Good find on the "Pay once and get 6 goes at being a winner" rule. From the "Help" section, here's the sentence: "Five subsequent Qualification attempts for FREE." I also noticed a few other differences in the rules vs. TST: "You can trade any instruments after the qualification no matter what you have used during it." I guess the reason for the above rule is you can trade an instrument that you find is trending on a given day, even if you didn't trade it in the trial, which simply expands your basket of products you can trade in the live account. Also, the scale up rules are different. In the 100k live account, you can START with up to 10 lots for the first $6k of profits, unlike the max lot size of 3 with TST. I don't particularly care for this rule, since the max lot size is less relevant until you have the equity to support it. As stated prior, simplicity is key. They don't have a "Funded Trader Prep" hurdle, since the rules in the trial are the SAME as the live account, which of course makes sense. Regarding the 10 day rule, it only states that if you go negative within the first 10 days, you cannot keep trading the live account. So in essence you still need to build equity within the first 10 days. What isn't very clear is whether or not the maximum trailing draw still applies, or does the equity become the maximum trailing draw.
It sure is. 6 tries total for the price of one. That's a TST-breaker right there. TST better respond to this; otherwise, their revenue is going to get hit.
The stats seem normal, except for when he went "all guns blazing" on May 5th! I guess you could rack up $455 in fees at $2.50/side for each lot, scaling in one lot at at time for EACH trade, in order to get the 180 trades on a 3 lot max account.
TST still has the best infrastructure of all firms, however no firm is immune from competition. I think U.S. based traders would rather deal with a U.S. firm, but you cannot ignore the difference between paying once vs. six times, it's quite significant, since many traders require several attempts to pass.
you're right. US based traders will prefer to deal with firms in US. However, TST has a dedicated chatroom for Russians. I'd bet that there will soon be a mutiny from that market if Proptrader.biz establishes a decent level of legitimacy.
Agreed, the Russian traders will use the same logic as U.S. traders, in terms of dealing with a firm in their own country. There is the uncertainty, however, of generating enough revenues to offset the risks in the LIVE accounts. This was one of the legitimate arguments brought up in the TradingSchools.org site regarding MES Capital. Their "trial combine" is free, and the argument is that model cannot be sustained indefinitely, since there's a cost to acquire talent. The talent acquisition cost was also brought up by the owner of Savius LLC from the Trade2Win site. It surely benefits traders who can eventually pass after trying it six times, however it also creates a financial liability for the firm, since they now have to back them! And from what the stats reveal, only 2% of traders will actually make money for the firm (according to the owner of Savius, one of TST's competitors). So you have to offset the risks somehow. It doesn't do a trader any good to receive a funded account if the firm cannot last to sustain the account. The Russian firm simplified the entry process, which is a good thing. Whoever provides a reasonable entrance fee and easy to understand rules will eventually become the leading firm that will attract the mass market of traders seeking the backed account.
Can't go past this either. ATAS ANALYTICAL AND TRADING PLATFORM Free for Applicants and Funded traders. That's a FREE $1999 trading platform.
You're most probably right, the EQUITY becomes the maximum drawdown on day 11. So it's still a matter of generating the equity over the crucial first 10 trading days. No different than TST, except you can go "all guns blazing" with 10 lots on the 100k if you get a runner, lol!
Many traders at TST are taking checks. Just reviewed their email regarding the April numbers. They're definitely getting a lot better at transparency regarding the live accounts. One trader withdrew over 10 grand from his account after a month of trading. I'll bet he traded the 100k or 150k combine, since those combines are the ones that will provide the highest odds of building the equity. The average check was $1,635, according to TST: "Our average funded trader check withdrawal is up to $1,635. We hope this is going towards a few summer family trips!"