Top Step Trader?

[Qbgx]

test

 

[wackypete2]

test

FAIL

 

[DionysusToast]

Well - here's me @ the TopStep office with Eddie from TopStep

And here's Mike, Cassius and Eddie.

John Hoagland and Mike Patak took me on a tour of the CME Floor on Friday morning and that was quite an experience. Both guys seem very well liked & respected in the pits, seemed like every few steps we stopped to say hi to someone they knew.

We spent most time in the S&P pit which is pretty quiet nowadays but it was an eye opener to see how it works there and to finally understand what those guys do.

Mike even showed me the correct way to tear and throw a trade card, a skill which some guys (allegedly) could use to abuse someone 20 meters away.

Cassius - well - he's half horse I think. Pics make him look small!

Then I had a drink in Ceres and I can't remember anything till I woke up in Thailand again

Flame on...

 

[WilleeMac]

Yes, I visited the CME floor with Dan Sheridan and it seems eerily quiet (so I'm told, that was seven or so years ago)

@Uozob

-Bill_M

 

[abdunbar]

How to succeed without TopStep

Let's cut through the fog, the red herrings, the straw men, and all the elaborate discussions about the customization of "Combines". Let's set aside all the hand wringing from "Funded Traders" who, having never made any real money, attribute it to their own shortcomings and feel compelled to intensify their spiritual quests, documented in their Journals. Why not throw the football metaphors out the window too, while we are at it.

Let's talk about the only logical reason for subscribing to this promotion. The IMPLICATION that by purchasing a subscription, you will have an opportunity to progress to earning a meaningful income through trading of Patak funded equity. Otherwise, what would be the point? The camaraderie of the Man Cave chat room?

It doesn't really matter how many "Funded Traders" or "Draft Choices" or "Honored Guests" or whatever you want to call them there are. The fact that there has never been any outside-vetted disclosure of the existence of ANY meaningfully profitable traders who have emerged from the fraction of subscribers designated as "Funded Traders" indicates to me that it is highly unlikely that any such meaningfully profitable traders exist.

Mr. Transparency likes to say that this information is withheld to protect the privacy of his traders. That's just like saying that releasing the statistical results of a clinical trial violates the privacy of the patients who participate.

I fail to see how the release of AGGREGATED ANONYMOUS information threatens the privacy of any individual except one, whose name has already been mentioned.

So, Combiners, please be encouraged to fill in the blanks to believe whatever you want. After all, would be traders are known for their gullibility. Even if there are no meaningfully profitable traders yet, maybe YOU will be THE FIRST ONE. But think of this phrase should you be able to wrap your brain around the simple proposition set forth above:

Res ipsa loquitur. The thing speaks for itself.

If I were starting from scratch and wanted to succeed at futures or any other kind of trading, I would do the following;
1) Acknowledge that I will never know where price is going on the next tick and accept that this implies I will often lose and must truly accept the risk before trading.
2) Understand money management.
3) Understand the nature, habits, personality, range, patterns, speeds of the instrument I choose to trade.
4) Create a plan to profit from my understanding.
5) Create an accountability system to monitor my testing of the plan.
if the testing is deemed successful
6) Trade the plan live with small risk and with accountability.
7) Increase risk in accordance with the money management plan.

Clearly this can be done without TopStep and just as clearly many people try and fail. The hardest part to setup is the accountability. An accountability partner is a good way to impose discipline.

I will submit that it is possible that TopStep has not significantly altered the rate of success for their customers. I have never seen any trader layout his account statements and prove to me that he is profitable. I understand why this is. More important, I understand why it is not relevant. Only one question important to me; "Can I trade profitably?"

This boils down to two main reasons that someone would consider TopStep; access to their accountability system and access to their capital. The training can be acquired for free, discounting your time. If you can fund your own account with true risk capital then you would only need the accountability. Is that worth $200? The marketplace will decide. Yes, you could construct your own accountability system but will you?

If you think you are a profitable trader, nothing stopping you from hooking up your NinjaTrader to Rithmic and proving it to yourself. If you don't want to or can't fund an account then get a free MetaTrader Demo. Trade a higher timeframe chart and even subtract a tick from each trade to simulate the commission. The EURUSD is not going to be much different from the 6e. If you can be profitable in accordance with the combine rules while trading the spot fx then you will pass the combine. That is, if you were honest with your self while sim trading. and we are back to accountability again.

