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Whether @TraderAnna would want to return to TS is of course up to her, and we have certainly talked about this entire issue a lot. But I think this part of @andrej's post is both encouraging and probably the right way to look at it.
The way to becoming a functioning trader is not easy, but if it is your way, you should continue on with it.
Good luck, and good luck to all.
Bob.
When one door closes, another opens.
-- Cervantes, Don Quixote
To be honest, I don't expect much from TST, it is the past, I have been waiting long enough anyways. I was more interested if I am the only one or are there others in the same situation as well and how did they move on. So if there someone like me here, please share or PM me.
Do you want us to feel sorry? OK, I'm sorry they did not pay you. Many others expressed the same here. Now what? Are we going to repeat what they did to you to eternity and back.... are we going to cry? Let's cry than what? Eat?
Another thing.... what have you been "waiting long enough anyways" for? Hello, this is trading we're discussing here. That's war, not a walk in a park. You'll fall and rise many times until profitable trading becomes your reality.
If you don't want TS there are other similar shops, go there. If not, save some money and open a brokerage account. If you don't have money, open a trade room, many here will pay to see your expertise. Anyhow, keep moving, we've all cried with you, now let's just keep moving. We're traders, not drama queens.
I just read through this thread. If TopStep didn't include a grandfather clause when they published the new rule, you may have a small claims court case. If it were me, I'd do it because they are in the wrong if you PAID for a Combine, you were trading the Combine under the CURRENT rules when you signed up PRIOR to the rule publication, and then were held to a rule that wasn't in place when you started.
I don't know where you live, but filing a small claims law suit (under $10,000) isn't expensive. The worst that can happen is that you lose.
I saw their date of publication and, in fact, had a conversation with one of their techs about it (I was not in their Combine) as I was curious why they would institute such an unreasonable condition. The rationale they publish at their website is a lot of BS.
"Because of this reality, Topstep does not allow traders to explicitly take advantage of the simulated environment to gain an edge in our program, and we retain the right to reject any profit claims if abuse is suspected. We want to help you become a better trader, not learn how to dupe a simulator.
So What’s NOT Allowed?
Examples of gaming the Topstep simulator include but are not limited to:
Running “scalping” algorithms in the SIM environment to take advantage of unrealistic fills
Making hundreds of rapid trades to take advantage of preferential queue position in SIM
Initiating reckless trades in gapped markets to profit from stray fills (these are improbable in LIVE markets)
Repeatedly exploiting the relative lack of “slippage” in the simulator to achieve impossible stop-loss execution"
If anyone actually traded as they describe above, it would be easy enough to identify that person and throw them out. Rather, they penalize everyone who's a scalper. I'm sure there's more behind the curtain than meets the eye.......
I was looking for answers like this:
"Yes, I was in the same situation, but I moved to XYZ, and I can confirm that they are ok, never applied rules retrospectively and I always pulled money succesfully."(This seemed most likely to me. I thought many people had the same issue.)
or
"I tried ABC company and they did the same so stay away from that company."
or
"I have tried ABC, DEF, XYZ,... they are all scam."
or
"Brokerage ABC provides the same professional commission rates as TST without putting down 20-30K, try them out."
You know.... something useful.
In the meanwhile I will get funded by someone(another trader) but I had to manage this locally. This seems to be the best solution.
From my point, this case is now closed.
On the other hand I got a lot of positive energy which I didn't expect and I am very thankful for, it is a great community.
I don't know if this forum is over-moderated, but in general it is good to have moderators. It keeps the topic focused, so thank you.
Thank you for sharing your story. It shows again how commercial parties with good marketing, always pretending to know how to make you trade successful, are trying to make use of the dream of many to become a professional trader, just for their own monetary gain. They pretend to be there for you, the trader, but they have little, if anything, to offer if you ask me. But that's just my opinion.
You mentioned Axia in London is too expensive for you. Did you know they have an office in Poland ( Axiafutures.com/about-us/, see bottom page)? Maybe that's something for you to think about. I believe there is also a small prop trading office in Split Kroatien led by Ivan Brzovic under the name IB-Trader. Could be it's just a vehicle to sell his course.
I am impressed with the mature and professional attitude you show(ed) and have no doubt you will achieve your goals. Wishing you all the best.
How much do you need for your strategy? What would be your projected ROI for one year?
So, for example, if you scalp ES for $30 on average with 1 contract, you could open a brokerage account for $1000. You would make $2500 first month... then you can start with 2 contracts...
Somewhat related to this thread. I'm curious, do orders sent on these "funded accounts" actually show up on the exchange book and have order IDs that you can call up CME GCC to verify, or are they simply booked on the platform?
Not saying this is what they did, but it's simply better business for them to run it this way:
A) Give anyone a "funded account" which is actually just a simulation account.
B) If they make money on the simulation account, you actually pay them out with cash, thus giving the appearance of a "funded account".
C) If they don't make money and go broke on the simulation account, you collect trade commissions, platform fees but never needed to spend a single real $ funding that account.
D) Make the withdrawal rules and trading restrictions restrictive enough that most users just blow up eventually on their simulation account and experience (C).