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TopStepTrader - An Online Prop Shop

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Ahh ok, so now you have 30 days in which to trade a maximum of 10 days. So basically you try and pick your days, stay out of the choppy inside days if that's your thing...or vice verse.
 
CanOz said:
Ahh ok, so now you have 30 days in which to trade a maximum of 10 days. So basically you try and pick your days, stay out of the choppy inside days if that's your thing...or vice verse.
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I was wrong about this, now you can choose a 10 day combine to be completed in 30 days or 20 day combine to be completed within the 60 days, both are the same price and profit limits. So i could have chosen the 20 day one and still passed. Makes sense, means everyone will choose the 20 day rather than the 10 so they have twice as long to meet the same target and the fact they will have to trade 20 days means less people will luck it in.

Chicago closing up shop now and haven't heard anything yet except an auto email to say i have met the profit target and am pending review. Hopefully will hear back tomorrow night

Hoping that the bit in bold doesn't mean more sim or having to do some psychology or TA course.... "Pending review, a Live Trader Preparation period may be requested to further confirm your trading methodology and downside control."
 
Just got an email about my review, I now have to complete the 'live trader preparation period' to receive a funded account

Need to sim again for at least 10 days, meet profit target of $1,250 and meet a lot of other negotiable requirements additional to the combine ones that need to be confirmed by phone call.

Main worrying ones to me are:
-not adding to losing trades which i am a ton more profitable doing (they don't have traders that average into trades??)
-what hours i am allowed to trade
-daily stop is now = to my weekly stop

In addition to these there are some standard ones; and then some others are not so worrying, just kind of annoying like:
-At the start of my day I will trade only _____ lot(s) and will only add to my position or increase my size if my total Net P&L is greater than $500
-I will stop trading for the day if my total Net P&L is greater than $500 and my total Net P&L has pulled back 50% off my high watermark (realized Net P&L high of the day).

After I complete this it seems the same rules apply for the funded account until I build up a profit buffer of $5k

I gave up work to concentrate on learning to trade full time, although i feel it is starting to become a successful and worthwhile pursuit, I do not have a whole lot of cash left. I've been trading Sim and only just started slowly building up a very small personal live account recently on the side. I need to decide if I want to sacrifice another 2 weeks (at least) trading sim or concentrate on trading my live account

Will wait for the phone call to find out exactly what the conditions are and make a decision. Don't mean to come across as a whiner, I can see why they have these things in place, but to be honest, if I knew i would have to complete a live trader prep in addition to completing the combine with such low drawdown I probably wouldn't have done it.

The website gives the impression of complete combine, funded.
Reality is, complete combine, complete another combine-like period with added conditions, funded with added conditions until $5k profit, funded.
 
Hi Havaina,

I may have missed this but why don't you apply to Propex? You'd make the in house training within 4 weeks if the online program.

TST sounds like an awful lot of hoops to jump through and ridiculous stipulations.
 
Just for clarification, "a Live Trader Preparation period may be requested to further confirm your trading methodology and downside control.", so not everyone has to do it

It does not show in my stats but pretty sure my total max drawdown during this combine was closer to $350 than the Daily max loss permitted of $1,000 and max drawdown of $2,000 for the combine. so I must fall into the 'confirm your trading methodology' category
 
aussiefx said:
Hi Havaina,

I may have missed this but why don't you apply to Propex? You'd make the in house training within 4 weeks if the online program.

TST sounds like an awful lot of hoops to jump through and ridiculous stipulations.
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I did the propex program bit over a year ago. It was one of the best steps in my trading journey that I ever made, but I had never traded futures or bonds (which were what we traded during it). Did not make the cut.

Assuming I was allowed to apply again (not sure if there are rules about this) I would have to go through the whole sim process again and if i make the cut move interstate, Sim some more. I just don't have the cash to do that at the moment and am at a point i know i can trade profitably.

My plan was to trade sim until i know i can make money (at that point now), build up a live track record and apply that way. I thought TST might be a short cut, but it seems it may have made the process longer as I have been on their SIM rather than trading live.

I don't want to give TST too hard a time, i think it's a great concept and will give alot of people an opportunity they didn't previously have. You can also see the reasons they do the things they do. I may still complete the process.

My only gripes are that I just can't see what is so bad about my performance that I require a live trader prep and that i think that some of the new (negotiable) conditions are rubbish. Without the live trader prep and conditions I would be all for the process. But I will ask why, there could very well be a good reason and maybe i can negotiate through the conditions.
 
havaiana said:
I did the propex program bit over a year ago. It was one of the best steps in my trading journey that I ever made, but I had never traded futures or bonds (which were what we traded during it). Did not make the cut.

Assuming I was allowed to apply again (not sure if there are rules about this) I would have to go through the whole sim process again and if i make the cut move interstate, Sim some more. I just don't have the cash to do that at the moment and am at a point i know i can trade profitably.

My plan was to trade sim until i know i can make money (at that point now), build up a live track record and apply that way. I thought TST might be a short cut, but it seems it may have made the process longer as I have been on their SIM rather than trading live.