I do not see any reason to ever trade above the minimum combine size. I also don't see any reason to do them back to back unless you are rolling over. If you get funded and stay profitable you will have opportunities to grow either with top steps partner or elsewhere. No one who truly knows how to trade needs to worry about capital.

 

[DionysusToast]

Yes, I visited the CME floor with Dan Sheridan and it seems eerily quiet (so I'm told, that was seven or so years ago)

@Uozob

-Bill_M

Agreed - options pits are the busiest now but the grains & energy still fairly busy too.

 

[tar]

Agreed - options pits are the busiest now but the grains & energy still fairly busy too.

I don't think the energy is busy . Maybe Live cattle and the grains yes , and i guess the EuroDollar ...

 

[tar]

There's a local on the SP pit always trading 20 lots , his voice is loud and clear , don't know if you noticed him , i heard his voice all the time on the SP pit noise - i don't use it anymore - , as i recall he was always on the ask side .

 

[DionysusToast]

There's a local on the SP pit always trading 20 lots , his voice is loud and clear , don't know if you noticed him , i heard his voice all the time on the SP pit noise - i don't use it anymore - , as i recall he was always on the ask side .

Sounds like "Pakky"....

He did a 2 lot on Friday and shouted back to the guy doing the pit audio "you get that?"

Being sarcastic about the fact those guys doing the pit commentary not having much to say at that time and the only thing going through being a 2 lot.

 

[SpreadDoctor]

is that a tramp stamp on your right arm? chav.

 

[DionysusToast]

is that a tramp stamp on your right arm? chav.

Lol....

More of a stud thud....

 

[TradeCraze]

Very very interesting thread ... But it still leaves me with a lot of questions or more importantly concerns about top step ....

Trading rooms in the day derive their profit from the membership in the rooms ... Is this simply something called something else ...

Membership into a trading room called a combine. I would be very interested in going through every bit of the top step university then playing by their rules.


David

 

[funifasaid]

You don't actually know how Topstep works do you - but let's put them aside for a second as I think MP has now attempted to educate you.

You might want to consider actually talking to a few prop traders or even guys that run prop shops. Amazingly, they will not let new interns just p!ss money down the drain.

Interns first have to prove themselves on SIM. Then they'll be scalping 1-2 lots. Most likely they'll be trading spreads. If you joined a prop shop as an intern, went through their program, got live on 1-2 lots, then proceeded to spunk $500 in a day, they would most likely haul you into the office for a chat and very likely put you back on SIM.

It means you aren't ready.

Now - here's the rub. The more experience you get, the more the rules are loosened up at a prop shop. So yeah - they are very strict but you are looking at the specifications for an entry level trader.

Still - how about you throw that challenge out to say - Futex or Propex? The answer will be the same. Hardly any traders that join prop go live. Then of the ones that go live, most earn a very small amount of money. Many will be back to SIM after a very short time of being live. Then there will be just a few stars who are the ones making most of the money for the shop. It is these people that the shops don't want to lose and these people who get to call the shots a bit more because they have proved themself.

This is how prop works. It is not the dream deal most retail traders such as yourself think it is. With this in mind, if you are looking for a good prop deal, I know of 2 being set up now, one of them in Florida. Contact me if you think you can make the grade at one.

Can't agree more on this. I was once a funded trader with PROPEX with no background experience. From a prop trader point of view, I would say TOPSTEP TRADER has the best offer as compared to prop firms.

Yes you may argue about expensive commissions, but with prop firms, the cost of desk fee, trading platforms, charting platform newsfeed, Bloomberg and etc are ALL passed to you monthly once you go live. That may reach more than $1k and it is not a nice feeling to start the month with an initial deficit and that actually set me back mentally for trading. In the end, I don't make money after deducting commissions and desk fees.

I don't mind signing up for their combines. heck, the initial combine is too easy for me to pass but my biggest worry is if subsequently, what happen next? Do I get funded immediately? If it's another combine, what are the parameters so that I can be mentally prepared BEFORE I even sign up for the initial combine. Also, I'm from Asia, so do I have to physically trade in the office or can I just trade online in the comfort of my home? What I wanna know is the steps needed to get funded.

If it's as easy as just passing the first combine while getting to trade at home while not worrying about desk fees, HECK, this is the best deal ever from prop traders!