Patak, math and opportunity....

Quote from Jtrader342:

All profit being equal, I would rather have my money behind a trader that produced consistent profits over multiple days rather than a trader that lost money on multiple days only to hit a homerun that made up the difference every once in a while. If that homerun doesn't come, he's screwed and my money is gone. Whereas if the consistent trader has a bad day every now and again, the world isnt lost, it was just a bad day between many good days.

The consistent trader doesn't have the building stress off HAVING to swing for the fences as his losing days stack up against him. For every losing day you go down, it is that much further you have to profit in order to come out ahead. It snowballs on you. Even if you do hit that homerun you "knew" was out there, you forfeit most of your profits just to cover your losses. If you lose 3K per day for 5 days and then hit a homerun of 25K on the fifth, you didnt make 25K...you only made 10K...minus probably 1-2K in commission charges...and then taxes...you may come out with 5-6K left over and thats if you dont have to split it with anyone. Most people only count their wins and fail to mention the money they have to subtract to account for all the losses they incurred before landing that win. I knew a gambler that if you asked him how much he won a year he would tell you he won over 100K a year. If you asked him how much he lost, he did not know. My guess is he broke even at best. He just did not count the losses, only the homeruns. To hear him tell it, you would have thought he was winning everytime he went in. The reality was he was always one night away from disaster.

Thanks,
J

This is generally true among prop firms. Most prop firms tend to favor the guy that makes small consistent profits over the big shooter. This is why many firms focus on HFT strategies and market making. You earn small consistent profits over and over again. I think the big shooter is probably better off trading his own capital. There is nothing worse then having the risk manager cut you off right before your big move happens. And that almost always inevitably happens. Nobody said that it's fair but that is how most prop firms work.
 
Quote from Jtrader342:


The consistent trader doesn't have the building stress off HAVING to swing for the fences as his losing days stack up against him. For every losing day you go down, it is that much further you have to profit in order to come out ahead. It snowballs on you.

That's why one has to avoid a big draw on any of the days, or the odds decrease in passing the combine, since the trader WILL have to "swing for the fences" to come out ahead.
 
Quote from nazzdack:

2) When you set up your own firm to provide financial backing to other traders,

This is the best part. A website like that has existed for 8 years. You don't have to make a fancy website with software, just send candidates over to C2, make them trade for a month, look at their results and decide if they are worthy for backing up.

No need to reinvent the wheel. :)

Not to mention at C2 a backer (if he decides to use their site for backing) pays a monthly fee instead of profit share.
 
Quote from Bry:

Just a note: Marty Schwartz, one of the greatest audited traders of all time, stated that he made his profits about 1 out of every 5 days. The other 4 out of 5 days were more or less break even days for him.

He would most likely fail the combine with those results according to the rules because he would not be profitable at least half of the days that he traded.

Someone please correct me if this is wrong information.

What`s your source for this information?

I`ve read his book and some interviews and I`ve never heard this. In fact, my impression was that his win percentage and winning days was very high.

Regarding failing the combine, Marty did comment about how today`s markets had changed and become tougher from the time when he was actively day trading.
 
Quote from Pekelo:

From a backer's POV, that doesn't really make sense. The number of winning days doesn't really contribute to the bottomline, the eventual profit. One can have 70% small winning days and a few huge losing days, and vica versa. TST should really focus on the eventual results and not on the small rules that make a trader fail easier.*

Rules like that make me question the legitimacy of their whole approach...It doesn't look like they are really looking for good traders....

*An example: Trader has 3 days of making 6-6-6 ES pts per car, and for the rest he loses 1-1 pt for 7 days. He is still up the required 10 pts at the end of the time frame, but he failed the Combine... Nevertheless he should be backed with a record like that....

Pekelo- Consistent trading is the key. We are looking for this with the trading days greater than % (among other things).

mp
 
Quote from MichaelPatak:

Pekelo- Consistent trading is the key. We are looking for this with the trading days greater than % (among other things).

mp

Michael, have you guys put more thought into a "timeless" combine? Where instead of doing a 10 or 20 day combine you have to hit a higher p&l threshold whether it takes one week or 20 weeks while maintaining the proper metrics.

Or as another poster suggested, being able to trade all the days in a given combine. So for a 20 day combine where you have 60 days to complete it, one could trade a minimum of 20 but possibly all 60 days?
 
Quote from Jtrader342:

I actually feel that their parameters are NOT too restrictive, but actually very achievable once you begin to see the trading style they are looking for. In fact, I would dare to say they are quite tolerant. Again, if you discover and trade in the manner they are looking for, there is ALOT of potential here. Also, if you are trading in this manner, there is no reason you should obtain less than the 80/20 split and be able to hold above that requirement in a fairly quick fashion. I beleive their business plan is directed towards two objectives, finding quality traders and marketing to the rest.

Think I may try the combine Tues or so. Getting some internet issues worked out at the house tomorrow and may have one or two questions to call them about first.

Thanks,
Jeremy

Jeremy- You are correct. We are trying to do both as well as develop those that are not there yet on where they want to be in their trading.

We have many traders that submit their own custom Combine Objective. Basically telling us what type of metrics we should watch that work with their trading plan or style. This is something we strongly encourage if a traders recognizes that our standard evaluation or scouting criteria does not fit with them.

mp
 
Quote from Maverick74:

Michael, have you guys put more thought into a "timeless" combine? Where instead of doing a 10 or 20 day combine you have to hit a higher p&l threshold whether it takes one week or 20 weeks while maintaining the proper metrics.

Or as another poster suggested, being able to trade all the days in a given combine. So for a 20 day combine where you have 60 days to complete it, one could trade a minimum of 20 but possibly all 60 days?

Maverick- We have this already but do not have it on the site or advertise this publicly. We work with certain recruits that show a lot of promise or that are very close to getting over certain humps in what we call a LIVE Combine preparation.

Our LC Prep structure is similar to what you talk about. The recruits has a profit target (and some other criteria) and they can use however much time they need to get there but we don't look at the account until AFTER a minimum of x days are traded. This allows that recruits to continue showing they have control etc if after the first day they reach the profit target.

I am explaining this in a very stripped down fashion but we have been able to work with some great talent in this program.

mp
 
Quote from MichaelPatak:

Maverick- We have this already but do not have it on the site or advertise this publicly. We work with certain recruits that show a lot of promise or that are very close to getting over certain humps in what we call a LIVE Combine preparation.

Our LC Prep structure is similar to what you talk about. The recruits has a profit target (and some other criteria) and they can use however much time they need to get there but we don't look at the account until AFTER a minimum of x days are traded. This allows that recruits to continue showing they have control etc if after the first day they reach the profit target.

I am explaining this in a very stripped down fashion but we have been able to work with some great talent in this program.

mp

How would a recruit sign up for this "LC Prep structure"? Do they have to request it?
 
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