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Choosing a
Funded Account

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Real accounts vs 'Payable Sim' accounts

The first thing to understand is whether you will be given a real account, or a 'funded sim' account, when you pass the evaluation.

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Let's imagine you pass the combine and make $5000 on your first day.  With a real account this money comes out of the market.  Everybody is happy - you get your %, and the funding company gets their %.

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With a Payable Sim account, this is not the case.  The funding provider has to pay your share out of their own pocket - your wins do not come out of the market.  Your funding provider is betting against you!

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For this reason, I will only discuss funding providers that will open a real account for you after you pass the evaluation.

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The correct way to compare evaluations is to look at max daily loss and trailing drawdown as a percentage of the profit target.  For example, reaching a profit target of $10,000 with a drawdown of $5000 is a lot easier than reaching a profit target of $1000 with a drawdown of $250!  The actual profit target doesn't matter; what matters is how much risk you are allowed to get there.

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Earn2Trade vs TopStep

The two most popular and established funding providers are Earn2Trade and TopStep.  A big difference between these two evaluations is Earn2Trade only has one stage, whereas TopStep has two stages with slightly different rules for each stage.

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Earn2Trade vs TopStep Risk Allowance

Earn2Trade lets you risk $1500 to make $1750.  You need to do this once.

TopStep lets you risk $2000 to make $3000.  You need to do this twice.

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In my opinion, this makes Earn2Trade much easier to pass.  Not only are you allowed more risk, you only need to do it once!

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Earn2Trade vs TopStep Consistency Rules

Earn2Trade has a consistency rule that means the minimum possible number of days to reach the profit target is 4: 30% + 30% + 30% + 10%.

TopStep stage 1 does not have a consistency rule.

TopStep stage 2 allows the profit target to be reached in 3 days: 40% + 40% + 20%

Once you have reached the profit target, you can take 'dummy' trades with a single MES contract just to meet the minimum trading days.

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Earn2Trade vs TopStep Fastest Time to Complete

Earn2Trade: mandatory 15 trading days

TopStep: mandatory 8 trading days (5 trading days in stage 1, 3 in stage 2)

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Example of a Fast Pass Strategy

  • This assumes you have a high win-rate strategy that does not typically expect more than 1 consecutive losing day.

  • You can consistently capture 41 ticks a day while risking 40 ticks.

  • A losing day must be followed by a winning day.  For multiple losing days, it is generally easier to reset than to try and recover.

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Earn2Trade

Day 1: 1ES x41t

Day 2: 1ES x41t

Day 3: 1ES x41t

Day 4: 1ES x21t

Day 5: 1MES x2t

Day 6: 1MES x2t

Day 7: 1MES x2t

Day 8: 1MES x2t

Day 9: 1MES x2t

Day 10: 1MES x2t

Day 11: 1MES x2t

Day 12: 1MES x2t

Day 13: 1MES x2t

Day 14: 1MES x2t

Day 15: 1MES x2t

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TopStep

Day 1: 2ES x41t

Day 2: 2ES x41t

Day 3: 2ES x41t

Day 4: 1MES x 2t

Day 5: 1MES x 2t

Day 6: 2ES x41t

Day 7: 2ES x41t

Day 8: 2ES x41t

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Note: with this strategy, a losing day on TopStep will bring you over 50% of your total trailing drawdown.  This makes the subsequent recovery day difficult.  With Earn2Trade, a losing day uses approx 1/3 of your total trailing drawdown.  This gives ample room on the subsequent recovery day.

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Other differences

TopStep does not allow you to trade news and you must trade the front-month contract based on volume.  Earn2Trade allows you to trade news and there is no mention of when you must rollover.

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If you buy two evaluations and take a 2-way bet on day 1, Earn2Trade only requires a further 2.5 winning days.  TopStep requires 5 winning days.

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Summary

My recommendation is that the Earn2Trade Trader Career Path is a much easier evaluation to pass than TopStep.

Earn2Trade is my current recommended funded program.  It is the easiest to pass, and has the easiest payouts.  You can withdraw weekly, and any payouts over $500 are fee free.  Click here for current pricing and promotions.

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