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TST Combine results and strategies for passing


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TST Combine results and strategies for passing

  #31 (permalink)
Pedro40
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
 
Posts: 564 since Jan 2013
Thanks Given: 33
Thanks Received: 379

For the record, I finished up 2%, but the profit target was 7%. Though I only played with 1 contract. The few times I used 2 were actually losers. At day #13 I was up at 1100$ and if you multiply that with 3 (my max. contracts allowed) that is way more than the 2K needed. But I would have taken out the DLL. The max. DD from the original amount was $200...

Anyhow, I qualified for the refund, and that was my major goal. I might try it sometimes later on, we shall see. Am I satisfied with the results? Not really, but again, I handicapped myself with my strategy. As I advised earlier, a Combiner should evaluate his strategy at 1/4 and halfway, and if he thinks he is behind the profit goal, should switch approach.

Oh yeah, if one could match my stats, one can easily open a 3K account and just trade it, instead of waiting for TST to back him.


bakrob99 View Post
The factors will take care of themselves.

I already offered several counter examples to the contrary in previous posts.


Quoting 
Why does the TST Scouting Requirements have these conditions?

Very good question. Some people say to make more traders to fail. Here is a counter question. If a trader is so good when passing the Combine, how come about half of them are thrown back from Live trading? You would think if the test was hard enough, a bigger % of them could succeed at real trading... Yet 50% of them fail....



Quoting 
A simple glance at these stats show that a combiner must NOT be a scalper

Obviously you don't know what you speak of. The latest newly funded trader has an average trading time of 6 seconds and such. Sounds to me like a scalper.... But even if he is not, there is nothing among the parameters that prevents scalping... And TST is also the broker thus a scalper makes them extra money with fees...



Quoting 
would be to stop blaming TST

Since when honest criticism is blaming? And by the way if they listened to me, they would have more people passing and going Live. Oh but wait, that would cut down on income from fees....

And make no mistake, passing the Combine is nothing in itself. First, your backing isn't automatic, second, even once backed, until you established your safety pillow, you are not going to get any check from them. And that is the ultimate goal, not passing a paper trading competition.

I would love to hear from traders who have been Live for months and they got a couple of checks already... If they did, I congratulate them....

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  #32 (permalink)
 
omni72's Avatar
 omni72 
Tulsa, OK
 
Posts: 348 since Jan 2012
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Pedro40
Since when honest criticism is blaming? And by the way if they listened to me, they would have more people passing and going Live. Oh but wait, that would cut down on income from fees....

I disagree with this logic. If a trader has a live 30k account and makes $250 net in a month, he will keep $162.50 and TST will keep $87.50 (the same monthly average for a 20-day 30k combine). Plus it is common for combiners to continually rollover their combines so they could pay for one combine and never pay for another one. TST has more to gain by finding (and funding) traders who will continually develop their upside potential than trying to string along aspiring traders at $87 a month.


Pedro40 View Post
And make no mistake, passing the Combine is nothing in itself. First, your backing isn't automatic, second, even once backed, until you established your safety pillow, you are not going to get any check from them. And that is the ultimate goal, not passing a paper trading competition.

Again, I disagree. The combine is a starting point. And no one is entitled to trade TST or PTP's money. It's not a right. The retail trader has very low odds of becoming a professional trader. TST is not in business to just give money away. It's pretty difficult to stay in business if that's their business model.

Maybe TST isn't a great fit for you. That's cool. Better to find that out now than later - for you and TST.

Best of luck in your pursuits.

Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. ~ Seneca
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  #33 (permalink)
 booker777 
Augusta, GA
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: NT
Trading: ES, TF
Posts: 100 since Feb 2011
Thanks Given: 36
Thanks Received: 24


I just think some people missed the point of this thread and even got offended by it. There is a difference between developing an optimal trading strategy and developing a strategy for passing the combine which i understood to be the purpose of this thread. I didn't see Pedro blaming TST at all , just explaining how he dealt with their rules. There rules are strict and lets face it may not be indicative of a winning-strategy. Time duration of trade, for example, which i never tracked, might not be necessarily tied to a successful trade. I can be in a winning trade all day and be in a losing trade all day. I have learned what works for me is to give the trade time to develop good or bad, although I am not sure that this stat wouldnt work itself out in the long run, as most stop outs are generally faster reconciliations; but if it did for me, its because my stop loss got hit and not because i chose to exit the trade earlier. I just dont know about it.

Winning % > then losing% criteria I think is definately misleading. It is well documented on this board that one of the better trading strategies is the MT predictor method which targets 30-40% wins but 3-1 risk reward. I dont think we need their rules to guide our development of a winning-strategy and they told me that themselves. We just need to prove we can deal with them in the combine which is what i got out of this thread. Pedro was profitable not because he figured out how to game the system but because his core trading strategies proved to have merit at least for the combine.

