Day 4 of combine and in the words of the the dr dre I am still d.r.e. still not lovin the police lol. I hit a small winner in 6B (pound) to maintain limits in that for the FTP and live. Plan is to hit a small winner in ES tomorrow then bat out on CL. 6 days left before I can submit this sucker. GL.
Topsteptrader
- Thread starter deaddog
- Start date
It'll be very interesting to see their take on this. I know that they "frown upon" a big day followed by a tick per day for the other 9 days, because it doesn't show the trader's true performance, but given that the pre-funded simulator is now mandatory for everyone I'm not too sure what this "frowning" could actually mean.
Yeah its unfortunate but I dont see how else I could play this. I just had a huge day, thats my strategy to clean up on trend days. Now the FTP is mandatory I dont see the issue. Whatever the response from them I will post it on this thread. I can only trade to the rules.
When a company's business model is opaque, we can only go by what can be seen. What you have failed to notice is that we are FOR the traders, and every criticism what we bring up here is in the interest of traders and if TST is helping traders it is also in their interest. Just ask them, they have been eventually implementing our suggestions for years!
Now I don't want to sound such a Debbie Downer all the time, so I will repeat one of my older suggestions, that is good for both Live traders and TST. But first let's share a sad story from Chef Morin (more about him later):
http://www.stocksforexfutures.com/how-to-handle-failure/
Long story short: Hard working chef finally makes it to Funded Trader, puts orders in before unemployment numbers release, gets blown away and quickly loses the funded account. A hard lesson learnt in a very quick way.
Now even he acknowledged it was all his fault, he broke the rules. That is not the point. The point is what Abraham Lincoln said:
"What can be automatized, should be automatized, specially in the 21st century."
Yeah, he really said that. So that is one thing if we agree with TST's rules or not, but if they are already there, why don't they help poor traders and make sure things like the above example doesn't happen? Is it really that hard to kick out everybody automatically from every positions before any scheduled news releases?
Now I hear you, you are going to bring up the "it builds principle" BS defense and they should be punished for breaking rules. You know what, I kind of agree to a point, so here comes my idea:
OK, TST doesn't like traders trying to trade economic news releases. Fine. But why kill poor trader right on the spot? After all he spent months and money to get where he is, and chances are he could make money for TST, not just for himself.
So the idea is, instead of revoking Funded trader status for such violations, why not automatize the system, but still punish them (after all we are building character and following principles and such) in a much more economic way of making them pay FINES.
Now we can argue how much the fine should be, 50 or 100$ or whatever, that is not the point. The point is that a trader doesn't lose Funded trader status, thus he can keep earning money for TST, he still gets punished and TST gets extra money not to mention TST doesn't lose money during the violation. After all that loss for chef Morin was also a big loss for TST.
So programming getting everyone out of positions before releases AND market close makes everyone happy, saves money for everyone there is simply no good argument why it shouldn't be done. And the fines make sure the trader will remember and hopefully learn.
If I were a Funded trader I would rather pay fines a few times than being kicked off of my hard earned Live status.
OK, TST are you listening? Just follow Uncle Lincoln advice and do the right thing for the 21st century...
No charge for the idea, I am a nice guy after all....
In today's edition of "Where Are They Now?" we are going to revisit our favorite chef, Mr. Morin. For those who missed him back in December here is what he promised:
You guys know me by now, I don't believe everything what I hear based on face value alone and I do like to remind people of their promises. So whatever happened to Chef and was he an actual, real person?
Well, it did occur to me that he actually doesn't exist but just a PR internet personage. If so he is really well done, because TST actually had an interview with him. So for the time being let's believe that he is really just a TST enthusiast. Well, the last time he logged into ET was back in mid-January, so we have to assume that his Live trading didn't go very well.
No mention of his status in his blog and the blog itself is rather neglected. By the way he was getting a kick back from TST for any Combiners who he successfully pointed to TST's way (he actually posted about it here), but hey, nothing bad about that, who doesn't like extra income? I would also like to mention that there is a 20% coupon for Combines on his website although some of the info is out of date, so I am not completely sure the coupon is still good. When I asked for it, I got one in an automated email.
So what he has been doing since January? Well, he had found one or 2 other new businesses to promote, one is a stock swing signal trading business, the other is a private jet leasing one. Yeah, I am not kidding, just read his profile on Reddit.
Hey, nobody should say the chef can't cook 2-3 meals all at once!!! But in case he is reading this, we would still like to hear how his TST Live performance ended. Maybe he put another order in just before an economic release. See guys? They need the fine and automtized system implemented!
