Topsteptrader

[nemesis45]

Hi Nemesis45, I guess you are doing Combines too, right?
I have been through some 13-15 Combines by now.
Rules are already ingrained plus I have few of my own. Like 2 max losses a day. in any sequence. I do not average down. I trade only 2 1/2 hours a day in most cases. Trading stops at 12:06.
Been positive in my Combines consistently since the end of 2013.
I do not trade news releases days and I now I added one more rule no Fridays trading after reviewing data for 12 months.


I had a thought about cushion. What $2000 cushion means? Is it $2000 that is gross profit including trader and backer splits or it is net trader's money 60%. If it is only trader's 60% it would make cushion building far more difficult. I also wonder how backer withdraw profits. Only when trader withdraw and on same amount or as things go monthly.
It would make a huge difference.
Were I to trade live now and being in process of building cushion I would not take any money until I build a cushion good for some 2-3 contracts as per my calculations.
In this case trading own funds would really speed things up.

$5 fee definitely can be a hindrance if trader is very active. But it is here on simulator so it can be overcome.

Trailing max DD is a nasty thing. it got me on my previous Combine. But I hit it only during one Combine.

2000$ would be the NET profit you make(60% of which is yours), cushion needs to be 15k $ to negotiate. 2k$ is just for senior trader, on 50k combine . After you reach 15k$ you can negotiate most things.

I did some 4 combines earlier. Now have a job at a Prop, maybe do a combine for fun later when i get time (just to see if my hard work now has paid off)

5$ fee is HUGE - I am used to paying under 2$. Normally too you can easily get around 3.4$ - 4.2$ for crude(2$ would be for members). Do an exercise - calculate how much fees you have paid as a net % of your profits for the past trading experience. It will be pretty big. Most spreads are untradeable with that fee, outrights too it would hurt a lot. Any broker would offer a better fee than this. Of course it hardly matters if you wish to test yourself for sometime on TST, but long term - say yearly you are screwed with this fee on day trading.

If you are consistently profitable - you are better off funding your own account, as long as you can stick to daily stop rule under live pressure. Not averaging down is always good. Have you traded live? it is a different ballgame...

In my experience the less rules the better - concentration should be strictly on market action- keep it basic, and as simple as you can, since you would need to be evaluating things pretty fast.

What do you trade. - I trade crude and in my experience 10k $ per lot is a safe margin to have. SnP maybe less, nowadays less volatile so maybe you can do with lesser margin.

With TST backer doesnt withdraw money, you are free to grow your account, there is only a requirement of withdrawing any amount once per year.

If you are on TST's squawk, watchout for MTNman on energy squawk - he has one of the best trades i have seen. possibly even better than some traders i met at my old firm, 800$ on TST may have been worth it , just to know his mental framework, it is always good to get to know exceptional traders. Only thing is he doesnt scale up , hits only few lots, of course backing makes a lot of difference so far as size is concerned. He is one of the best traders there on energy squawk.
My nick on TST was novice, hopefully rookie and all are still there, heard its been tough.

 

[NDJeff02]

Just FYI, the commish is $5 in their combine but has been raised for guys once they are live. So that right there is a small difference between the combine and being funded.

 

[shiko2000]

I traded live only for some 3 years. I actually tried Title trading live. Stocks. Unfortunately the office I was with had no profitable experienced traders and was IMHO a scam. they were making money on offering options courses to newbies and charging us $300 monthly.
Daily loss allowance was $20. 100 shares. i lost less of all in 6 months , only $600 including fees. They were forcing us to trade only certain stocks, like Wal Mart and even gave us strategy to trade. was crappy experience but I really learned to control my losses there. It made no sense for me to continue as they were making money form me. $300 monthly.
Now, $5 I think is too much. I am going to go live regardless if I am funded or not.
Velocity looks like a nice choice. $2500 maintenance margin and fee for round trip is lower than $5.
There is another firm mentioned here which might fund trader based upon him trading own funds with their broker for 1-3 months. i might consider this option too.
But it looks increasingly that trading own money now makes sense.
I know Minitman. Had few conversations with him. Great trader.
I traded CL for quite some time. I can trade it now too but with my small stake it is too much of a good thing.
I could hit daily allowance pretty quick. I can do it even with ZS but at slower pace and I can have 2-3 trades within this allowance. No way I can do it with CL. One trade in most cases and I am out.
BTW, which, what your prop firm is trading? stocks? futures? options?
Are you funded or you are trading your own funds?

 

[nemesis45]

There is another firm mentioned here which might fund trader based upon him trading own funds with their broker for 1-3 months. i might consider this option too.

But it looks increasingly that trading own money now makes sense.
I know Minitman. Had few conversations with him. Great trader.

BTW, which, what your prop firm is trading? stocks? futures? options?
Are you funded or you are trading your own funds?

May i know which firm is that?

Do calculate the amount you are paying as transaction cost as % of your profits once, i think you may be surprised.

Even Mtnman isnt backed by TST, hes self funded, and he is probably the best trader on their energy squawk. I think he did get a rollover. Even for exceptional traders, the chances are prolly on the lower side that they get to the 15k$ cushion stage, since as i said you have to pass the rules thrice, combine, pre live and live jr , but with a few combines(average case) and time, it is certainly doable.

