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

[icarus618]

Quote from marketsurfer:

Yeah, talking about daily and in general --- not just to beat the Combine. Thanks.

The combine is a game. A straightforward plan to win would be to hit $3500 reasonably quickly and then just do wash trades the rest of the days. There are no bonus points for exceeding $3500.

Since 30 days are allowed to trade 10, and off days need not be announced in advance, one strategy would be to wait for a trend day to set up in the stock index futures to trade the AM session. With 5 contracts, that's 14 points per contract ES. Two or three sessions would likely do it, and then the player should "run out the clock" with wash trades the rest of the way.

In my opinion, going for a specific daily profit target over 10 days is very poor strategy.

 

[Brass]

Quote from marketsurfer:

<B>Quote from Brass:

Hardly.

The least competent traders are the ones who go for the wildest rides. First up the equity curve, and then right back down. </b>


I'll be sure to let VN know this when I have dinner with him on the 21. He's been at the top nd at the bottom but the process made him extraordinarily wealthy.

For the purposes of this discussion, let's try to differentiate between OPM and trading one's own account. No disrespect to your friend, but I'm guessing he didn't pay back the performance fees on the way back down.

 

[MichaelPatak]

Quote from marketsurfer:

Yeah for sure. I haven't traded intraday, unless forced to, for several years. It's. whole other ballgame! Do you set profit targets? Something I have never done, but looks like it may be smart.

Michael--- do you have suggestion regarding profit targets?

Marketsurfer- I don't set profit targets, nor do we recommend it. I roughly know what I am capable of and don't push it. I let the market come to me and stay patient. This took a lot of time to get under control. The more time that had passed trading the more I knew what my (natural) daily average was.. (Now full disclaimer I have not traded in over 4 months due to TST starting to catch its stride and my focus on making sure the talent we put on the funded accounts stays performing, as that is my responsibility.)

For a quick tip on your trading.. Yes I think you over traded the first day. You hit a home run your first couple hours and were off to a great start. The scout team was hoping you would of shut it down or went for base hits after that but we don't step in during evaluation, we let the recruit trade. If you were live we would have stepped in and asked where your head was at or if you really have anything left in the tank for the day.

Point is the great thing about the Combine is you can recognize whatever weakness you have and then work on it. We all have weaknesses.

mp

 

[trendlover]

Quote from Maverick74:

The market tends to center itself around econ reports. It allows you to set your compass. So the big reports create a volatility catalyst.

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Aaah, thank you!

 

[MichaelPatak]

Quote from icarus618:

The combine is a game. A straightforward plan to win would be to hit $3500 reasonably quickly and then just do wash trades the rest of the days. There are no bonus points for exceeding $3500.

Since 30 days are allowed to trade 10, and off days need not be announced in advance, one strategy would be to wait for a trend day to set up in the stock index futures to trade the AM session. With 5 contracts, that's 14 points per contract ES. Two or three sessions would likely do it, and then the player should "run out the clock" with wash trades the rest of the way.

In my opinion, going for a specific daily profit target over 10 days is very poor strategy.

icarus618- This is not, hit a profit target you win. The Combine has an objective. Meet or exceed the profit target and adhere to the scouting criteria. Each hold the same weight. While you are in the Combine scouts monitor your trading. A big win day followed by scratching trades for the next 9 days does nothing to help you out or show you can handle trading for the long haul on a funded account. Besides being an education and development tool.. the Combine is an interview process so to speak...

mp

 

[atticus]

Quote from MichaelPatak:

A big win day followed by scratching trades for the next 9 days does nothing to help you out or show you can handle trading for the long haul on a funded account.
mp

So what if the trader meets the combine (notional gain) goal on the first day and then swings one lots each day for a tick gain simply to ride out the combine and get funded. Are you implying that such a scenario would not get funded?

 

[Maverick74]

Quote from MichaelPatak:

icarus618- This is not, hit a profit target you win. The Combine has an objective. Meet or exceed the profit target and adhere to the scouting criteria. Each hold the same weight. While you are in the Combine scouts monitor your trading. A big win day followed by scratching trades for the next 9 days does nothing to help you out or show you can handle trading for the long haul on a funded account. Besides being an education and development tool.. the Combine is an interview process so to speak...

mp

It also defeats the purpose. What is that person suppose to do when they go live? I've tried to make this point before. The goal is not to "win" the combine. The point is to become a consistently profitable trader. Winning does not get you anything. If you go live and lose money, you're going right back to the combine. So what's the point to simply "winning". It reminds me of the college student who spends 4 years cramming for exams where they keep everything in their head for 6 hours and then forget it all. They simply become an uneducated person with a piece of paper that says they are educated. They probably are not going to get too far in life.

 

[Maverick74]

Quote from atticus:

So what if the trader meets the combine (notional gain) goal on the first day and then swings one lots each day for a tick gain simply to ride out the combine and get funded. Are you implying that such a scenario would not get funded?

Would you fund them? LOL. I know I wouldn't.

 

[atticus]

Quote from Maverick74:

Would you fund them? LOL. I know I wouldn't.

No of course not, but it allows for a lot of subjectivity not accounted for in the combine rules. It's an easy out for Patak/TST.

 

[ddlee]

ditto