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In my Opinion, Pro Account(Free) and no CME data fee (I think$105) is a very good option provided by Topstep. You can continue treating it as funded account. once you reach $5k profit you will get a funded account with a balance of $5k. If you fail the pro account you can go back to Step 2 with a fee of $99. I feel it as an advantage.
You can withdraw some funds or use that as baseline to trade further.
I completely agree. Thanks for the link to this video; I had not read or heard of this option before.
This will not be the choice that everyone makes, but if it makes sense to someone, it's good they have the choice if they want to take a smaller step first.
This appears to be a very reasonable choice for anyone who wants the additional safety net. Good for you for passing the Combine, and for making a decision that makes the transition smoother for you.
And thanks for bringing this up. I hadn't seen any mention of it before.
thank you for the clarification. I was really confused what pro(sim) meant and assumed that you were going back to simulation on NT. I didn't know there was even an option.
I also assumed that once you pass step 2 and decided to take the profit, you would be considered professional by CME thus have to pay for the $105 data fee from there forward whether you trade with your own money or trade with a prop firm. I asked TopStepTrader customer service if this was the case and was told "yes" (My question probably wasn't too clear to them and they might have misunderstood).
So I could actually take the Pro account and still be considered non-professional? I was actually afraid of being considered professional since I don't really consider myself professional by any standard and was afraid this might eat up my profit as I'm still learning.
Yes, exactly. Not quite real trading, but a good buffer to have. No fees and an out in case a rule is broken.
In the Funded scenario, there is a choice to return to Combine Step 2 - However, with a rule broken, back to Step 1.
Other platforms have a single step, but there is a profit threshold afterward during the funding step.
So if a rule is broken, redo the combine and reach the profit threshold again.
As for exchange fees, there might be a grey area in the definition between Pro/Non-Pro.
Pro sounds more like licensed managers with size, but prop trading is similar enough.
Not sure how some platforms match funding after the profit threshold.
As this is SIM, not there should be no effect on the DOM with entries/exits.
//
That psychological barrier between SIM/Live hopefully diminishes with the smoother transition.
Withdrawals are not allowed in Step2 as it is part of evluation process. You can't witdraw pro account balance until you met $5k. Once you meet $5k target in pro, you will get funded account and pay CME fee $105. $5k pro account balance will be added to your funded account and then you can request for withdrawal. Also, to note your trailing max drawdown will be $0 once you start your funded account with $5k balance.