My firm trades futures right now. mostly spreads.
I am completely funded, need to scale up next 2 years to getting my old limits back. more size , more fun.

 

[shiko2000]

http://www.surcaptrading.com/mt4programme/

this one.
Are you trading from their office or it is remote trader opportunity?

I hit targets already twice, first for $50K , then for $30K. One of conditions was not met so I wa snot funded.

May i know which firm is that?

Do calculate the amount you are paying as transaction cost as % of your profits once, i think you may be surprised.

Even Mtnman isnt backed by TST, hes self funded, and he is probably the best trader on their energy squawk. I think he did get a rollover. Even for exceptional traders, the chances are prolly on the lower side that they get to the 15k$ cushion stage, since as i said you have to pass the rules thrice, combine, pre live and live jr.

My firm trades futures right now. mostly spreads.
I am completely funded, need to scale up next 2 years to getting my old limits back. more size , more fun.

 

[shiko2000]

Nemesis45,
I wonder, what doe sit mean to trade spread?
Is this also called spread betting?

 

[Maverick74]

Just FYI, the commish is $5 in their combine but has been raised for guys once they are live. So that right there is a small difference between the combine and being funded.

That sucks. Although they keep saying you can negotiate your commissions lower once you are a senior trader. Most guys here don't understand this but the biggest part of the commish is the exchange fees, not the broker fees. If you become a member, your total fees will get cut in half and I think they mentioned they can do this.

Shiko, don't they have a day each week on the chat where you can ask Michael any and all your questions? A lot of you guys who are doing combines I don't understand why you "wonder" about a certain rule or not when you can ask him directly. I would ask him word for word in explicit detail EXACTLY what you want to know and take a screen capture of his response. I mean none of us here know the answers but you have access to a live chat Q&A. In fact, just take all the questions guys have on this thread, write them down and ask him on one of their Q&A days. I think they have it once a week and it lasts an entire hour. There is just no reason to speculate when you can go straight to the horse's moth.

 

[shiko2000]

Maverick, it is a good idea,

but Mike seems to answer not in writing.
I am deaf with implant so I do not use squake radio much. I enter there very infrequently but I am going to ask my handler regarding fees.
I already checked few brokers and $5 seems too high really.

That sucks. Although they keep saying you can negotiate your commissions lower once you are a senior trader. Most guys here don't understand this but the biggest part of the commish is the exchange fees, not the broker fees. If you become a member, your total fees will get cut in half and I think they mentioned they can do this.

Shiko, don't they have a day each week on the chat where you can ask Michael any and all your questions? A lot of you guys who are doing combines I don't understand why you "wonder" about a certain rule or not when you can ask him directly. I would ask him word for word in explicit detail EXACTLY what you want to know and take a screen capture of his response. I mean none of us here know the answers but you have access to a live chat Q&A. In fact, just take all the questions guys have on this thread, write them down and ask him on one of their Q&A days. I think they have it once a week and it lasts an entire hour. There is just no reason to speculate when you can go straight to the horse's moth.

 

[nemesis45]

That sucks. Although they keep saying you can negotiate your commissions lower once you are a senior trader. Most guys here don't understand this but the biggest part of the commish is the exchange fees, not the broker fees. If you become a member, your total fees will get cut in half and I think they mentioned they can do this.

Shiko, don't they have a day each week on the chat where you can ask Michael any and all your questions? A lot of you guys who are doing combines I don't understand why you "wonder" about a certain rule or not when you can ask him directly. I would ask him word for word in explicit detail EXACTLY what you want to know and take a screen capture of his response. I mean none of us here know the answers but you have access to a live chat Q&A. In fact, just take all the questions guys have on this thread, write them down and ask him on one of their Q&A days. I think they have it once a week and it lasts an entire hour. There is just no reason to speculate when you can go straight to the horse's moth.

There is also a thread on BMT where you can ask michael any question.

I am not speculating though on my answers, i directly asked michael/TST regarding those rules. They may have changed though since Feb.

you can negotiate when you build a 15k$ buffer, not senior trader. even daily risk limits etc, all negotiation after 15k$ buffer.

Exchange fee per side is 1.45 for crude.is .45 if you are a member. Add another few cents for clearing. this is for CME
there is also a 4 cent NFA fee.
without membership, around 3.4/RT would be a good deal, without membership and without volumes maybe around 4/RT

I think most day traders would know commission structure, afterall it is the biggest cost we have.

 

[nemesis45]

http://www.surcaptrading.com/mt4programme/

this one.
Are you trading from their office or it is remote trader opportunity?

I hit targets already twice, first for $50K , then for $30K. One of conditions was not met so I wa snot funded.

From their desk.
Good man. which condition though?

Last I knew though TST had same commissions in combine and live - 5$/RT and not more, maybe they change now.

By spread i mean - exchange traded spread - for example spread between brent and wti crudes, which is quoted and traded on the exchange

This surcap, looks like ... be careful mate.