My way...my journey toward a million dollar funded account

[tingtong]

it seems others are also noticing your negative attitude…

but i am a nice guy, so here is some of my thoughts to answer you

• other prop firms arent require you to deposit, they require you to pay a fee!
  but that is only partial truth.
  if you would read my previous posts, and not only push your negativity, you would read that the now defunct Fixi i had to deposit 10k to initially trade a 250k funded acct, then later a 1.25 million dollar one!!
  since i could keep 100% of the profit then on my master account/personal account, i didnt see it as a bad thing.
  with Axi’s prop offer, i needed initially to deposit a whole lot less. not a dealbreaker for me. part bcos anyhow i had live trading accounts with them since 2017, with a lot more than that amount. a simple internal transfer did the trick. must take 4-5 clicks to do.
  that said, the long running darwinia with a brokerage behind also require you to trade your own account, depositing money with them. so, yeah, not unheard of this, only new perhaps for you?

-fxcm went belly up after the chf fiasco, been bought out/bailed out of its debt.
-mff had zero regulations whatsoever. as for claiming to be counterparty to anything…demo trades, demo server, very very little “a book” trades, probably for them only meaning to send it to a bucketshop anyhow. sub 1% of all “funded” or lately “simulated funded” account’s orders went anywhere. but yeah, that is better, per you?

• other models also require traders to trade their own deposits serving master account, for example
  a classic PAMM
  social trading like etoro
  copy trading like myfxbook
  etc, etc.
  again, i dont see an issue with it, clearly you do.
  and if i want to be full honest, i dont really care.

this thread i want to be a journal, not looking to be your “conversationalist” counterpart.
if this is all you can what you contributed so far, probably better skip this thread?

as for members here reading it, i am sure here and there they may learn somethign useful about prop trading, after all i have been walking that walk a few years longer than most of the current favorite pay-to-plays even thinking to white label a website and a back office solution…

i also wish you well!
and also welcome to contribute positively anytime!

[tingtong]

hi

my first full week in “incubation” stage is done.
bcos the 60 days minimum time, my approach is ‘slow and steady’ and i did good.
the week started slow, mostly finding my opportunities after NYO this week. after the CPI the pace picked up some, and gold had one crazy push today, something that i could profit from.
5/5 days were positive, and added +0.89% profit to the account, better than expected.
the profit target to the next level up is +5%.

unfortunate for me that i could not really improve on my score this week, but there is plenty time for that too, right now what i have is enough for this level and the next one.

Z

[tingtong]

hi

a relatively quiet trading week, not too much major news, and not so many good setups.
started the week well, but on Thursday and Friday literally nothing caught my attention as a must-have, so the week ended about average.
not that anything wrong with average.
the goal is unchanged, +5% by the end of November, and this week contributed +0.55% me toward that goal.
all trading days were green.

no change in score, although reads +1 point @83, the numbers actually the same.
ok for the time being, but i will need to do better.

Z

[tingtong]

hi

another quiet week.
between being sick on Monday and no trades taken Thursday, the rest of the days performed on average what i consider OK, but overall nothing impressive, +0.46% gain.
somewhat disappointed with the Canadian and the EU rate decisions failing to bring volatility, but maybe next time.
overall not unhappy, things are still on track for the P/L. and it was another 3/3 green trading days.

score remains @83, despite little improvements.
was told some clarification about the score is coming “soon”.
good, i am looking forward to it!

Z

[tingtong]

for fun, this is the myfxbook view, since the September launch.

all green days, no overnight hold, average duration 8 min, PF 2.40, very very moderate max dd.

still not good enough as is. but i will keep trying!

Z

[Pipsteroid]

Hi Z,

Well done so far!

Good to see.

Especially the tiny drawdown.

I’m starting to look at funding prop companies, because it seems like there’s so little to lose by trying one.

Not ready to start yet, maybe early in the New Year for me, need to brush up on my trading a little first.

Is this Axi one you’d recommend, or are you trying it just because you had an account there anyway?

It’s a bit hard to get my head around. Is it right that you have to deposit a few hundred into one of their accounts to try it and that the company itself is actually your counterparty? I don’t understand how that works if they’re evaluating your trading with a view to funding you, doesn’t it incentivize them for you to fail if they hold the other side of every trade you make?

Did I misunderstand?

I wish you well with the continuation of yours, whether you have time to reply to my stupid questions or not!

