Topsteptrader

stepan7 said:
Do you know whole TST statistics?
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No, however if you receive the emails when a trader passes a combine, then you'll know that the majority of them are trading crude.

For example, from the email sent regarding traders in December who began trading their funded accounts, 12 of the 16 traded crude (although some did trade more than one product). 12 of 16 represents 75%, and this has been consistent over time, hence the term I used was "majority."
 
Here's an interesting newly funded TST trader:

https://www.topsteptrader.com/users/scottp

His TST trader profile reads as follows:

Futures trader for over 15 years. Was 10% of the daily volume in the emini S&P futures from years 2002-2005. Featured as the afterword and throughout the book "Enhancing Trader Performance" by Dr. Brett Steenbarger.

His TST newly funded trader's interview should be quite interesting.
 
ubo said:
Was 10% of the daily volume in the emini S&P futures from years 2002-2005.
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LOL... WTF? He did 10% of the daily volume in the ES? Come on... this must be bullshit. If this really is the case, does he need topstep trader??? Please someone tell me that I am reading this wrong.

If he traded futures for 15 years, even without the 10% bullshit, why does he need topstep? A story like this in my opinion doesn't actually enhance the legitimacy of topstep.
 
I love to play internet sleuth!

Stewie said:
If he traded futures for 15 years, even without the 10% bullshit, why does he need topstep? A story like this in my opinion doesn't actually enhance the legitimacy of topstep.
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Exactly. But since I am a curious type, using the given information, I figured out who the guy is. Here is Pekelo's Dummies guide to Sleuthing:

1. Go to Amazon and look up the book. "Enhancing Trader Performance"
2. Click on Inside look and search for "Afterword".
3. For some reason Amazon actually shows the whole book not just portions so one can actually read the whole Afterword part, including this mystery trader's bio and full trading story.

His name is Scott Pulcini, and at the height of his trading he made 40-50K return trades per day in the ES, making 10 million in 2003. H I think that is what TST refers to. A year later he lost 300K. etc,etc.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-pulcini-056a45a

I really want to see his boat! :)

From his TST profile:

"Short Term Goals
To slowly build a TST funded account utilizing the principles and discipline I have learned in the Combine.

Long Term Goals
To be a highly successful trader again, have all my hard work pay off that I have done during these lean years, and provide financial freedom to my family."

I guess no boat.... :( He must have lost all his edge from 10 years ago, or he never really had an edge just had the right strategy for the right times...
 
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Pekelo said:
I love to play internet sleuth!



Exactly. Stories like this just makes TST look desperate, or trading to be gambling. But since I am a curious type, using the given information, I figured out who the guy is. Here is Pekelo's Dummies guide to Sleuthing:

1. Go to Amazon and look up the book. "Enhancing Trader Performance"
2. Click on Inside look and search for "Afterword".
3. For some reason Amazon actually shows the whole book not just portions so one can actually read the whole Afterword part, including this mystery trader's bio and full trading story.

His name is Scot Pulcini, and at the height of his trading he made 40-50K return trades per day in the ES, making 10 million in 2003. I think that is what TST refers to. A year later he lost 300K. etc,etc.

Why he needs TST at this point? Your guess is as good as mine....
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Oh I love to do detective work as well.... and good job!

Ok, so if this 10% figure actually adds up, and he didn't just steal this guy's story, then one has to really wonder why he is back at the bottom. I'm sure the strategies he used back then no longer work given HFTs, which I guess was essentially what he was doing if he had so many round trips, but you would still think that someone with such a deep understanding of the markets wouldn't need to be starting from scratch.
 
Pulcini's fall and Dr. Steenbarger's opinion of him deserve its own thread, but I will address both here quickly.

Stewie said:
I'm sure the strategies he used back then no longer work given HFTs, which I guess was essentially what he was doing if he had so many round trips, but you would still think that someone with such a deep understanding of the markets wouldn't need to be starting from scratch.
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1. Pulcini's fall: He was basicly a big time scalper and I don't think he had any kind of predictive strategy. Why his scalping method stop working I don't know, but it obviously did. He never had a deep understanding of the markets for sure.
As I mentioned earlier, instead of having an edge, he employed a strategy that was good for the time, but when times changed, he lost that temporary advantage.

2. If one reads Steenbarger's evaluation of him AFTER knowing what happened later, the whole thing comes across as total bullshit. Steenbarger's praising of him didn't stand the test of time, and all these Training+Experience+Talent= Profit sounds as hogwash...

Also as an example the whole case study makes me wonder, if a guy who once made 10 million bucks ends up with TST, what is the best an average trader can hope for???
 
ubo said:
Futures trader for over 15 years. Was 10% of the daily volume in the emini S&P futures from years 2002-2005.
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10% of the daily volume! Even for a scalper, he didn't make much profit at all from his strategy then... Mostly enriched his brokers.

Pekelo said:
if a guy who once made 10 million bucks ends up with TST, what is the best an average trader can hope for???
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Exactly. More importantly, it appears that like a lot of lottery winners, he didn't manage his wealth judiciously when he had it, and now he's starting from nothing again. (Or, he's just so undisciplined that he thinks the rules at TST are the only way he can whip into shape, but I find that hard to believe.)

FFS with $10M, I can guarantee you that short of a total simultaneous collapse in several currencies and commodities I would never need to work again.

speedo said:
Greed and arrogance will get ya every time.
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Apparently!
 
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