Anyhow, it is interesting that people come here (Londonkid, Chef,etc) from time to time and they say, now I am going to show you guys TST is the real deal, then they quickly disappear. And don't get me wrong, we do want them to succeed, but so far nobody has shown us the beef. Or the yacht, we are not that picky...
So all eyes are on our latest hope, endicottsteel we are rooting for you, man, no pressure...
You guys know me by now, I don't believe everything what I hear based on face value alone and I do like to remind people of their promises. So whatever happened to Chef and was he an actual, real person?
Well, it did occur to me that he actually doesn't exist but just a PR internet personage. If so he is really well done, because TST actually had an interview with him. So for the time being let's believe that he is really just a TST enthusiast. Well, the last time he logged into ET was back in mid-January, so we have to assume that his Live trading didn't go very well.
No mention of his status in his blog and the blog itself is rather neglected. By the way he was getting a kick back from TST for any Combiners who he successfully pointed to TST's way (he actually posted about it here), but hey, nothing bad about that, who doesn't like extra income? I would also like to mention that there is a 20% coupon for Combines on his website although some of the info is out of date, so I am not completely sure the coupon is still good. When I asked for it, I got one in an automated email.
So what he has been doing since January? Well, he had found one or 2 other new businesses to promote, one is a stock swing signal trading business, the other is a private jet leasing one. Yeah, I am not kidding, just read his profile on Reddit.
Hey, nobody should say the chef can't cook 2-3 meals all at once!!! But in case he is reading this, we would still like to hear how his TST Live performance ended. Maybe he put another order in just before an economic release. See guys? They need the fine and automtized system implemented!
Anyhow, it is interesting that people come here (Londonkid, Chef,etc) from time to time and they say, now I am going to show you guys TST is the real deal, then they quickly disappear. And don't get me wrong, we do want them to succeed, but so far nobody has shown us the beef. Or the yacht, we are not that picky...
So all eyes are on our latest hope, endicottsteel we are rooting for you, man, no pressure...
Last edited:
I posted the link above, but here it is again.
https://topsteptrader.desk.com/cust...es/1950863-economic-release-calendar?t=558735
The rules are for certain groups of contracts, as you will see from the link.
It's absolutely ridiculous to tell a trader to monitor EIGHTEEN different events on a weekly basis once they go live, which isn't part of the combine rules. As you know, news events can come out at ANY GIVEN TIME, even if it's not part of a time specific event. If the trader monitors the position with a bracket order, then he/she will minimize slippage regardless of event. We're not talking about gaps that may occur AFTER the close of a session, where TST live trading isn't permitted, only movements within the session.
You asked me what I would propose, and my response is to keep it SIMPLE. There are specific market moving events, and perhaps those are justified, such as the ones you mentioned (FOMC, NFP).
And of course, the inventory report is directly linked to erratic spikes in crude, so I'm in agreement with that.
Last edited:
I simply dont agree on every point. Business model is clear. They make money on combine fees and splits probably more on fees but so what. They offer a service and the customer pays.
no sympathy for the chef here. Risk control is not optional in this business. The vast majority cannot control their risk hence only 1% to 2% ever make decent money.
Trust me if a guy cannot close out before scheduled news he doesnt stand a chance.
99% of people are not going too see a return on their investment thats just how difficult trading is.
I dont agree Joe. To ask a day trader who is supposedly building an account to be flat 3 times a day is necessary not ridiculous. When they have a bigger account they can survive a hit but not while starting out. Most people cannot exercise strict risk management and thats one of the main reasons they fail along with having no edge.
Well, you're certainly entitled to your opinion. However, if TST wants traders to "exercise strict risk management" then it's flawed logic to have it in the live account and NOT in the combine, since the process is designed to build,as you say, "strict risk management."
Like volente posted, it's a set up for the probability of failure. ES trades much thicker than crude. The majority of live traders are trading CL. My guess is more would trade ES is if wasn't for the limitations.
Last edited:
If traders want proof that TST is a viable business model, then just keep track of those who are actually making money in their live accounts. The latest email shows many funded traders posting $1k daily gains.
Nobody is going to say it was easy, however the opportunity surely does exist. Of course, it would be great if TST simply provided the correlation of the Day 11 equity balance to the combine traded. Then anyone who is viewing TST can make an informed decision regarding the expected value of the return on their combine fees, and proceed with their own game plan.