Hi caacapital,
To your initial question, graduating from the TraderDock Challenge will lead you to trading in a live environment not simulated. You will switch to Live mode within TT and you will then of course note that orders you enter in the DOM are impacting the live market as opposed to being simulated orders.
The 2-Stage nature of the Challenge reflects the training requirements for trainees aiming to become professional traders on the trading floors of our partner firm. To your question, yes, if you can achieve the $2,500 profit target in Stage 1 and Stage 2, you proceed to live trading with a Bronze account. We wanted to make the Challenge performance-based. Rather than paying for extra size/risk in live trading you earn it by performing better in Stage 2 as per the below table:
View attachment 199543
So, let's say you achieved $2,500 in Stage 1 and proceeded to Stage 2 where you again have achieved $2,500. You are entitled to go live at this point OR, you can continue to trade with the aim of making $500 extra to earn our Silver account or $1,500 extra to earn our Gold account. Of course this is also a risk decision - do I risk my entitlement to go-live at Bronze (by losing money to go below the $2,500 level) so that I might potentially achieve Silver or Gold?
Is it easy to graduate from the TraderDock Challenge? Absolutely not. Neither is professional trading. We try to bring what we see works successfully on a professional trading floor into our TraderDock Challenge and will continue to innovate and add more features in the coming months.
There is some confusion about the structure of our Challenge. It is clear that we are not explaining the above as clearly as we can on our site...we will work to improve this. Appreciate your interest!