Sorry, have to ask, if the target for a 150k is 9k, for a funded account, is there a minimum no of trades i have to make per month to stay funded, e.g., what if i only make 1 trade a month, and in 12 mos reach the target of 9k without hitting risk controls, i.e., draw, loss limits etc? Can I only make 1 trade a month, is there a time limit for a funded account to reach target or be eliminated?
TopstepTrader Q & A
- Thread starter Topstep
- Start date
- Status
Funded accounts don't have "targets" at all, Paula; targets apply only to the two stages of the Combine.
I don't know whether TST would tolerate a funded account holder trading only once a month, and have never seen this asked before, sorry.
An email to their Support will doubtless produce an answer.
I'm not clear why anyone would want to take the time and trouble to qualify for a funded account to trade only once a month, though?
You appreciate that TST trading is intraday only, and that positions can't be held "overnight"? ("Overnight", with CME futures, is something of a technical term, of course: it really means that positions can't be held open after 3.00pm CT when CME closes for the "day", but could be re-opened after 5.00pm CT, when it re-opens for the start of the next "day", in which case they'd count for TST purposes - and indeed for any other purposes - as a separate trade on a separate day, anyway.)
Last edited:
So no targets for a funded account, only parameters that need to be heeded, are, do not exceed drawdown for e.g., 150k account, i.e., 4500, and do not exceed daily and weekly loss limits, correct? No targets for a 150k account funded? once daily and weekly loss limits or draw is exceeded, have to reset, and do the combine again? right?
Very nearly correct: the weekly loss limit doesn't apply for long: only until the maximum trailing drawdown has moved up to the account starting position (after that, you're effectively "playing with profit" and TST's own risk is therefore reduced); correct apart from that little point.
No "targets" for any funded account.
Again, I think you'd be well advised, before trying the $150k Combine, to study the details and implcations of all the available Combines carefully before deciding to pay $375 for the $150k Combine: I find it really hard to see any really significant advantages from doing that , over paying $165 for the $50k Combine, myself: the most important thing to be aware of, in this context, is the scaling plan, because even if you pass the $150k Combine, you'll still have to start off trading its funded account by trading no more than 3 lots/contracts, anyway.
If you have a trading method which (for whatever reason) specifically necessitates trading a minimum of 3 lots/contracts, then it might make sense, but otherwise it really isn't easy to see that you'd be getting much additional value by paying $375 instead of $165 to take the Combine, and it's a pretty big price difference - just my opinion, of course.
Yes - if you hit any loss limit, while trading a funded account, you'd lose the account and would have to re-qualify through another Combine.
Last edited:
there seems to be a small problem with TST definition of drawdown vs what goes on and accepted in trading world... tst calls it trailing drawdown. If i have 150k account, with a 4500 drawdown, and am funded, and there is no target when you're funded, just don't violate the drawdown, so... if i understand this correctly, once I pass the 154500 equity mark my drawdown level is the starting balance, i.e., my account has to drop back down to 150k to trigger the drawdown alert, so, if my account hits 170k it still has to drop to 150k to hit drawdown level. I can have a series of small weekly losses, until eventually hit 150k, and I am out. Makes it unrealistic to be trading like that...
My understanding is that the trailing drawdown explanation and examples on TST's website relate to Combines, rather than to funded accounts.
Once funded, as your position-size increases, the size of the maximum permitted drawdown naturally increases with it (it would clearly make no sense at all to allow their traders to increase their position-sizing indefinitely without also increasing the permitted drawdowns allowed). I believe that as you achieve increasing success with a funded account, beyond what's specified in the scaling plan, these are negotiated more or less on an individual basis, as you progress (in fact I'm pretty sure I've seen John Hoagland say exactly that).
The general principle is that if someone's trading successfully over the long-term, and their risk management is acceptable to their financial backer, then their interests and those of the backer run together (in other words, they'd obviously want their 20% of the longer term profits to increase with your 80%, rather than impede their own future income by stopping you out unnecessarily).
Again, this is only my impression from second-hand sources, but an email to their Support will doubtless clarify it all easily enough.
Once funded, as your position-size increases, the size of the maximum permitted drawdown naturally increases with it (it would clearly make no sense at all to allow their traders to increase their position-sizing indefinitely without also increasing the permitted drawdowns allowed). I believe that as you achieve increasing success with a funded account, beyond what's specified in the scaling plan, these are negotiated more or less on an individual basis, as you progress (in fact I'm pretty sure I've seen John Hoagland say exactly that).
The general principle is that if someone's trading successfully over the long-term, and their risk management is acceptable to their financial backer, then their interests and those of the backer run together (in other words, they'd obviously want their 20% of the longer term profits to increase with your 80%, rather than impede their own future income by stopping you out unnecessarily).
Again, this is only my impression from second-hand sources, but an email to their Support will doubtless clarify it all easily enough.
Last edited:
Here's some of it.
There are also details of over 600 other funded traders on TST's website.
You can also subscribe to email updates in which they regularly list many of the amounts withdrawn by funded traders, etc.
But all that information's available for people who really want to "see the money", not for people who just want to issue rhetorical challenges in forums, and to cast aspersions.
- Status