Becoming A TopStep Trader 2020

WELL PHIL,
I am glad you said it and not me , I am hopeful that someday, I will be able to articulate the good and bad points of going through that firm. Who may find it useful and who should avoid it with a very long pole.

The Bad,
This week I lost my $50k funded account. TST have several rules and 1 of them is to keep to the scaling plan. As your account grows, your available lots grow. With that comes the risk of larger drawdown and the upside is you can make larger profits.
As I have said in previous posts, my aim was to finish this funded account and then move over to the $150k when I passed the new Combine.
In the $150k Combine I was able to trade 3 lots, and for a while I was able to trade 3 lots in my $50k funded account. The mistake happened when I had made profit in the London session on the funded account and closed out. Nothing wrong there. When I re-opened the TST account to trade the $150k combine in the US session, the landing page which shows your Dashboard opened with the $150k, and then when I clicked launch TSTrader, in my haste I forgot to look at which account that was showing. Unfortunately my 3 lots, traded on the funded account and after a couple days of DD, I had gone back into the 2 lot threshold. Which means I broke a rule.

So what can I learn from this?

I guess having 1 account at a time stops that from happening. 2ndly, trading 2 lots is plenty enough and in the $150k account the leverage would be reduced and with that stress. 3rdly, always check and pre-plan. It's the same for closing. I always hit the Exit All Trades Button even if I am sure I had closed everything.

The Ugly
I had to reset my Combine again this week. I made the mistake of listening to someone else's trade ideas, I also tried to scalp more than I usually do and too be honest I traded Again during the week when Fed Chair Powell was testifying. I never ever ever read the market correctly when he's on deck. Same with FOMC and NFP. These events need kid gloves and a lot of space. No point in me trading before the news/announcements etc. Always need to wait until after the fact.

What can we all learn from this. Stop Reading My Trading Diary!!! When you have got the grasp of what I am thinking about, go off and find your own path. If you ever start listening to someone, even if they are richer, smarter, more articulate, etc. etc. you're doomed to failure.
Also, be very very careful when trading a product that is sensitive to a Central Banker.

The Good.
You've probably seen the MT4 screen grabs that I have posted. These are trades that I have taken on a demo account today (Friday) as I am spinning my wheels waiting for my new funded account Yes. I made the $9k needed and so in a matter of days, not weeks, I will have the $150k account.

The questions that I received from a post earlier this week, made me think about all the times I had lost money, made money and what gave me real consistency and a way to hold on to the winners for longer. This is important as now that I have a lot more drawdown to play with, I can trade a 1 lot or 3 micro's and sit in a trade with little fear of hitting the daily drawdown or weekly drawdown. Which then gives me confidence to widen the SL enough on a M5 chart to hold on for H1 targets. The Risk Reward becomes skewed in my favour again. The daily target I would like to achieve in $300 for the rest of my life. That is so easily achieved in under 5 minutes on the NQ with 3 lots that it is scary. The DD downside is also scary. But in reality $12.50 per tick with a 1 lot and I should be able to make 6 points a day on the $ES and with some luck on some days I can make more.

The following chart is the US100 cfd (demo) and it shows the entry on an H1 demand, which was triggered by an m5 demand zone (nested)
This is the way I have consistently been consistent - no magic - no need for Bookmap etc. no need for a DOM.
Special thanks to @C-12 for his thread and examples over the years.

Excellent stuff Nev. I remember I was posting on your old thread back when you were trading price patterns and tried to get you into S&D. You have come a long way and inspired me to get serious about trading stock indices.

In terms of prop trading, personally I would rather trade a £10k account of my own funds than someone else's $50,000 or $100k.

I can quite easily lose a 1% or 2% in an hour of stupidity but can make 3% or 5% back later in the day. I know once I get into sync with the flow of the market, those silly moments are forgotten. Nobody is going to rip that account off me for doing what I need to do. It's not perfect but for now it's enough even if the equity curve looks like Bart Simpson's haircut.

For me the only rule in trading is make money, and I know I would totally struggle under such a strict ruleset.

With prop trading you must be totally disciplined and cherry pick every single setup. You were absolutely on the right track recently with 1 hour / 30m min zones and PA using solid RR. If you stick to that you will be 100% fine. Do the M5/M1 stuff when you've got some spare cash to burn.

