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I successfully completed my $50k account 15 day trading evaluation with OneUp Trader , got funded with MES Capital, and just finished my second profitable week of live trading.
Here is the graph from my OneUp evaluation account:
Here are my evaluation stats (scalping style): My average winner was $36 and 25 minutes, and my average loser was -$98 and 61 minutes. It took me 184 trades to reach the $3000 goal over 15 days, or about 12 trades per day average. The average net profit was $17 per trade.
The funding process took 3 days, but was very painless and there was no additional cost. I pay no platform fees, and the RT commission is $4.08 per YM or NQ contract, which is what I trade.
Here are the funded rules I now have to follow on top of the evaluation rules regarding instrument selection and trading times and max daily loss ($1,250) and overall account draw down ($2,500):
1. Volume. Because MES doesn't want people just sitting there doing nothing, I now have to trade at least 50% of the volume during the evaluation. So I have to trade at least 6 trades per day, but this is easy, because I am using the same style and am currently at 10 trades/day.
2. News Releases. During the evaluation there was no restriction here, but now I have to be flat 1 min before, during, and after major news releases.
3. Scaling. During the evaluation, I could trade a full 6 contracts, but now I am limited as follows: 2 under $1500, 4 under $4000, 6 over $4000 profit. This is actually very helpful for me to keep my risk in check.
4. Overall profitability. I must have a positive PnL greater than $0 at the end of the first 15 calendar days and each 15 days, but only for the first 90 days.
With both the evaluation and the live account, the daily max loss of -$1,250 doesn't change, but the overall account max loss level starts at -$2,500 and rises as you are profitable. But it doesn't go above $50k. So If I get above $52,500 balance, then my max loss stays at $50,000, which gives more breathing room as the account grows.
So how am I doing? Overall I am very pleased with my results:
I am up to $2,946 net profit in 12 trading days.
My average net profit/day is $245.
I have averaged 10 trades per day with a gross average profit per trade of $25.
Mar 21 was a bad day (-$290), but Mar 22 made up for it and then some ($1,280).
My average high trade is $74 and average low trade is -$65.
I have only traded with one contract this whole time
Given an initial max loss of $2,500, my average daily ROI is 9.7%.
I have just now surpassed the $2500 profit mark. This means that my lower level max stop stays at $50k.
If I keep going at this same pace, then I will make about $50,000 net profit in 12 months at the 80% payout level.
I get to keep 100% of the first $8,000 in profits.
Additional thoughts:
A "$50,000 account" is misleading since the max draw down is only $2,500. However, if one considers the true maximum margin possibilities with OneUp/MES, then using the daytime margin requirements of the highest margin permitted instrument - Silver (SI) - with a $3,600 margin requirement, then one could easily argue for a true account value of 6 x $3,600 or $21,600. However, since I only trade NQ and YM with $500 margins, I could say "$3,000 is the account value" with 6 max positions. But realistically, I propose that the value of the account is only $2,500 since this is the max possible loss when starting out.
Because the true value of the account is only $2,500, why don't I just put that in my AMP Futures account and go to town and keep all 100% of the profits? I HAVE MANY TIMES. I have fallen many more times that I will admit in a public forum. It is too easy to cheat when no one is looking. It is too easy to load up on contracts when I "know" the market is about to reverse big time. So the value to me of OneUp/MES is that I have an outside guardrail keeping me on the path. I am FORCED to do proper risk control. I know that prop firms have risk control managers patrolling all their traders to make sure that no one is in a major draw down (for long), for example. Even the best traders can sometimes be like a deer in the headlights.
As another FIO member said, I also intend to take the profits from MES and try with my personal account again, but hopefully leverage my positive experience here into the success I should have had when I started futures trading many years ago.
I did try TST several years ago, but I had to get special permission from them to scalp because I have an inverted R:R style. TST may have since dropped their positive Reward/Risk rule, but OneUp/MES lets me trade how I see fit, as long as I am flat at the end of the day and during the news relevant to the traded instruments.
I will continue to update my journal and post my results.
I guess the drawdown is a matter of perspective. From my perspective I use a pretty simple position-sizing approach for all my "standard" trades:
With this in mind, if I were trading the $50k account, a 5% max drawdown of $2.5k seems like a reasonable inflection-point, as it would signify that it was time for me to re-adjust something because I was moving in the wrong direction.