[tingtong]

hi Pipsteroid,

actually, yours isn’t a stupid question at all!

you are right, there isnt too much to lose trying any of the prop firms. now that the time limit has been dropped, most offers seem to be a lot more viable for everyone who doesnt want to rush to gamble, but prefer a steady pace.
my issues were always time, bcos unless you get a lucky start, or bet big, 10% in 20 trading days were a challenge.
now the biggest challenge the moment -for what i see - is getting paid. buying is easy, getting your money is not so much. since the MFF fiesco i read a lot more payment issues, made up excuses to ban traders, etc.
if hit an issue the cost/money lost is one thing, time however is something i like to waste a lot less.
for the moment until there is some clarity in the “prop industry” i trust very few to trade with.

i had an account at Axi for my regular trading, but also i have traded their previous 2 versions of prop trading offers as well. i trust them, bcos i have paid lots of times over the years, and when there were any issues to debate they were quick and fair to find resolution.

trying to simplify to you, i would say it is pretty much the same experience as using any regular forex brokers ( no surprise there, Axi itself is a regular forex broker).
you open an account, and make a deposit.
you trade your own deposit.
your account, like any of your regular trade account, profit or loss.
the company being your “counterparty”…like most regular brokers running A and B books for their clients, and it is up to them where they choose to execute your trades.
it is actually no different at any other regular forex brokers, for example ICM, where they also act as counterparty to my trades, then send it to where they choose. if in doubt, read the TOS.
“Dealings with us
2.1. We will act as principal in Transactions with
you and not as agent on your behalf.”
it is how pretty much all retail brokerages work.

now, to your question, about failing incentivize Axi, my answer would be NO. basically if you fail, meaning not hot certain metric and Egde score, you wouldnt be able to secure funding.
while i have little doubt early stages are running mostly as B-book, but bcos being live account, not a demo, the brokerage actually collect commission from you ( on a demo prop account it is all imaginary!)
i assume at the “pro” stage things will be A book, as i know it was A book on the previous AxiSelect version with the 150-500k live accounts as well.
again, “holding the other side of your trades” without going into details how B book’s nature works, is not exactly like you visualize it; think of B book in a sense than matching up orders from clients, within a zone, say 1 selling EU, 1 buying EU, broker collect 2 commissions, and their exposure is 0, literally, since the 2 orders hedge that risk out. of course it is more sophisticated than this, but maybe you get the idea.

the take away should be: i could have an account at many brokers, but most dont offer any chance to capitalize on my trading results behind my own P/L.
take my case, given the score allowing me to participate,
currently trading my relative small 2000$ personal trading account, i can benefit from an additional 20000$ funded one @40% profit share.
if trading my personal account at any broker and my 2k makes 5% profit, i have made +100$.
if i am in AxiSelect like i am,
if my personal account makes 5% profit, i have made +100$ AND ALSO my funded 20k account would make 1k profit, which in turn @40% payout = +400$. so i would be making in total: +500$
minimal extra effort, really.
but 5x more gains. the 5% would be as 25% without this opportunity.

things will get more interesting if get to the change to a 100k account, the numbers will show an even bigger contrast, and if can get even further, a huge contrast.

as a bonus, trading your own money as you do, being a live account as you do, it can still serve you anywhere as a credible track record if needed, vs. if you trade any demo prop firm imaginary account that typically wont be considered for any serious place as a track record.

thank you for reading my journal, and your well wishes.
hope i could answer your questions.

Z

[Pipsteroid]

@tingtong

hope i could answer your questions

You did, and many thanks.

I think the futures funding “prop” companies might be better for me. With those, you don’t have the ‘A book’ and ‘B book’ concerns and can easily verify that your funded account is genuinely funded through a genuine, independent broker who isn’t your counterparty.

Good luck with this!

[tingtong]

hi Pipsteroid,

i am curious to hear some of those “prop” companies’s names.
most i came across in futures either operated on a very misguiding “buying power” advertising, where the 500k “buying power” in reality isnt anything than a max 5 lot size in forex that can be done on your personal acct with 1-5000$ depend on leverage offered;
or others were running purely a demo environment, that is for many reasons a ‘no go’ for me with (any) prop firm.
planform fees not helping the future case neither,
however why i looked into is the better slippage factor where a limit or stop order is exact, not like in the metatrader base cfd forex.

like with anything, there is always pro and contra and i try to pick that suits me overall the best.
that, naturally, is different for every traders.

Z

[Pauley1]

My advise when considering a so called ‘prop firm’ is to do a ton of research. I have not yet found a ‘prop firm’ that looks legit. They appear to be set up for suckers like us to pay money to do a test that they make almost impossible to pass.

An example is a UK based company called Audacity Capital who claim to be funding millions of dollars worth of traders, but when you look into there company accounts, which is publicly available, they don’t even have $100k, so how can they be funding millions of dollars worth of account. The answer is simple, they can’t.

If a company was not a scam and was seeking profitable traders they should provide FREE tests/trails for you to complete. I wouldn’t go to a job interview and expect to pay for the pleasure, so why would I pay someone to prove I can help them make money?

[Pipsteroid]

@tingtong

i am curious to hear some of those “prop” companies’s names

The ones that spring to mind are Earn2Trade, Topstep and Tradeday, all of whom fund real accounts with real brokers, as can very easily be verified, with futures, of course.

