Not too sure, but there sounds like there would be more to the story that simply 'the thought of vb trading made him blow up.' Maybe not, but there is normally.
And you are right. Merritt does love that volume.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
SMB Futures Tryout
- Thread starter PromisingTrader
- Start date
Not too sure, but there sounds like there would be more to the story that simply 'the thought of vb trading made him blow up.' Maybe not, but there is normally.
And you are right. Merritt does love that volume.
i actually know someone who went through the tryout and passed.
if you don't know already, the guy who heads the SMB futures team is Merritt Black and this guy has a huge hard-on for volume-based indicators. think volume profile, market profile, cumulative delta, volume-based bars, value area, point of control, yadda yadda.
case in point:
if you haven't noticed, the latest fad in retail futures trading has been all about "orderflow" and "volume analysis." dumbfucks think purchasing Sierrachart package 5 with tick-by-tick data and slapping on some profile charts with cum delta and vwap suddenly gives them some sort of magical insight.
this has, in part, been fueled by SMB and the folks there who charge astronomical prices for education on these basic volume-based concepts. for example, their basic futures training package starts at $3000 and their in-house training package sells for $25,000 LOL!
anyways, the reason why i write all this is because after the person i knew passed the SMB Futures tryout, he told me SMB kept pressing him to change his trading style to something more similar to Merritt Black's totally-superior-holy-grail-volume-based style and kept pushing their volume-based Futures foundation online course on him.
he successfully passed the SMB Futures tryout using his own proprietary method. that's why he was funded in the first place. so to suddenly disregard all that and push the prop firm's trading method onto him is pretty bs imo.
and to add insult to injury, he also said they'd make him pay for the course out of his own pocket if he decided to take the course. i don't know if he actually did but that's just hilarious. he did say that not too long after he got funded, the trading style that the prop firm was pushing on him to adopt was messing with his ability to trade profitably like his usual self and he eventually hit the max drawdown and got booted.
i've never tried SMB and never will. i want to be able to trade my own method after getting funded and a 50% split is a non-starter right off the bat. if you're a US person, a 50% split taxed at ordinary income tax rates + Self-employment tax is just a big fat waste of your time.
Thanks, that was very helpful.
I think I've seen somewhere on ET that once funded you are their employee and not independent contractor? Do you know if they require you to commit to full-time trading? Or can you just trade outside of your working hours for additional income. Looks like there is some daily interaction between the trader and the company and you don't have too much freedom of your decision within their risk parameters.
i actually know someone who went through the tryout and passed.
if you don't know already, the guy who heads the SMB futures team is Merritt Black and this guy has a huge hard-on for volume-based indicators. think volume profile, market profile, cumulative delta, volume-based bars, value area, point of control, yadda yadda.
case in point:
if you haven't noticed, the latest fad in retail futures trading has been all about "orderflow" and "volume analysis." dumbfucks think purchasing Sierrachart package 5 with tick-by-tick data and slapping on some profile charts with cum delta and vwap suddenly gives them some sort of magical insight.
this has, in part, been fueled by SMB and the folks there who charge astronomical prices for education on these basic volume-based concepts. for example, their basic futures training package starts at $3000 and their in-house training package sells for $25,000 LOL!
anyways, the reason why i write all this is because after the person i knew passed the SMB Futures tryout, he told me SMB kept pressing him to change his trading style to something more similar to Merritt Black's totally-superior-holy-grail-volume-based style and kept pushing their volume-based Futures foundation online course on him.
he successfully passed the SMB Futures tryout using his own proprietary method. that's why he was funded in the first place. so to suddenly disregard all that and push the prop firm's trading method onto him is pretty bs imo.
and to add insult to injury, he also said they'd make him pay for the course out of his own pocket if he decided to take the course. i don't know if he actually did but that's just hilarious. he did say that not too long after he got funded, the trading style that the prop firm was pushing on him to adopt was messing with his ability to trade profitably like his usual self and he eventually hit the max drawdown and got booted.
i've never tried SMB and never will. i want to be able to trade my own method after getting funded and a 50% split is a non-starter right off the bat. if you're a US person, a 50% split taxed at ordinary income tax rates + Self-employment tax is just a big fat waste of your time.
Those are some fair points on SMB, however I trade unique volume indicators and Divergence with great success. Also I use 1 min charts, scalping at 73% win rate. I do thin tick and renko have there place with the right system.. I know a couple people using oiltradingroom.com hitting over 80% wins Rob Mitchel's progam, which consist of orderflow, divergence, probabilties Reno bars.. maybe volume..
You seem to know something about this guy Merrit. what reasons would stop you from participating in his program ? I dont know much about them , except I can use my charts ( unlike E2T and even the new one on here LMINot too sure, but there sounds like there would be more to the story that simply 'the thought of vb trading made him blow up.' Maybe not, but there is normally.
And you are right. Merritt does love that volume.
"I don't think selling the "tryouts" is their main business, like TST/OneUp etc."
Yes, it is.
No its not. They are a legit prop firm and have been around since 2005. They only recently added the tryouts.
You seem to know something about this guy Merrit. what reasons would stop you from participating in his program ? I dont know much about them , except I can use my charts ( unlike E2T and even the new one on here LMI
His education? Because I am not paying that much for something that is free at many other places.
The tryout? I thought I found better parameters at OneUp. I actually passed that one, but then promptly blew up, as is the game plan. I am not sure about SMB and all of this stuff they are selling. This does make me a bit put off, as they are really getting aggressive at this point about selling online.
I bought the 'premium webinars' package at 29/month, and there is a list of about 40 or so webinars that are old, and interesting - but there is absolutely no reason to stick with it. This is something that makes me wonder how their actual trading business is going. Not the 29 a month obviously, but all of this other stuff.
I would LOVE to find a prop situation that was more likely to work out, but in the end they all ask 6 percent return to get funded, in fifteen or more days, and no more than about a 2 percent loss. I am not a statistician, but I suspect there is a lot of math there that works against reason. I know that I can be profitable in FX because I can position size accordingly, don't have to close everything at the end of the day, etc. I don't know man - in a way, the tryout kind of works against their credibility.
It sucks, because a lot of us would like the opportunity, but is there really one? I am not sure. This isn't a commentary on SMB in particular, but the 'pay to play' industry.