Topsteptrader

[VPhantom]

Sure, but in theory one could now have one very big, profitable day with a trade open for many hours, and 9 days of scalp-trades each losing a tick or two, and still qualify.

...and that's perfectly legitimate. Imagine a very high reward-risk system (i.e. 20:1) which also has a 10% win rate. You take a bunch of stop-losses and once in a while, there's a runner that covers them all and adds plenty of profits. Over 10 days, especially if it's a slow system (1-2 trades/day) it's entirely possible to have only one winning day and otherwise meet combine requirements.

And without going that extreme, basically the fewer trades a system yields per day, the longer the drawdowns, measured in days. Someone doing 20 trades a day shouldn't have a problem meeting the 45% of days, but that's not everyone.

 

[ScalperJoe]

There must be trades done on at least 10 days

Yes, and as Xela and I already pointed out, you can have ONE big day, and nine scratch days yet still qualify to pass. Whether or not they would keep you in the FTP longer is speculative. The issue with having "one big day" is if you go "all in" then the result is skewed since it would violate the scale up rules in the live account.

The bottom line is even with the new rule changes, you only have 10 days to build your equity in the live account, while adhering to the scale up rules. So even if you implemented such a strategy in the combine, it's an INVALID strategy in the live account, especially within the first 10 days.

This is why the emphasis on "funded traders" (i.e., those who passed a combine) isn't very relevant, compared to revealing the stats of actual live traders, since the combine rules vs. the live trader rules are quite different.

 

[Howard]

There's a lot of talk here and I have a hard time keeping up with everything. Let's cut to the chase.

Is TST legitimate and is it recommended for someone short on capital? Does anyone know of anyone who's consistent and is consistently paid by TST?

 

[onemoreshot]

There's a lot of talk here and I have a hard time keeping up with everything. Let's cut to the chase.

Is TST legitimate and is it recommended for someone short on capital? Does anyone know of anyone who's consistent and is consistently paid by TST?

Yes

No

 

[Howard]

Yes

No

Okay.

I have a really good system in the making, but I'm a little short on start up capital. Since my system is really good, I'll be rapidly accumulating capital anyway, so I'm leaning towards simply funding a small account myself.

Or is TST worth considering? I don't think I should have any issues passing their Combines.

 

[ScalperJoe]

This is a good point to bring up, but the 45% was still ridiculous. It should have been 30% or less or simply they could have said: we don't want to see one day wonders...

Also what if my high percentage probability set up comes up only once a week? Then my big win % would be 20%, but still perfectly acceptable as a legit strategy...

I slightly disagree with the "one day wonders" argument. The issue is not with the one day wonder itself, but rather the trade cannot be implemented in the LIVE account without first having built the equity to qualify for such a trade, as per the scale up rules.

Despite all of the rule changes, the biggest discrepancy is still the variation of rules between the combine and live account.

 

[ScalperJoe]

Or is TST worth considering? I don't think I should have any issues passing their Combines.

My opinion is the smaller combines are not geared to building scale and trading long term in the live account, but rather serve as a good training exercise.

If you think you won't have issues passing their combines, then take one of the larger ones (100k/150k), use the scale up rules during the combine, and try to mimic the live account rules. Then take your average daily P&L and multiply it by 10. That is your expected value of equity on Day 10 of the live account.

On Day 11, you are backed with the maintenance value of whatever product you trade. The total equity you have built serves as your maximum allowable draw. That is the correct way to interpret whether or not TST is "worth considering."

Just be sure to read ALL of their rules, and develop a game plan around them.

 

[Pekelo]

Or is TST worth considering? I don't think I should have any issues passing their Combines.

It is all about time management. If you are really not that busy during trading hours, you might as well give it a try, specially that now they simplified their rules to the bone. What can you lose beside a few hundred bucks? Maybe you get an ego boost out of it, if nothing else...

 

[onemoreshot]

Okay.

I have a really good system in the making, but I'm a little short on start up capital. Since my system is really good, I'll be rapidly accumulating capital anyway, so I'm leaning towards simply funding a small account myself.

Or is TST worth considering? I don't think I should have any issues passing their Combines.

TST is going to take you at least 20 trading days between the combine at the LTP so there's a month, then another few weeks minimum to get your account in order so I'd reckon you are 4-6 weeks out from a live account assuming you pass your first combine.

My opinion if you were beyond a shadow of a doubt ready to go live, you would have already funded your account and started rocking so I'd say you're either in one of two situations:

1. Not fully ready and therefore go do a combine and test yourself before risking a ton of your hard earned capital (learned the hard way here)

2. Trolling for a financial backer, good luck with that sir.

Cheers!

 

[Howard]

TST is going to take you at least 20 trading days between the combine at the LTP so there's a month, then another few weeks minimum to get your account in order so I'd reckon you are 4-6 weeks out from a live account assuming you pass your first combine.

My opinion if you were beyond a shadow of a doubt ready to go live, you would have already funded your account and started rocking so I'd say you're either in one of two situations:

1. Not fully ready and therefore go do a combine and test yourself before risking a ton of your hard earned capital (learned the hard way here)

2. Trolling for a financial backer, good luck with that sir.

Cheers!

Testing is done for free with most brokers and trading platforms in simulator mode, so there's no need for TST for that.

With a timeline like that, there's no doubt for me that I will fund my account myself. And no, not interested in a financial backer.

Thanks.