Maverick74 and marketsurfer's TopstepTrader Combine (daily trade reports and journal)

[austinp]

What anyone else does or does not do is none of my concern. I for one am very serious about actual performance in this project, for a number of reasons starting with personal pride.

In addition to that, there is the promise of capital funding with negotiable upside potential of size and contract limits if and when actual real-money performance merits. I would not be here for the promise of $50,000 capped, although that is generous enough on its own.

Lastly, this exersize is very demanding of mental and emotional energy. Nobody wants to show badly. Also, the parameters do not allow for one bad day at all. One bad day is a deal-breaker... which means you have to be on your game with no missteps.

The common misconception is that it's easy to make money in sim. And that's true... for those who dick around clicking in ridiculous orders until something sticks to a wall. But for anyone who tries it in strict, disciplined fashion? It is tough as real money and in some cases tougher, when you opt to report results in public

 

[ammo]

it's tougher trading under the eye of opm,also their parameters, although you chose your own austin, what was the max contract size in your parameters

 

[austinp]

Quote from Maverick74:

Austin, you traded 155 contracts of Soybeans today? I'm curious, what was your commissions today?

as noted in the blog link, more than 1/3 of that was reentry after booted orders. I'd be short five, want to add five and would close it out because app was on "S" instead of "T"

long story short, I cannot manage multiple symbols on a new-to-me platform. I'm getting old, or maybe I was never good enough in the first place <lol>

bottom line is I kept shorting into each pullback then break, and the next drop => pullback pop kept nailing me out. Once I booted the short sequence near early highs, no other shorts held stops and went distance.

 

[JuniorCTA]

Quote from austinp:

What anyone else does or does not do is none of my concern. I for one am very serious about actual performance in this project, for a number of reasons starting with personal pride.

In addition to that, there is the promise of capital funding with negotiable upside potential of size and contract limits if and when actual real-money performance merits. I would not be here for the promise of $50,000 capped, although that is generous enough on its own.

Lastly, this exersize is very demanding of mental and emotional energy. Nobody wants to show badly. Also, the parameters do not allow for one bad day at all. One bad day is a deal-breaker... which means you have to be on your game with no missteps.

The common misconception is that it's easy to make money in sim. And that's true... for those who dick around clicking in ridiculous orders until something sticks to a wall. But for anyone who tries it in strict, disciplined fashion? It is tough as real money and in some cases tougher, when you opt to report results in public

+1

very admirable, don't do it for pride, leave it to the other clowns to do that

 

[austinp]

Quote from ammo:

it's tougher trading under the eye of opm,also their parameters, although you chose your own austin, what was the max contract size in your parameters

I peaked at +$2070 CL first thing early on 5-lots, and wanted to establish ZS and NQ as part of the program too. Worked 5-5 for 10 lots ZS as largest, several of those thru the day.

In retrospect, sticking with CL and quitting at $2,000 or trading the subsequent buy signals (there were plenty more) was a much better choice.

 

[austinp]

Quote from JuniorCTA:

+1

very admirable, don't do it for pride, leave it to the other clowns to do that

I am treating this like it is real money, and there is $150,000 reward at the end of a ten-day effort. Anything other than that is merely a voluntary donation of entry fees, imo

 

[ScalperJoe]

Quote from Maverick74:


I think the idea of a time period is counterproductive. Here is something I think makes more sense. You create a combine that has a p&l target. Let's say on a 50k account you set it at 15k. The catch is, there is no time limit in which to hit. A trader simply trades every day or when he wants and builds toward that 15k. It could take him a week, it could take him a year. .

The problem with a time period is once you have a down day or a day where you don't meet the daily average, you cannot pass unless you trade aggressively on the remaining days. This is exactly what those three CL traders were facing, and they fortunately got out of their respective jams and passed on the final day.

I guess the way TST sees it is you can redo the combine for free even if you don't meet the P&L objective, as long as you meet the other performance critera.

 

[austinp]

Quote from Maverick74:

Austin, you traded 155 contracts of Soybeans today? I'm curious, what was your commissions today?

I missed answering that

-855 total, including all

The only real judgement mistake(s) I made today were two times near end-session in ZS, I had ten-lot shorts than went just barely past $2,000 each but were still several cents above price-action projected targets of 1548 to 44.

Two times I could have closed 10-lot ZS trades for roughly 0 instead of -2000 end, but made the decisions to hang in there and ride a potential late-hour drop. That did happen... but only after I was par stopped and done for the duration.

Next time faced with the same decision, I'll close out for par and keep this example in mind.

 

[Samsara]

Quote from austinp:

That did happen... but only after I was par stopped and done for the duration.

Next time faced with the same decision, I'll close out for par and keep this example in mind.

I hear that. The one trading loss scenario that personally makes me angry for a long time is getting stopped out at the very end of of a pull back right before price goes according to plan.

Nothing else gets on my nerves. Constant small losses, medium dd periods, not riding gains far enough, having a decent profit reverse into a wash, etc. Just that one scenario I cannot mentally get past and maintain my equilibrium.

 

[Maverick74]

Quote from ScalperJoe:

The problem with a time period is once you have a down day or a day where you don't meet the daily average, you cannot pass unless you trade aggressively on the remaining days. This is exactly what those three CL traders were facing, and they fortunately got out of their respective jams and passed on the final day.

I guess the way TST sees it is you can redo the combine for free even if you don't meet the P&L objective, as long as you meet the other performance critera.

Yes, but this is why I have stated on this thread and the other TST threads that your goal cannot be exclusively to pass the combine. Because if it is, you are right, you have to go on tilt after you have one or two down days to make up the lost ground. And that is not the recipe for building good habits. That's why the goal has to be to focus on the habits and consistency. If you take a hit or two, treat it as getting a bad hand in poker. Fold your hand and try again. You see this a lot in football. You get pinned in your end zone. You try to get out but you have one bad play giving you a 2nd and long. The optimal strategy here is to run the ball out the next two plays and try to improve your field position and punt and try again next time with better field position. If you go all out on 2nd and long you are going to force a bad play and probably turn the ball over.

But back to your main point, I don't see what objections they would have to getting rid of the time period and instead using periods as segments. The more I think about it, the more sense it makes. And I think they would make far more money because a lot of guys probably get discouraged after one bad beating and just quit. This would force them to think about the big picture and not making X amount per day to hit some finish line target.