I don't want to give TST too hard a time, i think it's a great concept and will give alot of people an opportunity they didn't previously have. You can also see the reasons they do the things they do. I may still complete the process.

My only gripes are that I just can't see what is so bad about my performance that I require a live trader prep and that i think that some of the new (negotiable) conditions are rubbish. Without the live trader prep and conditions I would be all for the process. But I will ask why, there could very well be a good reason and maybe i can negotiate through the conditions.
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Yeah this has been one of the complaints of TST. They could be more transparent about it for sure. I think you should continue Hav, you've come along way so far. Have a chat with them and tell them how you feel.
 
CanOz said:
Yeah this has been one of the complaints of TST. They could be more transparent about it for sure. I think you should continue Hav, you've come along way so far. Have a chat with them and tell them how you feel.
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It would be annoying to waste all the time, but as it stands I wont be continuing, there would have to be some substantial negotiation with the new conditions at least.

Passing the prep is easy but at least 2 weeks, then add all the time to reach $5k at half my usual profitability is not worth it. It would just cost me way too much.

To be honest I'm a lot more annoyed by these developments than is probably showing in my posts right now. It looked like a one-size-fits-all type email though and maybe they will be a lot more receptive than i am anticipating when I explain my trading style a bit better. So until then I'll keep it friendly :D
 
Hi All
I'm new to posting on ASF although I have been studying these forums for a while now, trying to learn as much as I can. Lately I've been spending a few hours every night practicing on SIM, trying to find a style that I'm comfortable with. As I don't have any capital to put into trading at the moment, this Topstep program seems like a good way to test my method without committing personal funds. I'm thinking about signing up for the 30k combine but would like to hear if anyone has tried this and had success or otherwise.

As I understand it, my maximum risk would be the $175 sign up fee (deposit). Is there anything else I'm missing here? As I will only be trading US hours, I won't be sacrificing my normal income to spend time on this.

I'd appreciate any feedback on this.
Cheers
 
ChaosHedge said:
Hi All
I'm new to posting on ASF although I have been studying these forums for a while now, trying to learn as much as I can. Lately I've been spending a few hours every night practicing on SIM, trying to find a style that I'm comfortable with. As I don't have any capital to put into trading at the moment, this Topstep program seems like a good way to test my method without committing personal funds. I'm thinking about signing up for the 30k combine but would like to hear if anyone has tried this and had success or otherwise.

As I understand it, my maximum risk would be the $175 sign up fee (deposit). Is there anything else I'm missing here? As I will only be trading US hours, I won't be sacrificing my normal income to spend time on this.

I'd appreciate any feedback on this.
Cheers
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Sounds like you've got a good handle on it CH...My only advice would be to try and get a couple of weeks in on SIM with their rules before you blow the combine fee. Trade like it really counts.

Other than this I'm sure Havianna will chime in with his experience.
 
CanOz said:
Sounds like you've got a good handle on it CH...My only advice would be to try and get a couple of weeks in on SIM with their rules before you blow the combine fee. Trade like it really counts.

Other than this I'm sure Havianna will chime in with his experience.
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Thanks CanOz
I'm currently on their 2 week trial account so I'll see how it goes.
 
ChaosHedge said:
...
I'd appreciate any feedback on this.
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Hi Chaos

I think it's worthwhile for someone in your situation. Don't worry about the profit target, if you can meet all the stats there is a good chance you will finish in profit and the combine will keep rolling over until you pass or request your deposit back. In saying that, unless you are already consistently profitable, expect to lose the deposit, but will be a cheap lesson.

I would wait until after August before signing up for the combine as EU/US holidays are at the moment.

To try and find your style on the trial account I would suggest you spend at least a night on each of these exercises:

- Stack both sides of the orderbook with an order every x ticks (x will depend on the market, it's a learning exercise so you want to be pretty active). Once you have stacked the book you can only add orders to keep it stacked or stop yourself out of a position.
- Enter every pullback of x ticks (x will depend on market, again you want to be active). You have to take every trade, have a fixed stop and exit at your own discretion
- Try to loose as much money as you can, only limit orders allowed, no stops or market orders (this is harder than you would expect, if you can achieve this than in theory reversing it should be easy!)
- Stay in a position all session, you can only reverse, can't close out flat
 
havaiana said:
Hi Chaos

I think it's worthwhile for someone in your situation. Don't worry about the profit target, if you can meet all the stats there is a good chance you will finish in profit and the combine will keep rolling over until you pass or request your deposit back. In saying that, unless you are already consistently profitable, expect to lose the deposit, but will be a cheap lesson.

I would wait until after August before signing up for the combine as EU/US holidays are at the moment.

