For all you know im trading 10, 20 or 100 lots next to my tst size. I never have needed anybodies funding to trade. And I dont do this day trading for the money strictly. It is a challenge. An exercise in mental agility, strength and discipline. As of right now I have been stalking one trade since last Wednesday in ES and have not traded a stitch of anything else with plenty of ammo if I wanted it. How many people can do that? Day trading futures profitably is one of the hardest pursuits to master. Cause you never master it. Its like a wild pony. You may think you`re in the saddle with control. But one spook and you lost it...next thing you know your on the ground picking up that hat wondering where the pony (money went), and all you remember was that shock that started the event that lead you to the hard dirt below. You must always be perfect. Or you will lose over the long haul. That`s the attraction to me personally. I told the story before but the reason I joined TST was because a friend challenged me. I accepted... And here I am 14 months later still kicking. The second attraction and the main reason I re-newed my contract with them was because according to the ET gods. NOBODY can turn a small account into a larger one. Let alone a $0.00 baseline and a $1500.00 max drawdown before your canned type deal into a large account. I will come back here when I turn $0.00 into $100,000 and prove it. And sit back with my pop corn while everybody still refutes the fact that it can be done. It may take me a few years. But im confident it can be done.
Before getting on TST Combines I had been trading live for 3 years. So, I have no problem with real funds. I would actually add that these Combines were the most stressful trading I have ever done. This is the first time I actually developed a method which is still in development stage mostly on discipline psychology part. From my understanding discipline to follow the plan and patience are the most important parts of trading. I need further improvements in this department. Generally trading is about setting limits.
That DD that hit trailing stop was due to me not following the plan, over trading and watching too much DOM. I actually just set a couple of new rules to reduce trading especially setting rule when not to trade at all.
Would you agree with the statement that trading the sim combines at TST is more stressful yet also more productive then doing say a free sim using Ninja?
Regarding trading size I have actually thought through a plan. Each added contract needs additional cushion. For example, I think that to add second contract there should be $4000-5000 cushion build and using arithmetical progression then to add a contract additional cushion should be added. for example. started. made $4000. added 1 more contract. To add third contract another $3000 should be added to cushion. to add fourth contract another $4000. However, if there is DD and I am already trading say 4 contract on built cushion and trade 4 contract position, if I lose $4000 i reduce trading size back to 3 contracts and so forth up and down. this is no stress and imho good money management approach. Gotta be consistent. for this to work.
Trading uncontrolled sim without oversight is no use. TST adds oversight and I do not feel it is sim cause I put my money in. I actually prefer T4. It is simple and I like simple things.
Crispy, I have no doubt you will not only reach $100K but way more. It is pretty amazing to read of this kind of patience as you described the trade you wanted so badly Day trading is hard, especially psychologically. From my little experience it is all about limits now. trade loss limit, intra day loss limit. How many days for example I can lose in a row and not hit trailing stop.,.. when not to trade, when to trade and so forth. Thank you for sharing.
If that was the case then you would be a fool for fiddle f%cking around with a 3 lot at tst that you lose an additional 55% of your profit on versus trading your own account and violating your non compete just to satisfy your ego's need to be right. What's significant about 100k ? That's only 40k net after their cut and your tax liability so if you hit it today you made $18 an hour for your time. You remind of a kid in the minors, when they first sign they are hungry but then over time the dream fades away and reality sets in and the call never comes and all you are left with is the time you threw away. I wish you the best but as of right now I don't think you are in this for the right reason. Best of look in proving me wrong.
I don't think anyone would try and refute that you did it. They'd just say you could have made more money in a job. Like if it takes 4 years, they'll say "Yeah well you only made 25k a year!" Most guys want to get rich quick. So they are probably wanting to see someone go from zero to 100k in a year or less, and be a millionaire in 5 years time. Wasn't there someone here who used to claim to have turned the market into a daily ATM machine? That is alluring and exciting, and that is what people want to see. Not someone patiently and methodically building up to 100k over 4 years time. So you have to take that into account when reading criticisms.