kimo'sabby
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Any members of T2W, affiliated or trading with this company? Discuss, perhaps...?
Top Step Trader?
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DionysusToast
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I'm a Partner with Topstep and I know a couple of people that got live accounts with them.
They have some pretty stiff requirements before they (well - their equity partners) will give you money to trade but they do actually do it.
On the one hand, the combine (what they call the try-out) is much better than SIM in terms of having something on the line other than your own money. On the other hand, there are some people that take potshots at combines. One guy I chatted with took in excess of 20. Fact is, if you are taking pot shots, you won't get through the live trader prep at the end. Other people will do stuff like take a position and then sit on it, hoping to ride it to the end. You could do 2 and coin toss that position knowing one of them will likely pass.
There is a live trader prep after the combine that some (but not all) traders need to do before getting an account. If you are taking potshots, you won't get past this point.
So, it is real, people do get funded. Many people comment that they are very tight on risk but it is their money at the end of the day.
FWIW - here's an interview with a guy that got an account after I met him.
They have some pretty stiff requirements before they (well - their equity partners) will give you money to trade but they do actually do it.
On the one hand, the combine (what they call the try-out) is much better than SIM in terms of having something on the line other than your own money. On the other hand, there are some people that take potshots at combines. One guy I chatted with took in excess of 20. Fact is, if you are taking pot shots, you won't get through the live trader prep at the end. Other people will do stuff like take a position and then sit on it, hoping to ride it to the end. You could do 2 and coin toss that position knowing one of them will likely pass.
There is a live trader prep after the combine that some (but not all) traders need to do before getting an account. If you are taking potshots, you won't get past this point.
So, it is real, people do get funded. Many people comment that they are very tight on risk but it is their money at the end of the day.
FWIW - here's an interview with a guy that got an account after I met him.
kimo'sabby
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I could only describe TST, as an excellent opportunity for those with the right skills and attitude.
But, what stands out to me in particular, is the difference in attitude towards trading, between the US and the UK.
DionysusToast
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ZEN archer
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Maybe some of the 'combines' won't get their deposits back if I understood t&cs correctly.
Together with $2995 for the traders development?
It would be good to know the success rate and also what percentage of deposits weren't refunded.
Together with $2995 for the traders development?
It would be good to know the success rate and also what percentage of deposits weren't refunded.
kimo'sabby
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The traders development isn't compulsory, you can become a member and take the combine.
random12345
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Crimeney. Is my maths wrong here? 8% in a week with a 2% d/d and 3% cap (compounding balance on max dd for that period) is about a 8000% ROA in a 200 day sustained period on ave d/d or 3,333% on peak d/d?
Bit of a punt really. Guess you'd have to go in factoring at least 5 lost deposits.
kimo'sabby
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The combine targets and parameters act as a filtering mechanism. I suppose there are always going to be elite groups of people at the top whatever industry you look at.
ZEN archer
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There are too many conditions attached to refund K. I can't see why should somebody who can meet all that conditions trade anything else apart from their own money - they can keep all the profit (unless they're desperate) and they won't lose deposit if they go a tiny bit over the limit etc.
Don't get me wrong - it may be a reasonable idea, especially if somebody's new to trading and prefer to pay for education rather than doing it themselves. Anyway I wouldn't trade their money unless they offered much more and different conditions.
Shakone
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8% in 10 days rather than 5, but yeah, they ask for a lot.
IF max daily drawdown is 2%, then if you're planning on taking several trades in a day, you'd likely have to risk less than 0.5% on a trade, and round trip is $5, plus there are other criteria that make it even more difficult.
As zen archer says, just to get the refund on the test there are lots of conditions, and you have to do some good trading.
random12345
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Ah woops right, fairly fundamental error from me there. Even so. Big ask and hard to say 2 weeks is much of a sample.
If you're broke, I don't think the deposit is worth the punt, but some aspiring types looking for contacts might be able to find something in it.
Hakuna Matata
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do you have to pay to be considered for backing? If so, what's the damage? Is it refundable? Who bears the losses when you're on trial?
Shakone
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From what I've read on the site, there are several different types of combine ('test'), and you pay different amounts for them. Ranging from $160 to $400. They say it's refundable, but you have to meet a lot of requirements:
So even consistently profitable traders could easily miss one or more of these. That's just for the refund, not to get backed.
The trial is still sim I think, so there are no losses.
It's a nice idea for a prop trading firm, but anyone who can consistently make the requirements to be backed probably doesn't need to apply (unless they're amazingly talented but with only $160 to their name)
As a business, they make money on those that fail the combines (a high % I'd guess), they make money on the successful ones including fairly large fees per round trip ($5 round trip for a prop firm?)
Hakuna Matata
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What?
This is "Carrot and stick" meets "Thelma and Louise".
Yeah you can pay us a fee and we will consider you for backing. If you meet our (exhorbitant) requirements, on the grounds that if you throw enough sh1t, some of it will stick*, we'll end up backing some traders. Some of these traders might even be **** hot Laurie Inmans, and that's all good for us. Other s are just a case of:
a) lucky for them, and
b) unlucky for us
But we're likely to make alot of money just for charging a fee to let people try and fail to cover those losses. We'll probably have some kickback from a specified broker and other revenue streams too.
Right? Have I missed something?
* I think I saw something about a "combine" being 10 or 20 (not necessarily consecutive) days. Really? This tells you everything you might ever need to know. 20 days ffs.
This is "Carrot and stick" meets "Thelma and Louise".
Yeah you can pay us a fee and we will consider you for backing. If you meet our (exhorbitant) requirements, on the grounds that if you throw enough sh1t, some of it will stick*, we'll end up backing some traders. Some of these traders might even be **** hot Laurie Inmans, and that's all good for us. Other s are just a case of:
a) lucky for them, and
b) unlucky for us
But we're likely to make alot of money just for charging a fee to let people try and fail to cover those losses. We'll probably have some kickback from a specified broker and other revenue streams too.
Right? Have I missed something?
* I think I saw something about a "combine" being 10 or 20 (not necessarily consecutive) days. Really? This tells you everything you might ever need to know. 20 days ffs.
The Leopard
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I think Topstep have found a good business model. For them, at any rate.
The Leopard
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You've got a better chance of being shafted.
kimo'sabby
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It's a selection process, it's not just about meeting the combine targets, the most important issue is how YOU go about meeting the targets.
The targets and parameters for the TST combine are perfectly feasible.
Consistently profitable traders can go on to trade much larger accounts than if they were to only fund themselves.
