Except you actually have a higher probability succeeding on you own trading retail instead of being handcuffed and tst taking their cut and 1099'ing you
Just a note: I'm not in the USA. Here (Canada) it makes absolutely no difference to day trade for an entity or oneself, as it is "independent normal income" either way. You need to hold positions for more than 30 days, and do something
else for the majority of your income-generating time, among other restrictions, to qualify for capital gains benefits on trading long-term positions, otherwise it's just a "professional activity". - So this tax disadvantage of TST may be US-only. (And their 20% cut is a non-issue given that their typical members are underfunded on their own.)
After 5 years of existence where are the traders at tst that are making any decent money ? Just guessing 100 combiners x 60 months, 6000 people minimum churned through the program and no one making anything worth showing ?
I understand your point, but if the majority of combine subscribers are starry-eyed newcomers without any experience nor a plan (aside from combine rules), doesn't it make sense that the vast majority of them burn out? That doesn't invalidate TST's potential usefulness for the right people.
What did surprise me though, was hearing them in an interview (Patak at BigMike in 2014 I think?) saying that their best live traders made "not even low 6 figures, but comfortable reasonable living". I'd expect that swinging around up to 20 lots would yield more to a lucky and/or talented exceptional few. Either he just wanted people to have reasonable expectations by claiming their average, or something in their live setup restricts the potential for profit.
If the program worked you would see them in their marketing. [...] The bottom line is they sell dreams to dreamers at a cheaper price than retail and as long as the hunger is there then the crowd will pay to play.
I agree that dreamers are a part of their clientèle, probably even a vast majority of it. However I don't see their combine as a training "program" but as a filtering tool for them, which also generates nice revenue. Dreamers couldn't stay live very long, if they even make it that far. They do "new funded trader interviews" from time to time, for what that's worth. I listened to
@Crispy's.
I'll know soon enough for myself, as I will probably give them a shot later this year. I don't absolutely need them, but the bump in size would help so I'm optimizing a plan around their rules. I can always refactor it for my smaller stand-alone size if they don't work out; it's only $400 (and say 6-10 weeks of my time) to find out, which is an acceptable risk for me. Useful learning experience even if it doesn't work out.
