Moderator Notice Hey guys, Congratulations to all the participants of this challenge! The winners are... Uh oh, we have a tie for third place! Congrats to @shortcreeker [Lifetime license], @kareem40 [1-year license], and @OldGerman [1-year license] as well as @NW Trader [1-year license] (both tied for 3rd place)! So what do we do, with this tie breaker situation?? We email @NinjaTrader over the past weekend, and ask them if they could help us solve our little problem -- and they say yes of course: here is a 4th license to give away to the last winner! Thank you @NinjaTrader for stepping up to contribute the additional prize, and congrats to the four winners!

I will be reaching out to the winners shortly via PM to arrange for the prizes to be delivered.

Mike

Hi Big Mike,

First I would like to thank you for your generosity to me in the past. Although you do not know me personally you gave me Elite Status because I am Viet Nam War vet.

When we got back from that one everyone treated us pretty badly and a lot of companies would not employ us due to our involvement etc.

Anyway, your offer extending Elite Status to us vets was very generous and big deal to me. It was the first time I have ever been honored for my military service. I bring this up to let you know that I am not only thankful for your kindness but have been impressed with the kind of person that you are, your values, and what you hold dear.

Which brings me to the point of why I am contacting you.

I found out this evening that you have banned a friend of mine, Steve Theobald (sstheo), from FIO.
I think Mr. Theobald’s posts and journals etc. add a lot of value for FIO users and will continue to do so for years to come.

My relationship with Mr. Theobald is also closer than others on FIO and in his Ohana trading room as I have a lot of personal knowledge and experience with him in other areas besides trading. Based on this knowledge I can vouch for Mr. Theobald’s integrity and honesty.

I find this puzzling that he would be banned. From what I have witnessed on FIO you have previously always been kind and helpful to all. I hope you will reconsider and reinstate him on FIO so he can at least complete his micro trading journal. Please Big Mike…. Please?

I know him well enough to know that whatever law you lay down he will abide by. He has no ill will toward FIO, even after he was banned; he is just sad. And as an aside I know for sure that you have at least two new subscribers from Ohana trading due to Mr. Theobald’s promotion of FIO. And he promotes TopStep as well as a few other prop firms with advice on passing combines etc.
I have been following his journal on FIO and saw this morning that you and he were having some interaction concerning his Free Ohana Trading chat room, and only then realized that you thought there may be some conflict.

I have been sleuthing around FIO for almost 3 years now and have always seen people linking to all kinds of web sites and vendors. I recently purchased JigSaw software from Peter after finally being convinced that I need to take the leap after watching one of the many videos posted on FIO and FIO users commenting on JigSaw. And there are many others. Ohana trading chat room is Free and will be limited to @35 traders or so.

I am not a person that uses social media but I do refer to FIO when I have questions about trading software and vendors. It has been a great resource for me and as you know, to tens of thousands of others alike.

My most outstanding trading related experiences was right here on FIO over the last several months. I could name many individuals that I have followed including their journals etc. but my number 1 pick during that period has been Mr. Theobald.

In your post to him you seem to be questioning his motives for operating through PMs. It is my understanding is that it is because he wants to vet traders before giving us admission. I was vetted and barely qualified. If I had been rejected I am thankful that it would have been in private.

I am a member of the Ohana trading chat room and active there every trade day. There is no charge and no sponsor of any type. It is a completely free area where a small group of traders (about 25) right now post their trades and trading advice in real-time during various trade sessions throughout the world. I can’t imagine that Ohana trading chat room could even handle 50 traders. It is already so busy with posts that you can hardly trade and keep up. On the other hand you have more than 100,000 subscribers.

Let me expand on the add value that Mr. Theobald brings to FIO.

• He is a prolific writer.
• His honesty and complete openness and frankness about his trading experiences; his loses and heartaches, his trials and prop firm experiences all laid out in great detail has inspired me more than any other single person in the trading realm. I could not find this level of information elsewhere on FIO.
• If you let him continue his journals I cannot see how it will not add value to FIO.
• From everything I have seen from him he just wants to help traders and offers constant help to me almost daily.
• I am sure that he would promise to not say anymore about his chat room if reinstated. I would just like to see him at least finish his treads on FIO.
• He came in 13th out of 1400 people on the CME challenge so he probably has something worthwhile to share. Good association for FIO.
• His journal was winning him a lifetime Ninja Trader License (27 Thank Yous). Did you nix him on that too?

I hope you will work something out with him so he can finish his journal. I know it has already helped me have better trade goals and I’m sure I can’t be the only one following.

Please Big Mike….. Please?

Best regards always,
Mark Bondiett

Congrats again to the four winners --- @NinjaTrader has been sent your contact info and will be reaching out in a few days to deliver the prizes.



Thank you,

Mike

Congrats again to the four winners --- @NinjaTrader has been sent your contact info and will be reaching out in a few days to deliver the prizes.

Thank you,
Mike