Account 1 is dead. Five correlated index shorts, -$674.10, and a balance that closed $1.92 below the Maximum Loss Limit. What 24 days and $85 actually bought.
$50K to $100K Challenge — Day 17: A Green Day I Didn’t Earn
Day 17 finished +$288.10 with a 6/6 discipline score. One crude oil trade covered a 3.46R sizing error I never flagged — the same mistake that cost me Monday, hidden by a green result.
$50K to $100K Challenge — Day 16: Three Trades Gave Back the Best Day of the Month
Day 16: three trades, no revenge trading, calm the whole way — and -$379.66, giving back all of Friday's record day. The problem wasn't discipline, it was that 6C was never tradeable inside a $50 risk budget. Plus August's full close: 86% of the month's loss came from three incidents.
Oversizing When It Feels Right: The Green Day That Should Have Scared Me
Day 9 of the $50K-to-$100K Challenge closed green — net +$34.10 official. On paper, that’s a fine day. Underneath it: a discipline score of 2/6, the first “Stand-down” band of the entire challenge, and a pattern of oversizing that the market happened to reward instead of punish. Read the full Day 9 post for the … Continue reading Oversizing When It Feels Right: The Green Day That Should Have Scared Me
Revenge Trading: The Day the Market Owed Me Nothing
Day 13 of the $50K-to-$100K Challenge is the worst single day of the entire run: net -$719.27, a discipline score of 1/6 — the lowest of the challenge — and a session that started with one normal loss and turned into a five-trade chase to win it back. Read the full Day 13 post for … Continue reading Revenge Trading: The Day the Market Owed Me Nothing
$50K to $100K Challenge — Day 15: Six for Six, Best Day of the Challenge
Part of the $50K to $100K Payout Challenge — a real, daily-tracked run at turning a Topstep 50K account into $100K of cumulative payouts. Yesterday: Day 14, Chopped Up Chasing a Trend That Wasn’t There. Today in one line Six trades, six winners, and the best single day of the challenge so far — net … Continue reading $50K to $100K Challenge — Day 15: Six for Six, Best Day of the Challenge
Why Traders Fail Evaluations: The Same 3 Reasons, Every Time
This is post 6 of the Prop Firm Playbook. Yesterday was payout rules. It is not your indicator Ask a trader why the last Combine died and you will hear a market story. News spike. Stop hunt. "ES was garbage." Ask what the account actually did in the final two hours and you get a … Continue reading Why Traders Fail Evaluations: The Same 3 Reasons, Every Time
$50K to $100K Challenge — Day 14: Chopped Up Chasing a Trend That Wasn’t There
Part of the $50K to $100K Payout Challenge — a real, daily-tracked run at turning a Topstep 50K account into $100K of cumulative payouts. Yesterday: Day 13, The Day I Tried to Make the Market Pay Me Back. Today in one line An up-and-down day in a choppy tape, and I spent too much of … Continue reading $50K to $100K Challenge — Day 14: Chopped Up Chasing a Trend That Wasn’t There
$50K to $100K Challenge — Day 13: The Day I Tried to Make the Market Pay Me Back
Part of the $50K to $100K Payout Challenge — a real, daily-tracked run at turning a Topstep 50K account into $100K of cumulative payouts. Yesterday: Day 11 & 12, A Wedding Day Trade and a Choppy Time-Stop. Today in one line Nine trades, one setup, and a full session spent trying to will a losing … Continue reading $50K to $100K Challenge — Day 13: The Day I Tried to Make the Market Pay Me Back
Scaling Plans Explained: How Funded Accounts Actually Grow
This is post 4 of the Prop Firm Playbook. Yesterday was evaluation strategy. More contracts are not a promotion Traders talk about scaling like it is a raise. Hit a number, unlock more size, start making "real" money. That is not how funded accounts grow. A scaling plan is a permission slip tied to your … Continue reading Scaling Plans Explained: How Funded Accounts Actually Grow