Thanks for the reply SNAX. On a normal $50k account, if you dropped $2,500 or 5%, you could certainly reevaluate your style and improve. Unfortunately, in the case of OneUp/MES, if you drop to $47,500 (in this example), you don't get a second chance. You are dead. Fortunately, with a new entry fee, you get to be resurrected with a shiny new evaluation opportunity.
I have now completed 3 weeks on my live MES/OneUp account.
Since my last post a week ago-- Monday was really bad, but Tue, Wed, Thu were great.
I tried 2 contracts on Monday, but the extra risk twisted my brain a bit and it was my worst trading day yet at -$455 or an 18% loss on the "real" portion of the account.
So I am staying with 1 max contract until at least $4000 profit.
I am pretty excited about my overall progress and my $228/day net profit average for one contract which would be $46k per year if I change nothing.
If I can get to 2 contracts traded exactly the same (all in - all out) , then this would be over $90k year. If I don't withdraw much and get up to 6 contracts, then I could make over $250/year not changing my trading style at all.
Thanks SMCJB. Great question, and a multi-part answer is required.
DAILY MNE (AKA "Trailing Drawdown")
First of all, the MNE (maximum negative excursion) on any day is $1,250 on the $50k account on both the OneUp Evaluation and the funded partner MES Capital.
With the sim account on OneUp, if a trader hits the $1,250 loss intraday with the OneUp Evaluation they may or may not have their positions automatically flattened (it happened to me both ways I think). But they definitely can't open new positions. So hopefully the position recovers or the trader went flat at $1,250. The account is still tradable the next day as long as the total max loss for the account is not hit.
With the live account with MES, if a trader hits the $1,250 intraday MNE, then they will probably have the trade automatically flattened and the account politely disqualified the next day.
TOTAL MNE
With both sim and live, the total MNE for the entire account is $2,500. This allows for two straight down days of $1,250 and assumes that a good day-trader will be able to appropriately control the risk. This -$2,500 is the intraday and intra-trade max negative excursion death point for open positions.
However, the "Total MNE" increases proportionally with each new intraday high tick, even if a trader gives it all back by the end of the day. So the low number slowly ratchets up each day, assuming profitable trading.
Once a trader reaches $2,500 in profits then the daily max loss or MNE does not keep rising, but stays at $50k.
So in my case with $3500 in profits, my max account low point is now $50k, and I could lose $3,500 before the account were closed, assuming I lost less than $1,250 on any given day. So clearly the bigger the account, the less over risk there is assuming I don't max out on contracts.
This is from the OneUp help page and assumes a $100k account.
Thanks CarpetHooligan. That is my intent! You just really got me thinking. . . .
It's some what embarrassing, but the reason I have even an account with them at all is because I seem to need their daily and account max loss mandatory guardrails. Unfortunately, without an external task master I have a very hard time following all my own rules. I get the next big anticipated market move in my head and then I don't let go - and fall to my death over the cliff called "account annihilation." I am a true "deer in the headlights." Since 95% of traders fail, I am guessing most suffer from the exact same syndrome of stupidity. As a % of my annual income, it feels like I have gleefully handed more money over to the big boys that anyone else in the world.
OneUp and now MES have finally tamed my wanton generosity (hopefully permanently).
Here are my options:
1. Trade on my personal account after my daily MES minimum trade count is met. I now have a required minimum number of trades per week with MES. It is 50% of the average weekly volume of my OneUp evaluation. I need to take an average of 6 trades per day. I see now that once I have made those 6 trades, I SHOULD do any other trading for the day on my personal account, following the exact same rules, since it seems to finally be working after 13 years of trading. (I am a slow learner or just foolish for not giving up much sooner.)
2. Trade copy. Alternatively, perhaps I can find a way with MultiCharts to exactly copy each entry and exit on the other account!
3. Ditch MES and only trade my personal account. I know that I could simply sever the relationship with MES and use my own account again and trade excellently as I have the past three weeks. But I am currently still fearful that I will either let one bad trade wipe me out or that I will get too aggressive on an entry when my confidence in the move outstrips all rationality.
So for now, I will consider Options 1 or 2, but Option 3 will remain a real possibility after I have been successful for many more weeks, giving me time to retrain my trading brain and build confidence in my long-term success.