DAY 1 Update - Combine Goal $3000/Acct. Bal. $954.78

$10k profitable trade in one day...but

So the good news is that I (my strategy/script) picked up one trade for $10k in profit. While that may seem like great news, there are several negative points that have come to light. To refresh your memory, I work a day job and wanted a script I could run to pass a TOPSTEP combine. $10k in one day would be GREAT if trading in a personal account. However, this is no good when trying to pass a TOPSTEP combine (you can read the TOPSTEP Trading Combine Rules here).

Here are the issues I have run into on day one:

• The profit goal to pass the combine is $3k and your best day can be no more than 50% of total profits made. Suffice to say that $10k on day one blows the TOPSTEP Consistency Target out of the water. To see the actual rule you can read What is the consistency target. I was trading 3 Mini Nasdaq Futures contracts (symbol-NQ) with my strategy, thus the large profit. The strategy is very good about entering at an optimum time and exiting for maximum profit. However, to pass a combine I should probably only trade Micro Nasdaq Futures (symbol-MNQ) and maybe only 1 or 2 at a time.
  
  
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• TOPSTEP has specified trading hours for opening and closing trades. My $10k winner was opened during the proper window but held after "allowed hours". Had I been in a combine TOPSTEP would have flattened my position at approximately 1510 CST. My profit would have been even more then, but I am unsure of how a trade is actually handled if the TOPSTEP team has to close the position. I am not sure if I violate a rule of some sort or what repercussions there may be.
  
  
• I was running my strategy in 2 charts on 2 different assets (MNQ and NQ). A little quick scan of the NinjaTrader site says that could be a bad thing.

I will fix these issues and commence testing again. Barring further issues this weeks data will provide a solid snapshot of performance before I enter the REAL combine next week. Here are the changes I am making:

• Change the logic to only open a trade from Sunday at 5:00 PM CT to Friday at 3:00 PM CT. Also all trades will be exited/flattened daily at 3:00 PM CT.
• Trade 1-3 (needs some quick testing) MNQ contracts for the purposes of passing the combine.

Okay...I'm back. I have added the logic to only open trades between Sunday @ 5pm CT  and Friday @ 3pm CT and to also close trades daily @ 3pm CT.

Also, I reloaded the chart data and re-ran the strategy with the changes detailed above.

The strategy took 1 trade for a $954.78 in profit. If we were in a combine, we'd almost be 1/3rd of the way to passing after Day 1.

I'll provide another update tomorrow.

Peace!~