@tingtong

others were running purely a demo environment, that is for many reasons a ‘no go’ for me with (any) prop firm.

For me, also - definitely a no-go.

[tingtong]

Topstep loses me, for their confusing program description, and controversial wordings across their website…

i am not fond of “buying power” claim vs actual funds and leverage to trade, and also a recurring monthly fee to do it, infinitely.

they also have claims like:

“9000+ funded accounts in October”
then later
“Topstep has moved 321 traders to our Live Funded Account between 1/1/2023 and 9/1/2023.”
( that comes out to less than 40 a month?; they are claiming about 25% ‘pass rate’, are they selling less than 200 new accts monthly or what?!!)

or
“The Trading Combine is a realistic simulation of trading under actual market conditions”
then later:
" Unlike an actual performance record, simulated results do not represent actual trading"

didnt look into the others yet.
just about the end of October, final touches to round out the month to finish on a good note.
personal trading always comes first!

Z

[Pipsteroid]

@tingtong

they are claiming about 25% ‘pass rate’

I thought about 20%? I think that was their independently verified/audited pass rate?

@tingtong

then later:
" Unlike an actual performance record, simulated results do not represent actual trading"

I think that may be statutory wording that a regulator or authority requires them to display?

@tingtong

didnt look into the others yet

A lot of people seem to get funded with the futures ones. I think the transparency of the whole market makes it a kind of “different culture”. That and your broker being on your side, rather than your counterparty, maybe!

@tingtong

personal trading always comes first!

Agreed - and good luck with yours!

[tingtong]

hi

October is over.
wasnt an outstanding month, but delivered pretty much exactly what i was aiming for,
ending with +3.14% profit.

the goal is to reach +5% for the Incubation stage by end of November, that leaves me with another +2% to go for next month.

apart from the score itself, that sitting at the same spot as it was, things are on track where they should be.

Z

[tingtong]

hi,

1st of the month, first time ending a month in Incubation, the first earning level of AxiSelect program.

this morning my first payout has arrived, by the form of a transfer to my AxiSelect (master) account.
my own earning was 66.5$ on the master account. (few trades were still counted toward the Seed stage, not earning a profit share, before moving up to Incubation)
my AxiSelect earnings came as 251.5$
the grand total is 318$.
the equity was 2000$ own money, so thanks to the leverage of AxiSelect, that is equal to 15.9% gain in absolute terms based on if i would be trading only my own equity.

i did reset my equity level to the 2000$ needed to max out the available funding at this stage, for now, before placing the next trade. if want to withdraw, must follow this procedure at the beginning of the month. and of course have no open trades, to get the automatic payout.
with that set, ready to continue to complete the missing 2% of the +5% requirement to move to the next stage.
profit secured on the sideline, stand by to add back if/when the account is needed to once again max out the available funding.

Z

[tingtong]

hi,

having some tech issues with my account,
i have decided that i test out the re-start function.
a deliberate move from my side, the drawdown offset by the profit i was having so far. being 1% up today but not showing up to the profit target was the trigger.
my score hit a place where my trading history is fully in the score, and the info about how to improve not forthcoming from AxiSelect, i saw this point in time as the potential best (and lowest possible cost too) for myself to start with a clean slate.

will update once the new account is up and running, assuming by next week sometimes.

Z

[Pipsteroid]

@tingtong

the info about how to improve not forthcoming from AxiSelect

I don’t quite understand, but they let you down yet again? Why did you decide to reset, if you were ahead? (You didn’t have to pay the $500 again, presumably?)

[tingtong]

i dont think you got it.
i never had to pay for anything.
the 500$ minimum is your personal forex account, like any personal account. all gain or loss thus is yours.
btw, if you followed things, it was a 2000$ personal account.

i am in fact up for money, the decision mainly involving time, in exchange looking to get an improved score.
the more trading history, the more difficult it is to improve it further.
the bigger goal is to have the ability ( or a chance of it the very least) to go all the way to maximum funding.
i didnt see that happening as it was, so will try some modifications to my trades, like fixed hard SL, and see how that will effect things.

you know, a journey, trials and more trials to get what i do to better fit what this firm want.

Z

[tingtong]

hi

just a small update,
got the acct reset, but with the last 3 days the market being flat, that is all i felt comfortable with on this acct.
not going to rush it,
the meanwhile hopefully some info may come out as well to serve as a guideline to improve on a score, kinda what to do or dont do.

will need 20 trades to see a new score;
for my liking i need a more volatile market to place trades.

Z

[Pipsteroid]

@tingtong

i dont think you got it.

No, sorry, I didn’t.

Why did you need a reset, if you were ahead?

Are you “profitfarmer,” a ‘Commercial Member’ of ForexFactory who promotes Axi there?