To try and find your style on the trial account I would suggest you spend at least a night on each of these exercises:

- Stack both sides of the orderbook with an order every x ticks (x will depend on the market, it's a learning exercise so you want to be pretty active). Once you have stacked the book you can only add orders to keep it stacked or stop yourself out of a position.
- Enter every pullback of x ticks (x will depend on market, again you want to be active). You have to take every trade, have a fixed stop and exit at your own discretion
- Try to loose as much money as you can, only limit orders allowed, no stops or market orders (this is harder than you would expect, if you can achieve this than in theory reversing it should be easy!)
- Stay in a position all session, you can only reverse, can't close out flat
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Havaiana, thanks for the heads-up on the US holidays. I'll spend the next couple weeks working on the exercises you've suggested and then have a crack at the combine in Sept.

In my SIM trading so far, I've been focussing mainly on the order flow & 1 min charts and this seems to produce good results on range-bound days, but then when it runs I get smashed. Should I be monitoring news or other instruments looking for signs of a big move or should I just sit back & wait for range again? (Trading CL btw)

Thanks
 
ChaosHedge said:
... this seems to produce good results on range-bound days, but then when it runs I get smashed. Should I be monitoring news or other instruments looking for signs of a big move or should I just sit back & wait for range again? (Trading CL btw)
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In terms of free news, I just use the forexfactory calender for anything scheduled and forexlive does a pretty good job of keeping on top of anything that may not be on the calender. I don't trade crude so not sure about any specific news for it, maybe someone else can suggest, I think the cme website may keep track of more specific news.

Again, I don't know much about crude, but I would think if you're planning on trading crude during US you would want to add some trend following/fat tails type stuff and not just go for the mean reverting range days, it's a bit of a beast. The exercises should help you develop something there. In saying that I'm sure plenty of traders do make their money just trading it when it starts to go back into a range. I personally think if you try to learn both mean revision and fat tail strategies then you can be a bit more adaptable to changing market conditions. One will win while the other is losing, the key is just knowing when to switch from one to the other.

Other than that I will just add I don't think the equity partner will want to see you getting smashed. Just concentrate on keeping your losing trades smaller than your winning trades and losing days smaller than you're winning days, that is the type of trader they are after. I would also add a self imposed daily stop that is a fair bit less than the daily stop they allow in the combine.
 
havaiana said:
In terms of free news, I just use the forexfactory calender for anything scheduled and forexlive does a pretty good job of keeping on top of anything that may not be on the calender. I don't trade crude so not sure about any specific news for it, maybe someone else can suggest, I think the cme website may keep track of more specific news.

Again, I don't know much about crude, but I would think if you're planning on trading crude during US you would want to add some trend following/fat tails type stuff and not just go for the mean reverting range days, it's a bit of a beast. The exercises should help you develop something there. In saying that I'm sure plenty of traders do make their money just trading it when it starts to go back into a range. I personally think if you try to learn both mean revision and fat tail strategies then you can be a bit more adaptable to changing market conditions. One will win while the other is losing, the key is just knowing when to switch from one to the other.

Other than that I will just add I don't think the equity partner will want to see you getting smashed. Just concentrate on keeping your losing trades smaller than your winning trades and losing days smaller than you're winning days, that is the type of trader they are after. I would also add a self imposed daily stop that is a fair bit less than the daily stop they allow in the combine.
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Thanks for all the helpful info. It makes sense that I should not be trying to use the same strategy all the time. I'm not familiar with fat tail strategies so I think I'll study this further before I attempt the combine.
 
On CL there are lots of trapped trader plays you can look for too, quite often some nice trends start as a results of a bunch of stops being swept. How are you defining your key levels?
 
ChaosHedge said:
...I'm not familiar with fat tail strategies so I think I'll study this further before I attempt the combine.
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Sorry Chaos, not trying to be cryptic

I pretty much see my trading essentially as one of or a combination of these 2:

FAT TAILS
Entering on pullbacks with the trend and letting profits run

MEAN REVISION
taking a trade at one end of the range and exiting when it comes back to the mean
 
CanOz said:
On CL there are lots of trapped trader plays you can look for too, quite often some nice trends start as a results of a bunch of stops being swept. How are you defining your key levels?
Click to expand...

I try to pick key levels by looking at hourly and 15 min charts and plotting recent highs/lows and then swap to 1 min chart and watch the orders around these levels. I wait for a stop sweep and then try to enter when I see the orders increasing against this move, but sometimes I find myself trying to fade a runner. Keeping my stop very tight, this seems to produce positive PnL but I don't think the stats would get me through the combine (i.e. 3 small losing trades for each big winner).

Due to my current circumstances, passing the combine would be my best chance at trading live so I am attempting to develop my trading style with the specific purpose of meeting the TST rules. Any suggestions or constructive criticism would be much appreciated. Thanks.
 
havaiana said:
Sorry Chaos, not trying to be cryptic

I pretty much see my trading essentially as one of or a combination of these 2:

FAT TAILS
Entering on pullbacks with the trend and letting profits run

MEAN REVISION
taking a trade at one end of the range and exiting when it comes back to the mean
Click to expand...

No worries Havaiana, thanks for explaining this. :xyxthumbs
 
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