Incredible, you finally admit the truth, while still ignoring the truth, lol! "once you have built enough cushion" Yes, the key, which you obviously admit, IS the cushion. "...are arguing about what you 'made' in the combine. Obviously that's nonsense..." WRONG! What you make in the combine will set a precedent to the live account. Each incremental step has greater pressure (trial, sim, sim combine, FTP, live). Yes, the combine is a test to see if you can follow rules. But those rules change in the live account. For example, if you traded greater than 2 lots to start before being up $1,500 in the combine, then you will have broken a rule in the live account! That obviously skews the results, and you have to take that into consideration to determine your estimated cushion, and by also factoring in the 10 day rule. Of course you will make "good money trading 10 contracts of CL." The upside of the back end of the TST program is virtually unlimited, and that's the true value of the funded account.
TST can "pave the way" for anyone who is willing to take the time, trouble and effort to improve their trading results, whether or not they pass the combine. I highly doubt anyone who has taken a combine (or several combines) can complain that it was a waste or that it didn't improve their results in their own retail accounts. With any account, however, EQUITY is key, not buying power.
Well, the real truth is, unless a trader can navigate all of those parameters regulated, they have damn little chance making money with their own cash-funded futures account. More so than ever before, risk control and flexibility as a trader are mandatory for success. Years ago you could be a bit sloppy or undisciplined at times and still make money. But those times of largess are gone, never to return. So imo if you can't do the TST regs, you will only lose your own money otherwise.
for the love of GOD... it wasn't a f(reakin) lucky trade. I scaled into an expected directional move, first short side early and drew down -160 after a few attempts. Once the downside failed a few times it set off a high-odds indication that upside was more probable. When price broke thru key resistance layers up, I scaled into a 5-lot with 1-1-3 fills while NEVER risking more than $50 total on any stop. Price spiked up directionally as expected, as I gamed, end of story. No luck involved
yes... welcome to SCALPER mode. 9 out of 10 readers here aspire to be "scalpers"... which means a lot of trades, a lot of scratches for par or small losses and a few runners eventually. now go and look at the avg win / avg loss ratio, look at the net profit after all costs. The ONLY thing that matters is what is kept... month over month. And how shallow the draws are in between. Everything else is irrelevant bullshit which too many traders seem to feel is important. Money kept and how tolerable the equity ride is along the way is trading. All other stats are immaterial noise
I was invited to complete a FTP with the start of my choosing, which of course is asap tomorrow. Now we shift back to less aggressive mode because the proverbial benchmark bar has been lowered. All trades begin as 1-lots with -5 tick initial stop. When price appears to be breaking up or down directionally, add a 2nd contract with risk on stop reduced to 0 ticks. Scratch out of whatever gets chopped, catch the directional bursts for acceptable distance and cease for the day... with NO second-guessing! <lol> -$500 if hit no matter what is automatic shutdown, too. Simple business plan. Looking for $300+ to $500+ daily on two contracts but if a surge-blow takes it to $1,000+ or more, well that's why crude oil traders trade crude oil in the first place
londonkid is up to proving he can get a check from TST. austinp as well. ScalperJoe : why not join the TST test ? starts at a mere 97$. Timewise, one can do it while trading other account(s)
OK, so here is their newest funded trader, a guy I personally wouldn't back unless I see 20+ more days of results. Why? Suspiciously his 1st day is responsible for all of his profits passing the combine, and the average of the next 9 days is actually negative (treading water): https://www.topsteptrader.com/blog/...fb6245fc84b415c1304a73fee3c7190914fb6cde66132 Now of course, TST has the 45% profitable days rule to avoid guys like this and in his case, it obviously didn't work. The guy really looks like a one day wonder, just like our Austin "low liquidity on sim" Powers, except Austin's last day was the rainmaker, and he did make a little money on the average of his previous days... It is possible that this guy's strategy was legit and captured a very good move in CL, but again, I would like to see more, before I give him my money.It is also possible, he took a random position, the market helped him and he followed through with a breakeven performance... This strategy could work in 2-3 combines... Remark: If I don't respond to your post, chances are, I didn't see it because I have put you on Ignore for mental retardation...