Is Topstep Trader legit or a scam?

[SimpleMeLike]

I agree that sim trading does not compare to live trading. But how much money did you spend sim trading on TST?

As for the monthly cost making you feel better for having "skin in the game," you may wish to revisit this notion. You could always give the $150 to me. Heck, I'll even give you a 25% friends & family discount just to show you how much I care.

Frederick Foresight,

I think i spend about $1200. I had to pay $100 reset fee for doing stupid stuff and hitting the daily loss limit 2 times.

Lol, I understand what you mean.

Now I know the what it takes, it makes me practice better and be serious.

 

[murray t turtle]

Frederick Foresight,

Of course I am better off.

TST taught me the following:

1. Risk Management of a small capital account.
2. How to handle pressure day to day with its strict drawdown and daily loss limits.
3. It gave me a goal to reach
4. I was able to know my flaws of my trading in real time.

Lots of things trading teaches. It's not difference than trading a real account.

%% Good points, Simple Like me.
By the way, one of the larger hedge funds insulted the use of moving averages, WSJ last 52 or 104 weeks. Strangely they must have a good marketing= they track S& P 500/SPY mostly ; except they do better in bear trends.

80%-20% is a common business pattern; I never even gave my CPA or lawyers a %; much less 80% or 20%.I like the way if you make a fat finger mistake, they give you some seconds before thay count that against you[[Taking their word for that,ad]

 

[SimpleMeLike]

%% Good points, Simple Like me.
By the way, one of the larger hedge funds insulted the use of moving averages, WSJ last 52 or 104 weeks. Strangely they must have a good marketing= they track S& P 500/SPY mostly ; except they do better in bear trends.

80%-20% is a common business pattern; I never even gave my CPA or lawyers a %; much less 80% or 20%.I like the way if you make a fat finger mistake, they give you some seconds before thay count that against you[[Taking their word for that,ad]

murray t turtle,

I am sorry, but I do not understand what you are talking about. Can you please re explain?

What are you saying here about WSJ?

 

[murray t turtle]

murray t turtle,

I am sorry, but I do not understand what you are talking about. Can you please re explain?

What are you saying here about WSJ?

%%
The huge hedge fund wrote an advertorial[ad but in article from LOL] WSJ,noting how much better his computers were, than simple moving averages.
I dont remember if it was in the last WSJ 52 weeks or 104 weeks, 'cause I threw that junk out.LOL Hope this helps; moving averages help me.

 

[SimpleMeLike]

%%
The huge hedge fund wrote an advertorial[ad but in article from LOL] WSJ,noting how much better his computers were, than simple moving averages.
I dont remember if it was in the last WSJ 52 weeks or 104 weeks, 'cause I threw that junk out.LOL Hope this helps; moving averages help me.

Thanks for explaining,

I only invest in Vanguard Index SP 500 fund for long term retirement. I don't have the energy or time to be playing around with Hedge Fund people, just invest index and move on. Keep it simple. Warren Buffett kicked the Hedge Fund people ass from one investment in 2008 and still winning.

I use one moving average to day trade.

 

[murray t turtle]

Also by being a 1099 contractor you are subject to an additional 15.3% SE tax instead of 0 % that you would be liable from trading futures in your own account. The positive of being a self employed 1099 contractor is you can write off some of your expenses but depending on your profitability you are skirting a grey area as to whether your trading is hobby or business.

They serve a niche market and cater to people who may have talent but lack the means to act on it. One benefit I could see them providing is perhaps as an edge is knowing in the beginning it it is not your money at stake until you become profitable.

%%
PlenTy of IRS rules are a grey area . One IRS pattern + IBD published this IRS data this year. The more you make the more likely you are audited.An exception is under $25 ,000+ they like round numbers also . Under $ 9.99 million AGI, its about 7%; over $10 million its 14%/+ audit rate. Sounds like they don't believe many make under $25k.LOL

I had a CPA so sloppy with his handwritten numbers ; it maybe helped, who would want to ask/eyestrain for many numbers clarified, average income LOL.

 

[murray t turtle]

Thanks for explaining,

I only invest in Vanguard Index SP 500 fund for long term retirement. I don't have the energy or time to be playing around with Hedge Fund people, just invest index and move on. Keep it simple. Warren Buffett kicked the Hedge Fund people ass from one investment in 2008 and still winning.

I use one moving average to day trade.

%%
NOT many beat VOO or SPY,SPY= liquidity leader.VOO usually beats SPY by a bit,and or dividend but sometimes not.Keeping it simple; sometimes I use a exponential ma, a bit faster than simple.

Weighted moving average is faster than both ; but I seldom use that one= the faster it is, the more commissions it uses. LOL+trueI would mention the name of that fund, but he insulted MA, so i will not..........

 

[SimpleMeLike]

NOT many beat VOO or SPY,

murray t turtle,

There is an old saying I adapted in my life about 10 years ago, and goes like this "If you can't beat them, join them". I will stick to the S&P 500 index auto investing twice a month. Easy, Automated, Good back test results, and makes money long term. Keep it Simple.

 

[Stocktracker]

Searching for reviews and find very few from actual funded traders.

Has anyone been funded for over 6mos and already withdrawn 100% of first 5k? If so, what value add is TST providing to you that justifies giving them 20% of trading profits?

Also, has there been any 3rd party verification that once funded, TST traders are actually live and not still trading in SIM?

If funded traders were in fact still trading in SIM, it would definitely lead to a lot churn in accts resulting in additional resets and monthly fees.

TST is not a scam. It is a legitimate business that uses a hamster wheel as a business model.

 

[qubit000]

The value they are providing is capital that the trader would not have access to otherwise. So if you have a funded account and you're trading with their money, then obviously any profits you make would be profits you would not have ever been able to make without access to that capital. So giving them 20% while you keep 80% is a fair deal.

From what I'm seeing, the few funded traders that have spoken out spend as much, if not a lot more, on resets/monthly sub fees than what they were initially funded so the risk to TST is almost nil.

Question remains why would a funded trader continue giving TST 20% of profit (+ pay much higher prof data fees) after earning first 5k