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your not wrong but there is nothing wrong with cutting the temptations down. using an example similar to yours .... You should always put the safety on a gun even though its empty... same with trading. What if you accidentally press 2 zeros when you submit a 10 lot and get filled on 100?? if you set your account to not except more then 10 then you would be safe. Its not only about following the rules is also about doing things safe and trying to avoid mistakes. I've set all my accounts up like this and set extreme limits in the case of a black swan event... I've double clicked and gotten filled on 2 10's its not worth the anxiety to deal with when I can send an email and never have to worry about it.
-P
"Truth is not what you want it to be; it is what it is, and you must bend to its power or live a lie"-Miyamoto Musashi
I think one of the allures here is that you can trade larger size without as much fear of destroying your own account. It doesn't matter if a $150,000.00 account isn't really the $150,000.00 they claim it is, from your perspective, it is $150,000.00 of virtual whatever that you can trade 4 contracts on at just over 0.0025% risk (well under the daily drawdown (assuming realistic stops), not too scary from an overall drawdown either, as opposed to 4 contracts on a small personal account.
Not saying that this is the right or wrong way to go about your trading journey, just saying I get the appeal.
I think the original idea of @bbilotta is very reasonable, if it is something you as a trader want to do and could benefit from, which is each person's choice.
For myself, as a (to be honest) somewhat weak-willed wimp, it doesn't appeal to me at all. When I have made up my own program (I call them a "Bobbine" ), I am in charge and it turns out that I can simply cheat and the judge (me) does not stop me.
(Yes, I've traded live, a lot. Now I hang onto the money and do Combines. Well, I said I was a wimp.)
I do think people get too serious about this whole Combine/evaluation thing, both pro and con. I have done a bunch of Combines. I found them much better, for me, than any sim trading program I put together for myself. The fact that there is someone else looking over my shoulder, and that I have put up the (not enormous) sum for a monthly Combine, has worked well for me. This may not be the case for someone else, which is fine with me.
It has been said that the point of the Combine is not to learn how to trade, but to get funded. This is fine with me too. If I ever learn how to do this trading thing, then I will also see if I can trick someone into funding me. Why not?
I am completely willing to admit publicly that I am using this Combine thing as a crutch, and that I need one. If someone else doesn't, that's perfectly fine with me too. If all you use it for is to create some structure and some discipline, and if instead you can do that on your own, then go for it. Eventually it's going to come from yourself anyway, and in the meantime I am using whatever tools come to hand. Progress comes from small steps, and this is helping. If it doesn't work for someone else, and they have some other plan, terrific. That's what they should do instead.
Essentially, if you want to do a Combine, for whatever reason, then do one. If not, then don't. Not everyone should, but some will find it worth doing.
on a different note (or should I say semi-related perhaps) - there are no "WEAK" people - there are weak people at SOMETHING SPECIFIC - I have seen in the military guys so small and thin that if I sneezed it would blow them away - but yet performed the best pull-ups /push-up and their mental fortitude was phenomenal under pressure - and on the other side have seen a story about an ex navy seals guy who went through a similar nasty 3 year divorce like myself and the poor guy poured gasoline on himself in front of the court steps and lit himself on fire.
Apologies for deviating from the main subject - I just saw the words "wimp" / "weak" and wanted to throw my 2 cents out there on the subject - it's just that the media and society has ingrained in us this generalization of putting one in a pattern of weak or strong.
Cheers,
S.
P.S. : Bob - I personally think you are one strong determined individual
I'll go with determined. I used "wimp" deliberately... I do need (or at least I can make use of) external discipline, which was my only point. Maybe someone else doesn't need it, which is fine too.
Basically, I'll take whatever help I can get, and whether that is strong or weak, I don't care too much.
Thanks for saying this, though. I'll take compliments too.
I don't have a boss. I drove thru so many red lights and I am now in jail. I now have all the discipline needed, enforced by the guards. My trading is better than I have ever seen, so good that the warden has funded me. My wife gives me the green light on conjugal visits. Life is the ultimate combine but the food could be better.
), I am in charge and it turns out that I can simply cheat and the judge (me) does not stop me. 
