Interview with China Futures Michael Patak: traders must be unconditional confidence [5]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Chicago, Illinois, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) January 3, 2012 -- About Patak Trading Partner, TopStepTrader
7hcn.com11: TopstepTrader scouts for the best trading talent globally, give them rigorous training and provide recruits with live accounts and attractive profit sharing plan. What is your purpose of doing this?

Michael Patak: Our purpose of creating the Combine is to see who can trade TODAY'S market. As the market is always evolving this recruiting format allows us to see who is most in-tune with the market and who is consistently profitable while trading with discipline. Our Combine program allows us to find the traders who possess these skills and provide them with fully-funded live trading account.
7hcn.com12: There are thousands of people who want to become the top traders in the world. TopStepTrader has many recruits. How many people have participated so far? How many live traders have you selected from the Combine program?
Michael Patak: We have many recruits that come into the Combine program whether to learn, develop or become a live trader. Recently we have selected at least two recruits a week to start trading on a live trading account. As our Combine pool increases so will the amount of traders we select to trade live.

7hcn.com13: What is the largest live account you have offered to the live traders?

Michael Patak: All live traders start with a $50,000 futures trading account. It is up to that trader to build that account and as they build the account we give them more daily risk capital and allow them to trade larger size. This is the stair step or process to becoming a big trader. In the near future we are going to be adding the option to trade a $100,000 and $150,000 account both in the Combine and as a live trader. That being said though, if you can't trade a $50,000 account then you can't trade a $50 million account. Discipline and patience need to be apparent at all levels.

7hcn.com14: What percentage of gain has your best performing live account had among all the live traders you have selected?

Michael Patak: With futures we do not look at percentage gain of the account, rather we look at over all performance of the trader. As futures are highly leveraged the percentage gain of your account is irrelevant. Someone may make a lot of money one week or one month, but if they cannot control their downside and do not exhibit consistency and discipline, that is going to be the exception to the norm for them because likely their losing weeks or months are going to greatly outweigh their profitable ones.
7hcn.com15: TopStepTrader’s recruits coming from all over the world. Which area has the better traders based on your internal evaluation?

Michael Patak: I have not noticed one area that has more exceptional traders than other areas, as each different culture and individual performs different in the market and trades at different degrees. We are just now opening ourselves up to recruits out of Russia and China and are seeing a lot of promise in these areas with recruits who are showing strong profits. Regardless of location, traders who make money still need to learn how to manage and control their losses to maximize their ability.
7hcn.com16: For traders who have excelled in the live account trading, will they　be able to coming to America to work with you?
Michael Patak: Yes, we offer the opportunity to live traders that are performing well. If a live trader is interested, they can be transferred to Chicago to begin trading from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange trading floor. We are always willing to accommodate a successful live trader because we have established a “win-win” relationship we want maintain. Otherwise, a trader can trade remotely from home for the entire length of his or her employment.

7hcn.com17: COMBINE program daily stop loss limit is set at $1000. Accelerated Combine daily stop loss limit is set at $500. Live account daily stop loss limit is also set at $500 in the beginning. Why do you set such restrict daily stop loss limit? What skills can the recruits learn from this training?
Michael Patak: Our live accounts start at either $1,000 daily loss limit or $500 daily loss limit depending on the which Combine (four week or accelerated) the trader was in when he or she successfully met the objective. Also, as previously mentioned, we are in the process of creating custom Combines, which will allow recruits to trade a larger account with a bigger loss limit ($2,000 and $3,000), these options will be available on the website shortly.

As for the $500 and $1,000 daily loss limit, we set these risk parameters to see how recruits manage their risk. All traders need loss limits; loss limits help a trader live to fight another day. This business is a marathon it is not a race. You will have winning days and you will have losing days. The idea is to cut your losses and let your winners ride. Our risk parameters allow just that, it allows our traders to cut their losses or to stop trading for the day when they are not seeing the market clearly and on days when they are trading well it allows them to maximize their opportunities.
7hcn.com18: Your training and live account requirements are all short-term oriented? Are you only interested in day-trader? Do you think these requirements may exclude traders who are better at swing trading and medium to long term trading?

Michael Patak: We try to stress managing risk. The electronic markets are open almost 23 hours a day. We want traders to be flat the one hour of the day, because traders have no control over their position or risk if something in the world was to affect the market. We view trading into the close as unnecessary risk. That being said, we do allow traders to swing trade and hold positions once they are proven as a live trader and have built a cushion in his or her trading account. When first trading with us we are extra cautious to ensure the trader has control over his or her risk. Therefore, in the Combine or as a new live trader, the trader must be flat or 'net position zero' when the market is closed.
7hcn.com19: In the simulation training program, what type of support will TopStepTrader offer to recruits?
Michael Patak: We offer a variety of live coaching services to help recruits gain a better understanding of the markets, themselves, and their trading style to maximize their trading ability and shorten their learning curve.

In addition to the coaching, we provide weekly Market Therapy sessions with professional trading psychologists. Also, the TsT Live Squawk Radio and interactive trader chat room is also an incredibly beneficial tool for traders; the broadcast provide insight as to what is happening directly on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and in the chat room there are traders from all over the world and of all experience levels, so the insight and educational material passed through the room on a daily basis is phenomenal.
These tools assist recruits into becoming a consistent, profitable and disciplined trader. Traders must be patient with the Combine process and allow for a personal journey and growth while in the program to reach their full potential, and be selected to go live.
7hcn.com20: In the simulation training program, what type of support will TopStepTrader offer to live traders?

Michael Patak: When a trader begins trading live, he or she is in constant contact with senior level traders, who help them learn, develop and continually grow his or her trading account. Our interests lie in keeping a trader live and benefiting from shared profits, therefore our senior level traders will work with these individuals to ensure they do just that.

Trading Challenge     Trading Coaching     Trading Resources