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  #34 (permalink)
 booker777 
Augusta, GA
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: NT
Trading: ES, TF
Posts: 100 since Feb 2011
Thanks Given: 36
Thanks Received: 24

Correct me if I am wrong but I thought that once you got funded you could get a check for whatever profits you made but it was just at the lower split % 60%. For every 10% gained and left in the account you then got a 10% split increase until 80% but it was your choice whether to leave the profits in the account or not. Is this not correct?

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  #35 (permalink)
 
Silver Dragon's Avatar
 Silver Dragon 
Cincinnati Ohio
Legendary Master Data Manipulator
 
Experience: Intermediate
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booker777 View Post
Correct me if I am wrong but I thought that once you got funded you could get a check for whatever profits you made but it was just at the lower split % 60%. For every 10% gained and left in the account you then got a 10% split increase until 80% but it was your choice whether to leave the profits in the account or not. Is this not correct?

@booker777

See chart at the bottom of the page for profit split. Live Trading Room | Trading Program | Topstep Funded Trader

Yes, you are correct. You are not required to take any money out.



Robert

nosce te ipsum

You make your own opportunities in life.
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  #36 (permalink)
vercetti
Manchester, NH
 
Posts: 20 since Jan 2013
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josh View Post
No.

If you hit your daily loss limit or your max drawdown before 20 days have been traded, you can still trade the account until you have traded 20 days, at which point you are done, you lose the deposit.

If you have traded 20 days and you have not hit your daily loss limit or max drawdown, you can continue trading until whichever one of these comes first: (1) the ending date for the combine, (2) you hit your max drawdown or daily loss limit, or (3) you "submit" your combine for review, whether you have met the refund requirements and want a refund/rollover, or you have met the objectives to be funded.


Thank you for the feedback

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  #37 (permalink)
vercetti
Manchester, NH
 
Posts: 20 since Jan 2013
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"Obviously you don't know what you speak of. The latest newly funded trader has an average trading time of 6 seconds and such. Sounds to me like a scalper.... But even if he is not, there is nothing among the parameters that prevents scalping... And TST is also the broker thus a scalper makes them extra money with fees..."


I think Pedro have a good point here regarding which type of trader the Combine applies to. I wanted to create a new tread to define and address to which type of trader Combine is design for but since I'm new here my account only allows me to reply to threads already created by someone else.

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  #38 (permalink)
Pedro40
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
 
Posts: 564 since Jan 2013
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omni72 View Post
I disagree with this logic. If a trader has a live 30k account and makes $250 net in a month, he will keep $162.50 and TST will keep $87.50

That is correct math as long as the trader is making money. But about half of them eventually doesn't work out, so TST doesn't make much on them, or even loses on them.


Quoting 
Again, I disagree. The combine is a starting point.

That is exactly what I said (I said "just the first step") so I am not sure why you are disagreeing. And sure, nobody is entitled to anything, that goes without saying.

By the way just as a generic response to people who are complaining about me checking TST out. They are an employer, I might be a potential employee. That is just common sense due diligence to check out a firm who you might work for in the future.

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  #39 (permalink)
Pedro40
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
 
Posts: 564 since Jan 2013
Thanks Given: 33
Thanks Received: 379

I don't know who you are, but I love you man!!!


booker777 View Post
I just think some people missed the point of this thread and even got offended by it. There is a difference between developing an optimal trading strategy and developing a strategy for passing the combine which i understood to be the purpose of this thread. I didn't see Pedro blaming TST at all , just explaining how he dealt with their rules. There rules are strict and lets face it may not be indicative of a winning-strategy.

EXACTLY!! Finally somebody got it. Now this thread got a little off in the last few posts from the original goal, but since I already shared my ideas and not many more are coming forward, I don't mind.

Although I would welcome more Combiners to share their experiences and results, even if just in a quick summary form.

P.S.: If someone still hasn't got it, let's use a jogging analogy. When I jog/run on my own, I decide how I do it, what speed I run with, how long do I run and what track I take. When I enter a race/competition (that would be the Combine) everything is set for me, thus I have to optimize my strategy if I want to finish among the top. And this is what this thread does, helps you to optimize your original trading strategy to pass the Combine....

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  #40 (permalink)
Pedro40
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
 
Posts: 564 since Jan 2013
Thanks Given: 33
Thanks Received: 379



vercetti View Post
I wanted to create a new tread to define and address to which type of trader Combine is designed for

Let me address this issue. Assuming your trading style only breaks one of the parameters, pretty much any style is good for passing the Combine. Some complained about the Combine being not very friendly towards swing traders who hold positions for days. (because of the rule for being flat by the close) But one can go around that easily, just flatten your position before the close and open it again in the after hours. Sure there might be slippage and such, but it can work in both directions, so eventually it evens out.

I would say the most optimal style for the Combine is the intraday swing trades, trading 3-5 times a day, and holding it for at least an hour. If you get out of a losing trade after 20 minutes but hold it for at least an hour when it goes your way, chances are you are meeting pretty much all the parameters. So maybe this is the style they are trying to encourage with their rules. But just because they have a preferred style that doesn't mean they should handicap others with their strict rules...

Feel free to add your thoughts, I don't mind to go offtopic....

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Last Updated on June 9, 2013


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