Give me a should on Discord and we can go over some pre session levels next week. Of course you can't be swayed by others opinions but levels are levels.

cheers C-12,
just to be clear, you weren't the guy I followed in on a trade and he'd be super pissed if I admitted to him that I followed him in.
His account is 400x bigger than mine, so he can pretty much do as he pleases. i was just being a cheeky coat tail hugger.

As for prop trading accounts. I have a % part of something new and nothing like the other Prop Shops and it will be coming your way, no risk to you. I'll be putting up the funds.

one trade today.
Waited for price to reach an H1 supply zone that I had marked up on my charts, then as the PA made an m5 supply zone was able to take a short with minimal risk and minimal actual drawdown.
My initial idea was to trade it back to the Weekly open level but I got out as the impulsive move faltered. Didn't catch the bottom but didn't look at my screen for that long either, so was able to go out and do something else and not think about trading the chop.

FOMC always equals trading fun stealers. 🥱

my London session bias was for the upside and I still am bullish, but happy to wait out the US Initial Balance to see where they take it.
If I hadn't made the money I may have a different view point but also being in a trade can give me a bias. Better to reconsider the price action without any trades on.

Step1 done(1reset) .... Step2 .....done ....It is tough but is doable

good luck with your next Account.
Look forward to hearing of your continued success

whilst I am spinning my wheels waiting for the next account to come, I have been taking reversion to the mean trades.
So when price hits a H1 supply/demand zone and I get a confluence on the m5, I try and trade it back to the VWAP

I have done a few like this now and seems a legit strategy.
I close out by moving my SL down as I am trading this as if it were real money, so I get a feel for how much room to let the trade breath. I reckon there may come a time where I just wait for the TP to hit at VWAP as it seems to be the way these things go.

reversion to the mean or vwap is good for a 1 shot 1 kill. Often if the levels have been recently tested they get absorbed and you get run over.

however, I don't think there is a stronger combination of m5/h1 Sup/Dem chart patterns than this.

Currently Long

A little update -
Thought I had done the best thing for my trading this morning and closed out a trade - seems I may have left a load of money on the table.

Had a bit of a crap start to the day. Luckily it was a case of a high probability trade just not working out and after yesterday, experience has told me to reduce my risk, so a couple of good trades on low leverage went against me.
Then the next A+ set up happened and I took it. Which to my delight got me to my daily target and a little extra for my efforts. Which meant not only did I trade well for my personal mental well being, I only took some very tiny stupid trades and the good one paid for everything.


The market feels very out of whack currently. yesterday's move could have been buy the rumor (Apple) sell the news.
Which will have pulled the markets I trade around - a lot

Made my money today, so going to sit the US session out.
The MNQ /NQ could rip through any of these levels and I am not willing to give back anything else today.
Had a couple of scratch trades, a couple of small losses and a couple of good winners (for me) certainly hit my daily goal a couple of times already, so not feeling like the probabilities are on my side.

My guess is they take out the double bottom on the H1 chart and then flush lower, but in a higher time frame bull trend, I am not going to try and get that result today.


If the trading books on TA are anything to go by we are at the top of a very big move (ATH's etc.) and the current H1 is looking like a Head and Shoulders.
At the top of moves, you get increased volatility. Head & Shoulders are also cannon fodder for retail traders as they get stopped out many times. I would wait for a break lower and then a retest, or just try and grab the stops above the RHS and the head.


Or just sit and watch

Had to be a trader today and as we approach the US session, I'll be watching from the sidelines.
The FED's are talking and we have Brexit uncertainty, so while the feeling is Bearish, it could get whippy.
After this morning's car crash of a start where I got chopped up in a range, I became more aware of trying to avoid the ranges but to use them as reference points.

Here are my trades.


I have had better days recently, both financially and in terms of accuracy.
However, if I stop here in the 'Black' and come back tomorrow where there may be more obvious setups across the H4, H1, m5 charts, I'll actually have had my best day as a trader this week.
It's about recognizing when the opportunities to get back to Break Even or even to take a loss are more important than getting the next $1k. The fact that I am in profit is a massive bonus.

Amplify Trading v's Topstep

What is the real applicable difference?

