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Yes, I have been careful about that. My only red parameter is the Average loser is bigger than the average winner.
I am not sure I will try again, because I have doubts about the company. I tried it in the first place because I like a challenge and so many failed, so I wanted to measure myself against them. I achieved my goal of beating them and I have/had a fairly decent result, but I am not sure further tries would achieve anything more.
I thought the point of the Combine was to find trading talents...
I guess, but I am not sure 3 days will teach me to do that. Actually, I am not even sure I will ever learn patience...
The thing with the Combine is, once the trader realizes that the goal of passing can not be reached, there isn't an incentive (beside the refund) to make the effort....Let's say at day #12 you realize that you are way behind the profit goal, you most likely start to swing it to try to catch up, and that's when you go into the red, which is good for TST, because you lose your refund chances....
That is so not true. First, if you are trading well and making money for yourself, why do you care about any statistics? You are making money, and that is what counts, so anything else is secondary.
Second, the Combine is set in a certain way, so no, the stats will not take care of themselves. I would bet 90% of the traders have to alter their style just to fit the Combine's parameters.
What if I am a break out trader, thus I profit from sudden break outs for a short period of time, but occasionally I have to stay in the position when the market stuck in consolidation? Then my average winner will always be shorter than my losers. What if my win:lose ratio is 1:3 (red parameter) but my winners are way bigger than my losers?
What if I only make good money on 3 days per month, and the rest is small losers or breakeven (red parameter) but when I do make money, I make a lot?
In short, there are unreasonably too many parameters that just causes the Combiners to fail because they have to alter their style. Another similar company has only the minimal rules: Make this much money in that much time while not having a bigger than this draw down. How simple is that?
But again, this thread is not about complaining about TST but how to pass the Combine.
Well, you're stating some good points and arguments regarding the general Combine objectives.
Since TST is actually working on some changes regarding the Combine framework and parameters, maybe they will consider some suggestions from other traders and former 'Combiners'.
Btw, to which similar company are you referring to ?
I doubt. I don't think they are really trying to find talent. One guy here said he made $3460 but that was short of the needed $3500. True, but seriously, is there any difference between 3460 and 3500? If I am really looking for talent and they are not really showing up in hordes, I would be flexible with the rules....
But again, this thread is not about TST...
Pulsarcap.com They are London based and very scam-ish. You have to make 4K with 1 contract. Seriously? But at least their rules are simple....
Looks like today is going to be another breakevenish day, so here is another advice I learnt:
Keep evaluating your performance at 1/4th, halfway and 3/4th. If your performance is up and down, chances are you are going to blow it eventually. Consistent and steady wins the race. And I bet that's what they want to see anyway...
With your profits if you are not close to 15% at 1/4th, 40% at 1/2 and 60% at 3/4rd of the way you should alter something (either style or number of contracts) because you are probably going to swing it at the last 2 days and although it could work, chances are the pressure will hurt you.
Yes I spoke with them and it came to be something like an average of 3.75 to 4.00 ES per day trading 1 contract. Hardly doable by 999 out of 1000 traders.
For them maybe, but my current goal as a trader is to develop. Swinging for the fences has gotten me in trouble, and to do so only to then be funded would have potentially disastrous implications for future behavior.
I don't expect 3 days will teach anybody; rather, I don't think anyone can learn true patience in 3 days. But if you are going to learn, why not start today? And if you are not sure you are going to learn it, save yourself the time and money and just quit now. Prerequisite for success in any endeavor is a desire to overcome obstacles that will present themselves, and it sounds like you are already throwing in the towel.
If everything was about math alone, then you would be correct. But life and behavior cannot be written using a formula. If it were that easy, people wouldn't spend more than they make and go into debt, for example. Successful people in a particular field don't usually behave in self-destructive ways, and that's what you are describing. It is easy for me to recognize because I have done it, and it feels awful and the results prove that it's foolish.
There is nothing self-destructive about realizing that you are not going to make it. It is called reality. Let's say if in the 20 days Combine at day 15th you are only at 20% of the profit target, chances are, you are not going to make it. Thus there is not much incentive to put full energy into the next 5 days, but if the stats are good for a refund, my advice in this case is just do the minimal trading and retry it later...
It just occured to me that another poster said "blatantly obvious common sense thing". I am easily confused, somebody help me out. Was my first post nonsense or common sense? They seem to be mutually exclusive...
Here it is the 2nd guy, nicely contradicting himself:
So this dude first agrees with nonsense guy, then later declares it blatantly obvious. Nevermind guys, I am just having fun late Friday night....
Hi Pedro40, I was wondering about the draw down and how it affect the combine. I was looking at the $100,000 20 days, Loss limit $2,000, and Max Draw down $3,000. If I understand the drawdown correctly, it means that if I'm doing ok for the first 3 days and the 4th day I hit the max drawdown the combine stops right away even if I have 16 more days to reach the profit target?