I am not funded, however I am surprised at the lack of participation on this question. It's a great question that I would like to hear some answers to, along with answers to the sub-queries... the zero responses here lead me to believe that no one is profitable. wow

It's been discussed many times in other threads, that is why.



Mike

Hello,

- Are you currently funded by any of the funding companies? If so, with who?


- Have you ever been? If so, what happened that you are not anymore?


- How many tries did it take you to get funded?


- Which Program did you complete and details?


- Is there one Program that you would recommend over another? i.e. $50K Program over $100K Program. Sometimes the Profit Target and Drawdown Limit is more favorable on one over the other.


- Is there anything you would done differently?


- How was your experience on profit withdrawals?


- Any advice you’d give someone who is trying to get funded? Tip or Tricks that can help?


I hope we can get a lot of people to weigh in on this as I think it can be extremely beneficial for a lot of members here.


Thank you!

@EminiTraderCBOT I am also surprised that nobody answers, I think there are many funded traders on FIO.

I have just finished my ProAccount so now I can say I am funded, meaning that I am in the premium Funded account. I am now signing all the docs that are required to have the account going with the broker.





Are you currently funded by any of the funding companies? If so, with who?

yes, I am currently funded with TopStep



- Have you ever been? If so, what happened that you are not anymore?

I am currently funded, but I want to add that I passed the evaluation a couple of times in the past but once in the ProAccount I broke rules and I did not reach the 5000 USD in profits, so I had to go back to step 2



- How many tries did it take you to get funded?

I enrolled in TopStep program for the first time in January 2019, passed step 1 in March 2019 and step 2 in June 2019.... after that I enrolled in the Pro Account and lost it. This process went on 5 more times, so I have passed step 2 a total of 5 times. For some months I also left TST completely to trade my own money, so I had to redo both step 1 and 2. This February (2021)for the first time I went beyond step 2 and I also "passed" the 5000 USD in profit of the ProAccount.

Passing the combine is not easy, but sometimes you can pass them by pure luck, that is by taking on greater risk.... of course you will blow up when emotions kicks in in the ProAccount.

What I have noticed though is that I could pass the combine quicker and quicker, the first time it took me 6 months to pass both steps with many resets. Last july I passed steps 1 and 2 in just 15 days, so that was a sign of improvement. Incidentally you can see my whole journey in my journal, since I tried to be as transparent as possible.





- Which Program did you complete and details? ....see above

- Is there one Program that you would recommend over another? i.e. $50K Program over $100K Program. Sometimes the Profit Target and Drawdown Limit is more favorable on one over the other.

Yes, definitely: in my opinion unless you are a real expert in both trading and topstep strategy, your chances of passing any combine other than the 150K (that is 3000USD max daily loss and 4500 drawdown) are basically zero. The only exception I would make is if you are "smart" and trade 50K combine using micros. In case you use minis, take the 150K combine.

Concerning the different funding companies like OneUp, TopStep, Leelo etc... I have direct experience only with TopStep. Many companies use a trailing drawdown which is computed intraday. I also believe (sorry if I am blunt) that if there is such a rule your chances of passing those combines are virtually zero.

The reason is simple: if I have an open trade which is a runner I cannot bother with "what happens if there is a retracement?", it's already tough to take care of a drawdown rule which is computed at the end of the day.





- Is there anything you would done differently?

yes, I wish I had enrolled in any evaluation before trading my own money. I traded for 6 months before discovering the existence of these companies, and lost a total of 50K and I had already traded for one year on a "casual basis" losing an additional 30K in many accounts.





- How was your experience on profit withdrawals? I haven't taken any yet



- Any advice you’d give someone who is trying to get funded? Tip or Tricks that can help? on average it will take it 2 to 3 years, if you think that you can pass the combine and start to make money every day forget it.

Passing a combine is relatively easy, but keeping it is tough. If you are just starting out trading, I suggest that you really double think if you want to dedicate time to this endeavor , because there are easier way to make money in life.

I took this path for many different reasons, but doing money with trading is extremely difficult. Also I would suggest you to start with stocks rather than futures.

Also I suggest anyone to trade one contract only for several months, there is no need to trade with size.

Finally if you really want to trade and it's your wildest dream and you want to get funded, this is my advice: take it as a game!! imagine it's a videogame, you make some money, you gain some "land" you defend your territory, you gain equity and you have more "weapons" (more contracts to trade) .... you push a little bit, you defend the territory, you play smart. It's a game.