Made it to the 10th day with over 20k in profits (that’s only taking 1-4 trades the latter 5 days). So far TopStep has been very.. automated.. in their onboarding. I passed the combine last Thursday 07/29 and got the pertinent agreements signed and also got my CME data fees paid as well.
I reached out Friday to their customer support with a few questions regarding the odds and ends of getting brought in. I.e when to fill out the W9 and will they prompt, and when to fill out the banking app as well.
But probably most annoying is they took away the practice account that has been so pivotal in my development over the past couple months.
Also, they use Facebook as their primary medium for their “community”; but as someone who does not actively use Facebook that’s a little disheartening. So i asked about other forms of networking. I also asked if it *really* takes the advertised 7-10 days to get the account set up.
I already have a personal account on Tradovate (same broker as TSTrader) and it only took 24 hours for them to process the paperwork and get me to where i could fund the account.
I’m also supposed to be reached out to by one of their coaches/risk managers?
So far haven’t heard anything.
Regardless. I’m obviously eager haha. I’ll keep everyone posted as this all unfolds.
The entire process took me just over 2.5 months. With 3 of those weeks beating my head against a wall in a 1k account (the 50k funded account) before i jumped to the 3k account (150k funded account) which took some fits and starts as well.
My average R:R was just over 2:1 and i had a 40+% win rate. Main instruments traded were ES, NQ, YM, GC, SI, with some CL and grains thrown in there as well. When the data’s “free” there’s obviously more opportunity out there. If i can i’ll try and post screenshots from their dashboard.
If anyone has questions feel free to ask.
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The Practice account is included with the Combine account. When the Combine account closes due to it being passed you are going to lose any other account associated with that data feed. Why don't you use the simulated account you have with your personal funded Tradovate account?
You have obviously chose the Topstep Funded Account over the Pro Account option. I hope you are waiting till the beginning of the month for the CME data fee payment to be charged or otherwise you could end up paying for the last couple of days of July, then again at the beginning of August.
Well done on passing and getting funded. Also nice to see somebody who actually believes they can be consistently profitable over time and trades the whole period and doesn't just countdown the days making or losing a tick with one instant in-out trade.
Congratulations again
You do not win as a trader, you just get to play again the next day. If that game doesn’t appeal to you then you should not trade. Gary Norden
The following 2 users say Thank You to matthew28 for this post:
Thanks for shedding some light. I have the Tradovate account funded but haven’t subscribed to data just yet as i was focused on the combine the past couple months. I actually came across Tradovate and Topstep in tandem. I’ll check on my end as well, but is it a separate fee for data on the practice account for the personal account as well? I’m already subscriber to market replay which is $50/month but i feel like being able to trade historical price action is worth it.
As for the professional data feed i had coordinated with TopStep that i wanted to start the subscription today, the 1st.
I appreciate the kudos man. If anything this has been a massive learning experience in terms of my own weaknesses and flaws as well as my strengths and i did come out a better trader i feel.
Before this i was trading the micro’s on TastyWorks and ended up blowing up an account. So figured i might as well add some structure and try and learn something before i funded and traded another account. I feel like I attained that goal. The proof is going to be in the pudding though and we’ll see if i can carry over and execute when everything is up and running.
Start small, manage your sizing, stick to your entry and exits and vary from the plan very little if at all. One of my issues was (as is a lot of newer traders) overtrading and overall an overaggression/fomo as well as a sprint type mentality. As soon as i hit the profit target it was like a weight had been lifted and i stopped trying to force trades.
Thanks again for the support man.
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Glad you had organised the data to start on the 1st, I hesitated to mention it when you said you had paid
The nice thing with choosing the Funded account is that you have no more targets to reach, unlike the Pro Account maximum balance. I agree not having a target to reach to pass reduces pressure and FOMO and makes patience easier. (I was funded for a while with Topstep but unfortunately it didn't pan out for me that time).
Obviously you don't need trading advice, especially from me, but do remember that in the full size account you can also trade the Micros if you like on the equity index products which is a chance just to reassure yourself that you have everything under control in the Funded Account and get comfortable using minimum risk before getting back in to it properly again.
You do not win as a trader, you just get to play again the next day. If that game doesn’t appeal to you then you should not trade. Gary Norden
The following 2 users say Thank You to matthew28 for this post:
Question: Is there any rule that prohibits someone from being a funded trader and trading two accounts? Each account with a different firm like TST or OneUp?
I recently started an eval with ApexFunding and they have that same option. They were running a 30% off coupon and have no daily stop out, can trade till 4:59, can hold through news (but don't recommend it) first 10k is all the traders and a 90/10 split thereafter. What's the catch you say? Well, they run a "live trailing max drawdown" for majority of their accounts. Meaning sure, they'll give you access to those full size contracts, but when you go to get into another position or one in profit reverses on you your now stuck with your high water mark in unrealized P/L as your trailing stop out.
I originally grabbed the 150k account not grasping what exactly a "live trailing drawdown" was but after taking a couple resets ended up picking up the 100k static w/625 max drawdown. I now am on day five on two of them and have better luck with that set up as i like to take positions and let them run. The "live trailing drawdown" and i don't get along too well. If they're not running the discount any more message me and I can get you a code.
And now that I'm on the subject I may as well do a post/review on them.
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@Merkd1904 I just noticed on the TST dashboard that you posted, that on July 19th your PL low was -17.079 USD. How is that possible? you should have been stopped by TST when your max daily loss hit -3000. Can you please explain?
The following 2 users say Thank You to SBtrader82 for this post:
