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TopStepTrader - An Online Prop Shop

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CanOz

CanOz

Home runs feel good, but base hits pay bills!
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www.topsteptrader.com

I came across this after watching a webinar by one of thier coaches. I've joined up and intend on trading CL in the evenings and see if i can qualify...

I'm surprised no one else has seen this before. They check out ok, CME members. Boofis, this could be right up your alley mate....

CanOz
 
CanOz , sounds good mate, will be interested to see how you go and what your thoughts are after you have given it a go with them.
 
havaiana said:
Not sure if T4 is still the only platform you can use, if it is it will drive you insane
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You can use fully licensed copies of NT as well:xyxthumbs

Thanks for the link SKC....
 
CanOz said:
I'd love to set this up for the Asian markets...:)
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Pulsar requirements seem much too difficult, I think.

$4k profit from 1 contract is extremely hard work in 10 days. That'd be 400 pips for any FX traders.

Perhaps achievable trading CL but the volatility could easily ruin the 2% d/down too.

TST seems a much more sensible option and their guidelines seem fairly achievable if showing some good trading and discipline.
 
Went through the ET Thread...I don't know how that forum survives, the thread was totally highjacked. I see the P/L has been removed too.

Anyway...we must make our own road.

CanOz
 
I haven't looked through this in detail but a few things jump out at me.

1. As a funded trader, there's a max drawdown of $4500 on a $150k account?! That sounds extremely small and probably result in many traders being dropped back to stage 2?

2. Trading commission is $1.25 per contract + exchange fees. IB charges a retail trader 85c per contract. A real prop shop should have trading commission substantially lower than retail, not the other way round.

3. You need to do a course from them before you go live to gain 65% profit split... it feels like a cheeky way of selling education.

4. Add in monthly membership fees, fees to do the combine etc etc. The costs add up quickly.

My suspicion... while TST may or may not be serious in funding good traders with equity, it has structured its business such a way that it will also profit from the many who try and fail. In deed, the way their commission and trading limit is drawn up, they may actually increase the chance of failure.

Go join a real prop shop :cool:
 
skc said:
I haven't looked through this in detail but a few things jump out at me.

1. As a funded trader, there's a max drawdown of $4500 on a $150k account?! That sounds extremely small and probably result in many traders being dropped back to stage 2?

2. Trading commission is $1.25 per contract + exchange fees. IB charges a retail trader 85c per contract. A real prop shop should have trading commission substantially lower than retail, not the other way round.

3. You need to do a course from them before you go live to gain 65% profit split... it feels like a cheeky way of selling education.

4. Add in monthly membership fees, fees to do the combine etc etc. The costs add up quickly.

My suspicion... while TST may or may not be serious in funding good traders with equity, it has structured its business such a way that it will also profit from the many who try and fail. In deed, the way their commission and trading limit is drawn up, they may actually increase the chance of failure.

Go join a real prop shop :cool:
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That would be ideal, but its going to involve some travel at first for me...

Some reviews here:

I like the rules and the fact that they're giving out a challenge with some strict parameters. I personally need that. I may or may not try a combine (i'm on the two week free trial) but i have setup my NT account so that i have similar funding as the combine. No that i have applied for the ZenFire account i can't use IB as my sim unless i buy a multi broker license. Anyway, over the next month I'll try and meet the criteria on my markets (while managing a dying factory:rolleyes:).

I think we should have a simulator challenge on ASF, for those of us who are not trading live.

CanOz
 
Did you end up doing a combine? I'm starting one tomorrow will update how i find it

I did a couple of days practice and don't anticipate i will have too much trouble meeting the requirements except for the profit target. $5 a round turn in commissions for currency futures really makes it tough
 
havaiana said:
Did you end up doing a combine? I'm starting one tomorrow will update how i find it

I did a couple of days practice and don't anticipate i will have too much trouble meeting the requirements except for the profit target. $5 a round turn in commissions for currency futures really makes it tough
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Haven't done one yet, no. Was thinking to trade my own account live for a few months first.

Can you post your results in a thread for us to enjoy?:xyxthumbs

CanOz
 
CanOz said:
Haven't done one yet, no. Was thinking to trade my own account live for a few months first.

Can you post your results in a thread for us to enjoy?:xyxthumbs

CanOz
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Will do, committing to posting my stats each day might make me less likely to do something stupid (or at least be entertaining for others if I fail miserably)
 
havaiana said:
Will do, committing to posting my stats each day might make me less likely to do something stupid (or at least be entertaining for others if I fail miserably)
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Good luck...

Tip: the 30k 10 day combine is supposed to be the easiest for most traders to adapt to apparently. It simulates the size most retail traders are used to. While tempting for some to for the bigger contract size, the results are very tough and trading with size that you may not be used to can be difficult.

That's what i heard from another site where there are quite few that have tried the combine or are in the process now....

CanOz
 
CanOz said:
That would be ideal, but its going to involve some travel at first for me...
I think we should have a simulator challenge on ASF, for those of us who are not trading live.

CanOz
Click to expand...

havaiana said:
Will do, committing to posting my stats each day might make me less likely to do something stupid (or at least be entertaining for others if I fail miserably)
Click to expand...

I'm interested in watching a competition and/or your progress. Always interested in anything finance when it comes to learning
 
CanOz said:
Tip: the 30k 10 day combine is supposed to be the easiest ....
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I went for that one

Criteria to pass are as follows:

Always implement stops with an open position
Daily stop loss $500 (if exceed, fail)
Max drawdown $1,500 (if exceed fail)
Max contracts: 3
Average trade greater than $0
Profit target of $1,500
Plus meet 2 of the 3 below
-Overall Average Win greater than Overall Average Loss-
-Overall Average Win Duration greater than Overall Average Loss Duration
-Total Win percentage of 45 or greater

I will be trading AUD and YEN futures during asia (maybe first hour of europe if i'm feeling it). Probably not the best choice of instrument and timeframe for this but i trade currencies better than anything else

I think the criteria will help most traders trade better if anything. The hard part is with $5 round trip commissions that profit target becomes a whole lot harder (at least for me).

Will post my stats at the end of each trading session, with any observations of the experience for the day
 
Day 1 done.

Started off surprisingly nervous, had butterflies in my stomach, can't remember the last time that has happened. It made me a little gun shy and didn't take as many trades as I would normally.

T4 went ok, it's just a bit of a pain when you want to enter in different types of orders fast, you need to click up above the DOM to change order type then click back down in the dom to enter it. I know i will get punished by this at least a couple of times over the 10 days.

Only caught one small runner, but ran above expectation with win % so didn't do too bad. Only concern as previously stated will be the profit target, think I will need to average more than $190 on winning days to cover any losing days. Am only trading 1 contract at the moment though, so can double or triple up if i start to fall behind. For the moment will stick to 1 contract and see where i stand after the next couple of days


position rep 150513.jpg
 
Pretty good choice of instruments for this time of day. You could trade right up until Euro lunch.

Great start Hav.

CanOz
 
Thanks Can

Day 2

Hit a nice little runner through the stops after that barrier broke at 9850 on AUD/USD, that made all the difference today. Contiued to really pick my spots today, so not very active again. It seems to be paying off, maybe all my ****ty little trades barely covering commissions have been bringing down my average trade in the past. Ran pretty good again today, so that with the runner has been enough to give me a decent head start.

From now on will post the update in the morning so i can post the topstep trade report that will have the days results plus the summary.

position rep 160513.jpg
 
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