Hi @Frederick Foresight. We make the majority of our money from the Trading Combine. This is by design, as we aim for our traders to keep as much of their profits as possible. Traders receiving their first $5000 and 80% of profits thereafter is the most we can give due to regulatory reasons. Thank you!
I don’t really understand the haters. Livermore was happy to be able to make some money off bucket shops when his line was too little to trade with the big boys. If you guys aren’t successful at beating the bucket shop then you might not be ready to trade with the big boys anyway. Sure TST make all his money from failures and resets but if you guys don’t like it then just stay away from it. We all know they ain’t a proprietary firm investing into their traders ! Stop the hate and stay focused on what you do best. If rambling on a forum is your best being so let it be. Sheers. PS: I’ve failed some combine because of stupid rules breaking but they’ve added browser pops-up to remind you about events you can’t be positioned into (News + Settlement). They’ve been kind enough to lift off an ineligibility due to recent saving daylights as I am not in the USA and we both have our own adjustments.
It would be better if it was setup so traders could be part of a firm and take advantage of the 60/40 tax treatment for futures instead of having to take it as ordinary income.
Thanks, @Sekiyo - We have a new feature coming out next week that you're really going to like! Here's an overview:
Thanks for the clarity TST I could not believe it when I read it! any way 10/10 for that so If majority of traders pass the test in first attempt and start making trading profits TST will be happy with the 20% cut like any other PROP firms that don;t charge a test fee? In the above case the test fee would be a small bonus for TST correct? but that means the tests fees wont' cover potential losses! so then you are back to making sure that most fail and the revenue from tests fees keep coming in !
Seriously what the hell are you talking about? "Potential Losses"? - if the trader is funded, and makes $10,000, TST keeps $2K, you keep $8K. It's not like they are on the other side of your trades. The first $5K in the Pro accounts yes that's still sim, so sure if someone makes the $5K, they are on the hook for that, but my guess would be most people who make it that far also bust out, and the numbers work out that the few who do pass the $5K pro account (essentially step 3) and move to funded is small.
It's not like they are on the other side of your trades I never said that . i understand the maths my question was about the revenue $5K in the Pro accounts yes that's still sim, so sure if someone makes the $5K, they are on the hook for that ..yes that is what I am talking about (seriously what the heck do you find strange in my question?) + if after taking the 5000 those who go ahead can still make losses ... so to survive they will need more failures to fund any such losses... and hence the focus then goes back to "more tests based revenue by more people or same people" which to TST's credit they have admitted it ..
Bro, you have an unhealthy obsession with the evaluation companies. I log into ET like every 5 weeks, and checkout these topics and you are upset in like nearly every post! What gives? People by now should know what these companies business model is-- collect money from people taking the evaluation (combine/gauntlet). Why do you have any more questions to ask? This is the only model for them to have because most traders lose money, most traders have poor risk management, most traders are too stupid to realize just because you are given a lot of leverage in step 1 that you should NOT use it... These companies would make a ton more money getting 20% if more than 5% of trader were profitable long term, but unicorns do not exist. This is the only business model that works with these companies and it favors a very specific type of trader who can pass and use it as just an influx of trading capital. The non-issue is that type of trader is rare, that type of trader would need to be at the start of his/her career and in need of money, and all other test takers are people who fail in their own account and with these companies. At the least, TST, ET2 and OneUp are a slow bleed for the failure that is destined to happen to 95% of traders. These are not real prop firms and not designed to be so, the REAL prop firms are highly selectively and likely would not give anyone from ET or any test taker a reply to an email inquiry. They want young ppl fresh out of school with programming, math, quant skills + PhDs and maybe they keep a few dinosaur discretionary traders around. There is not a single victim in any of this. There isn't a bad guy. There are just rules and statistics.
I looked at LeeLoo, Maverick, SpeedUP and TopStep. Based on my personal research TopStep is the most reasonable program. For Maverick, it seems they will profit too much from failure. LeeLoo has a trailing limit that NEVER caps, so not matter your level of success you will get hit. SpeedUp and Topstep are very similar in policy. TopStep is much more transparent & documented on policy. TopStep has tight broker integration (which is good if one likes their brokers). TopStep offer plenty of useful content for free. For a month or so I have been consuming their content. It is excellent, and in my opinion they truly care about traders, and want traders to be successful. Their process forces a highly disciplined style. If one does not want that style or see the value in it then of course it is not for that person. Who are all these super-good traders with no rules and no money? (that need funded trading?) The answer is in the question...No Rules = No Money. I am not a TopStep customer/trader as I don't need funding but I value and appreciate the organization....the one I know today.