Amplify Trading costs about £5,000 to do their pro course. The aim of passing the course is to 1) get a piece of paper that certifies that you have completed a respected course and 2) to trade with the companies funds after a period of assessment on a simulator.

Topstep, costs a few hundred US dollars, you get access to real-world markets from day 1 but in a simulator, the same as Amplify. You do not get a piece of paper at the end of the day as you do not get any training unless you sign up for a mentor.

With Amplify you have to make (from memory) 2% a month to stay on the program, with TST you have to make ~6% to progress to live funds.

Both companies are looking for consistency.

Here is where my problem with Amplify comes in.
When I wanted to learn about the futures markets, Trading Technologies, CQG, the CME etc. the Amplify brochure basically ticked all the right boxes. Plus I thought they would actually teach me some real-life strategies that if you followed to the T, you would be trading like a professional. In which case you would be able to walk into a bank like UBS or Citi etc. and have a chance of trading in the larger trading world.

Topstep, are just looking for traders who know how to trade.

In hindsight, I should have gone in on TST from the get-go. Because there is no Professional route. There are no Professional strategies. No different from what can be found all over ForexFactory for free. Yes, it is interesting to have some wider knowledge of the Bond Market, the Oil complex, the Central Banks, and the ways in which social media can influence day trading. But that is free on the internet too. Just look up something like Khan Academy.

Every trader is different, because every trader is human, and no two traders unless they are Twins perhaps, will trade exactly the same.

I was going to have it out with Amplify today after reading a piece in the Financial Times, which you can see below (in part).
But then I figured, what's the point. I have been on the other side, defending the likes of Amplify before, because I wanted to believe that they were the answer to all my Trading Education needs. But in reality, they are just a feeder course into a Graduate Program in the Trading community.

You have just as much chance of working with Onyx or Marex or JPM by going through Amplify as you do of battling it out on a combine and getting to the Funded account with TST.

If you're a graduate or an undergraduate, Amplify is a great taster course to see if you want to hang with those types of people in that industry for the rest of your working days. But in reality, the Pro course is/was full of people off Trading Forums who were sold a £5k dream of changing their careers and getting a qualification.

Universities are no better, it's a massive Ponzi scheme. Getting a degree is very useful if you want to do some real-world technical stuff, like Surgery, Architecture and Engineering or if you want to progress through a profession like Law. After that, Degrees are filters for Human Resources. But a tenacious Computer Wizard, who is self-taught initially and then gets a seat as a junior programmer in the real world for a couple of years, could easily sit inside Deutsche Bank on their algo desk. assuming the HR dept. would see past the lack of a degree. Which is where networking comes and LinkedIn and open days etc. It's not always what you know but who you know. Who you meet, who you can get in front of.

The point is the £5k spent, will not teach you how to be a great trader. Their strategies don't work all the time or even most of the time, and humans wouldn't follow them even if they did work most of the time. I wish Amplify would be more honest with themselves and their clients. I didn't get CQG futures account, I got a Saxotrader CFD platform trading the spot forex with a 6pip spread. These people in the article below are clever people. But they are people and not all people will be good traders, just as a few will be great traders. You don't need to do a course to find that out. Just look at your PnL and your equity curve.


A track record over a couple of years, with a 2% per month compounded will get you in front of a lot of people.


There is one line in the above part of the article that I sense was the truth. It is where Will states that he was 'a little disappointed'. If he was honest he would try a lot harder to make every one of his students a success. But the fact is, they are a factory and the clients are on a conveyor belt, those that fail just pass along. Whereas if the course was true to the spirit of the prospectus, they wouldn't have any failures.

Here is the internal summary of the Pilots attempts.

Done for the day, not going to mess about anymore.
Could have / Should have taken more profits along the way. I had opportunities to get to BE after a loss and also to take partial profits but chose to hang on, which ended in a few small losses, which in the end were starting to mount up.

I'm obviously not really reading the markets correctly but having got to very near my daily target, i feel it's best to take what has been given and go and do something else for the rest of the day.


If this setup had occurred I would have been in this trade, but the setup didn't complete in the time I needed it to, so decided to pull the trade idea and close the platform down. The set up may work later but it didn't when I needed it, to prove to me that there were lots more Bears coming in to the trade.

Putting Camarilla Pivots on that chart could make things easier.

..Camarilla has an edge over standard pivots?