I didn't think you could!

As far as your idea, I think that you are on to something! The problem with these things is the fact you have to do Funded Traders Prep which is pretty much a second combine that dictates your future account balance and drawdown.

Needless to say, it is a hamster wheel for many.

Figured there was a catch- So its not like you are free to run your business as usual after they fund you? Same strict loss limits? Makes sense, they couldn't just give everybody $50k and let them loose it- damn, if it's the same then the cycle is never ending and they are making thier money off the dreams of people getting funded rather than the profits of the funded ones- double damn, Why didn't I think of that idea???

Sorry for hijacking your thread- I say no more

I didn't think you could!

As far as your idea, I think that you are on to something! The problem with these things is the fact you have to do Funded Traders Prep which is pretty much a second combine that dictates your future account balance and drawdown.

Needless to say, it is a hamster wheel for many.

Figured there was a catch- So its not like you are free to run your business as usual after they fund you? Same strict loss limits? Makes sense, they couldn't just give everybody $50k and let them loose it- damn, if it's the same then the cycle is never ending and they are making thier money off the dreams of people getting funded rather than the profits of the funded ones- double damn, Why didn't I think of that idea???

Sorry for hijacking your thread- I say no more

I hesitated about jumping in here, and I will try to be brief.... everyone should make whatever choices they like, and I can't say what they should do. But:

It's not your business as usual, it's not your business at all. If you are funded, they are just hiring you as a trader for their prop firm. They give you a certain number of contracts, require you to day trade only, give you a limit on the money you can lose, and -- for funded accounts, not combines -- require you to be profitable and stay that way after 10 trading days. In exchange, you can withdraw from the proceeds whenever you like, and your split is 80%.

That's it.

Some traders absolutely should not trade under these rules, because they need to hold overnight, need to be able to take bigger losses, etc. So they shouldn't do it.

Some traders are not going to pass the Combine, not because the rules are too horrible, but because they are not good traders. (That has certainly included me. ) So they should figure out what to do about that. In some cases, it would be to stop paying all that money for Combines every month (it's a whole big fucking $165 a month, which even a good trader is going to see going out of his live account in under a day, on some days -- a loss of four ES points with one contract is more. But I digress.)

@Big Mike has opined that the value of the Combine is not the funding, but learning the discipline -- I do agree. Anyone with a normal income can save up enough to open a real account, and then you can trade however you want. The split is better, too.

Or, you can just blow it out, as many of us have done.

(Mike also added that some traders, and he included himself, should not try to trade with those rules because they simply don't fit their method, which is clearly true.)

Sorry folks, I notice I wasn't exactly that brief. I just don't see the setup as all that horribly restrictive, nor as exploitative of people's dreams. But, different strokes for different folks.

Bob.

The day I decided I will let it run till eod no matter what that's the day market also decided it will show it's power
As a result I blewup combine, surprisingly I don't know why I am feeling relived.

Here is the chart (I increased the timeframe to 5 mins to get fit in screen) shows my trades (not exact trades but close).



Here is the eod PnL - Not that bad but these intraday movements are enough to pushover that 1000 limit on combine.


I am reducing size further down to ONE contract, might not be a good idea but it gives me some peace of mind.

The day I decided I will let it run till eod no matter what that's the day market also decided it will show it's power
As a result I blewup combine, surprisingly I don't know why I am feeling relived.

Perhaps you feel relieved because you are not under the eye/scrutiny of another's risk criteria. But it is interesting because I think we should feel as much "pressure" from our own criteria when regarding risk as well, do you still feel that same pressure now that you are out of a TST combine?

Maybe I feel relieved because I am independent to do whatever I want to do instead of trying not to blow up the combine. Of course, there is much more pressure in trading own money but you are independent, that's the whole point of trading right? Independence...

I think my trading style is also the reason, I would like to average in and average out, hold overnight etc. but I never dared in recent times because of my past experiences.