correctly, having said that snowman80 you will be dismissed as a looser / one who can't trade/ blah blah blah SO in a nut shell if one want's to get in to prop business seek those firms who do not engage in such "skulduggery" and if it is a capital contribution model make sure they are regulated I sat for 2 prop entry , did not get selected in one, no problems it did not cost me a cent!
Ok for me you are just internet troll (I don''t know if someone pay you for that or not - don't care). I won't waste more of my time for you. "What are you - a trader, troll or some wannabe from the street crying about the "marketing" and comibe names ? Is it possible to get real account with 4500$ drawdown + margin for 3-15 lots (let say 3 for start) spending 460$ (if you really can trade) ? Yes it is. Can you be funded after trading sim (!) ? Yes you can. Does anybody force you to do it or you have gun pulled to your head ? No. End of topic."
I was also wondering whether he's paid to troll here by a TST-competitor, or just very short of braincells. Anyway, it's Baron's problem, and/or maybe TST's, not ours. From my perspective, just another one for the "ignore list", I suppose.
Are you guys accusing me of being a paid by some competition of these "prop" firms?, are you serious! and on top hinting that the moderator or the sponsor should do something about it! wow Back off All I have done is raise some very fundamental questions and I am not the only one in this sand other thread may be I have been vocal about it. For the record 1) I am not from the industry like many of you I am just another trader / investor who also cares about consumer protection/ transparency / ethics etc , and scrutinise fin product and services as a consumer that is all. 2) My questions are directed at all those companies who are using this business model not just one, and are hardly regulated 3) And since recently I went through selection process of true props who don't charge fees my interested in this business model was high. Any way what do I care, go on spend your money on such things who cares! sayonara
Fair enough, Traderjo. Thanks for your reply, and (if you care) I accept what you say and I retract my implication that you might have been posting maliciously, under incentivization. It honestly had occurred to me (and to be fair, I clearly wasn't the only one!), in my case partly because I happen to know that one of TST's competitors does actually play that game. Absolutely no rudeness or hostility implied, but in my opinion it's very clear from several of your posts that you've seriously misunderstood both TST's business model and what their target market is. I don't retract the comment that you're criticising them (and very vociferously indeed) for not being something they never said they are, and never pretended to be, but I apologise for the inference of malice on your part.
Ok Xela, apology accepted, lets agree to disagree abut ethics of this business model, there is lot of criticism (such as combine hamster wheel, etc on the web of this model and everybody questioning it is not a looser or a troll ! that is all I want to say finally