TST has links regarding the differences between the combines and how they relate to the live account and the rules are explained within their FAQ's.
In the end you are trading your own earned money if you succeed as a live trader for tst. So why do you have to follow every rule even when it is just your money at risk ? And would TST really pull the plug on a profitable trader if they broke one of the rules but is still net profitable ? If the answer is yes that proves that their real intention is just a combine money grab.
Day 9. Took a +1 tick in QM mini oil. It may be useful having that club in the bag at a later time. Comfortably over profit target. Will be submitting this badboy in 24 hours, hopefully get moving on the FTP monday. Trade report updated overnight for days 1-8. GL.
The 10k is the hardest, just want to monitor how he does in it. The largest combine will also be done after he meets the 10k goals.
Your average daily balance in the combine was high, at $1,849/day. If you had multiple winning streaks of this magnitude (on the days you posted big wins) than in theory you could have $18k+ of equity on day 11 in the live account, (in other words your probability of monetizing of the scale up plan is high). Of course, any trading that differs from the combine vs. the live account will skew the results for the Day 11 balance. Just curious, what was the draw on March 14/16 when it took 33 minutes to get +1 tick? If it was a live account, would you have placed a stop?
On those days I just put in a 1 tick take profit and a 10 tick stop and let it ride to completion. It was out of hours and quiet then hence the wait. The target plus cushion was done by early day 2 so I was just batting it out. If I had taken a 10 tick loss I would just have batted out the 10 days with being careful not to lose the $9k profit. The average daily figure for my combine is irrelevant to me as I know how I trade it simply doesn't work like 10 x av daily profit = day 11 likely balance. I would be happy achieving $6k live account balance by end of day 10. I will be making sure I am on my game for those 1st 10 days of live as you know they are critical as they set the max draw day 11+. The only way I will do $18k+ in live account is if I start very well days 1 to 3 then look to push it from there. More likey I do ok days 1 to 3 then trade conservative. Anyways next step is FTP. It will be interesting if I make the $3k target in 3 days and then bat out the remaining 7 days. This is my plan. I dont see how they can say I am not allowed to bat it out after hitting the target early. I guess the max risk to TST is capped at $4500 in the live account so its not exactly going to be a big risk for them. GL
Sensible. This game takes years to learn unless you fall in with the right pros or are from a trading family. 5 years on the $99 combine is a $5940 cost much less than what average joe loses learning over 5 years.
The 10k is the easiest. When you compare the daily / weekly loss as well as the max draw down PER lot. It lets you far more room on the downside than the others. And 1000$ profit is not difficult to achieve in 10 days with a lot. The 30k is 500$ daily loss. XD With even two lots it's 5 points on the ES. 3,25 points with 3 lots. Why pay more to trade the same size ? Those who can't make money shouldn't trade.
The problems with theory that it doesn't work in practice. You didn't adjust for size. If he used 15 cars in the Combine and only 3 is allowed in the first 10 days, you have to divide your numbers by (let me get my calculator) oh yes, by 5. So instead of 18K, that is a 3.6K cushion in the Live account, assuming similar results. Or did I miss something?
Day 10 and the combine is finished. I just submitted it to TST for approval. Finished Day 10 batting on CL. See Days 1-9 trade report and Day 10 trading below. GL.