I agree there is nothing shameful about failing a combine HOWEVER I remain highly sceptical of someone who cannot pass a combine but offers education services. The path from failed trader to vendor is a well beaten. By way of example lets say a course seller manages to sign up 100 people for a $500 course over the course of 1 year. That's $50k income for the year which allows someone to cobble together a meager existence. It's not something a successful long term profitable trader will be doing any time soon.
Personally, I don't think I'd have a warm feeling all over about the business model if I were a trader interested in funding. That's just my own opinion. Seeing that the controversy about TST has been going on here for some time, I became curious enough to do a quick search and came across this item: http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/TopSt...king-Funding-Finance-Chicago-Illinois-1157139 I don't know if the complaint is valid or not, but I thought it would be worthwhile posting all the same.
lol I read that complaint and TST's reply. The guy is accusing TST of logging into his account and manipulating the PNL. Honestly TST have funded 150+ traders this year already so funny how nobody else has reported this. Maybe it was the lizard people lol.
Yes, those lizard people get everywhere, don't they? Again, I can't comment on the veracity of the complaint, although it does seem over the top. I just came across it.
Not everything in life distills down to pure mathematics. If our hypothetical Toronto Trader joined TST and found himself doing well and began scaling up and as he began scaling up he found that a) he was able to adhere to his trading rules as he scaled up and b) the particular instrument(s) he traded had enough volume/liquidity to allow significant size to be traded without a strong influence on future price movement, chances are he'd go solo to retain 100% of his gains and take advantage of the preferential tax treatment for futures trading. "With 20 cars if you make 2 ES points per week, you make..." This is the sort of garbage trader snake oil salesmen use to lure in newbies and desperate gamblers. If you can't make significantly more than 2 ES points per week, you have no business trading 2 cars, much less 20.
That's why I love this thread. Simply amazing.... So you are saying that none of the very best TST Live traders know how to trade, because apparently, according to the info available to us, nobody is making as much as 2 ES points per week on a 20 cars account. Or maybe they are making "significantly" more than 2 ES per week but too pussies to swing 20 cars? How about 4 ES points per week with a 10 cars account? Same result... Yes, eventually everything boils down to pure math. If you are able to do basic math, a trader with a "tiny" 2 ES per week profit can be king. Read Neke's journal, his average is 1.5 ES points per week in the last 18 months and he makes 11K per month, because SIZE DOES MATTER. And he does have size. (He doesn't actually trade the ES, but his performance is equivalent to 1.5 ES pts per week) So you tell me, the best of the best Live traders can't use 20 cars OR can't achieve 2 ES per week? One or the other, otherwise they should be able to break 6 digit annual profits... I mean if you can do basic math....
I'll explain it more slowly this time: I'm saying that if a trader has the discipline to swing 20 cars profitably on a regular basis, s/he will very likely be flying solo, rather than sharing the profit and getting inferior tax treatment; and I'm also saying that if a day trader can't achieve significantly more than 2 ES points a week, s/he shouldn't be swinging more than 1 car.
Math aside, the idea of having to pay fees for a chance to get funding sounds vaguely Nigerian to me. The business model serves its owners very well; the would-be traders, perhaps somewhat less so. Or, let's look at it differently: "Want to be a model? We can help, but you need a portfolio. Would you like to spring for the deluxe package?"
I am glad we are in agreement... That's what we have been saying, well, since 500 posts ago... So I guess until Londonkid posts those fat paychecks, we can put this thread to rest...
It's here in this thread, although from several years ago: http://www.elitetrader.com/et/index...rs-easy-to-read-questions-and-answers.248798/