Ah! This answers my question: they don't dip your balance for that fee, they charge it separately like they did the combines. Eh, I guess it weeds out those who aren't serious enough. Much cheaper than many "desk fees" but still a bit at odds with the notion of being "funded", to me.
Topsteptrader
- Thread starter deaddog
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Ah! This answers my question: they don't dip your balance for that fee, they charge it separately like they did the combines. Eh, I guess it weeds out those who aren't serious enough. Much cheaper than many "desk fees" but still a bit at odds with the notion of being "funded", to me.
You could argue that they should offer to split it 80/20 with you, like the profits, I suppose? But it's barely worth talking about, in the circumstances? It's something you'd have to pay if you were self-funded anyway.
No no no, I don't mind the expense at all, but I mind that they no longer have a refundable 10-day combine option and that the $85/month/exchange is billed rather than debited from the funded balance. (And this is the professional fee; on my own as a non-professional I spend just $3.25/month for CME data.)
It's more of a perception issue than a functional one: it just makes them seem more interested in combine fees than in their 20% off funded traders. The turns they took in 2015 make it seem like they're not making much at all with their cut and shifted focus to optimize combine profits and minimize live trader costs.
They don't have a "cut": TST is not the investor - that's a different company. TST is an "introduction service", really (i.e. introducing recommended-safe traders to an investor), I think.
I may have it all wrong, but as far as I'm aware, TST funds its entire operations through Combine-fees. (I hear you, though, about the refunds and the perception-issue.)
What's the slippage like for your entry, stop and if you increase number of contracts traded?
Not much slippage. I trade between 800am eastern and noon. High volume but the 30yr is not very volatile. I use limit orders for every entry. I rarely don't get filled at my desired price.
I won't take a trade unless I am confident that a 5 tick stop won't get triggered.
Increasing lot size depends on my pnl and a discussion, briefly, with the funding department. The strategy will remain the same for the tone being.
This is the blog link I you all are interested. Stocksforexfutures
That's just marketing: Michael Patak founded Topstep Trader in 2010, he's still the CEO right now, and he's funding live traders under the name "Patak Trading Partners". The old web site for PTP even redirects to TST nowadays.
That's why I see the move towards optimizing recurring sales as a sign that he's not getting as much yield as he wanted from his funded traders, which is a red flag image-wise. If it's not true, then it's a bad marketing decision to project that image. But, all the more power to them if people generally preferred continuous combines anyway, and don't notice...
Could be. I don't know. I'm certainly not rejecting this view, but I'm not assuming it, either. Granted, though, that Mike Patak is involved in both businesses. But I have no idea what the financial arrangements between the two might be.
I've certainly seen nothing which suggests to me that TST has any income-source other than Combine-fees, though.
That hadn't occurred to me at all, to be honest.
My guesses were ...
(a) that they'd like to find a way of increasing the Combine pass-rate from its 20%-ish (when last independently audited), and that they felt they might do that by removing the "hurried traders" and withdrawing the 10-day Combines (which were also the refundable ones); and ...
(b) that the overwhelming majority of traders successfully funded, i.e. not promptly losing their funded accounts, came through continuous Combines anyway (in fact I'd be very surprised indeed if that's wrong?).
But those are only guesses - I have no "inside information" or anything of the kind.
Interesting take. I must be odd, because the continuous is all about 10 days in a month just like the one-off, so I never saw much of a difference beyond shining the possibility of a refund in front of us. Maybe one-offs didn't have $100 resets, which for some would favor the continuous.
Oh well, enough speculating, let's see how @WMorin does in the coming months!
Wmorin
Are any live traders at tst on track to make 100k or more this year ?
Are any live traders at tst on track to make 100k or more this year ?