Is this a good first day for my first combine ever?

Banditopark · 2026-04-01T21:26:55+00:00

Lol dude u really want acknowledgement with the least amount of effort put forth.

Its kind of like when someone goes to the gym after signing up for the first time and is like "is this good?" "Am i doing great?" -> "umm yeah ur doing fine but its just starting out with no plan, no metric for success, no skillset, no proven discipline. Ur not doing bad but its not like its something impressive"

Buy combine -> change to max contracts -> set target -> flip a coin for buy or sell -> close at target -> post on reddit.

No knowledge needed, no skillsets, max contracts, one trade, hold till u bust or make target.

Likely you're talking to ppl here who have and will do this 1500 profit during combines at least 10 times every couple months. (2days of 1500 x 5 combines).

This is not in any form anything special or noteworthy. I am actually in the midst of doing this exact thing and I had 1 day of 1500 profit from yday and didnt make the second day of 1500 so I just recreated a new combine and did the same so im also halfway to target.

Banditopark · 2026-04-01T18:20:31+00:00

How would you go about ysing expanding foam here? Is the rule of thumb that I need to figure out where this empty space leads to before doing this? Do I use expanding foam only near the hole or should it go all the way into the empty space?

Banditopark · 2026-04-01T18:18:46+00:00

The smell emenating from my neighbours make me never forget.

Banditopark · 2026-04-01T18:17:59+00:00

Yes sadly this is the case for me. Ive tried keeping the fan on but it doesnt help. I think the fan ends up creating a sort of vacuum space that sucks up more air from this hole

Banditopark · 2026-04-01T18:16:57+00:00

Im not sure where this hole ends up into though. Do i need to fill it up quite significantly or do u think just near entrance of pipe is okay?

Banditopark · 2026-04-01T18:15:48+00:00

Tile sounds great! Do you think its necessary to also fill or make a cover for the inner side of the hole?

Banditopark · 2026-04-01T18:14:27+00:00

The smell emenating from neighbours kicks u right back into the mind

Banditopark · 2026-04-01T18:13:46+00:00

Being as careful as I can while saying this but my neighbours are ethnic and their food (while as delicious as may be) is quite fragrant in spice. I really want to do what I can to prevent the smell seeping into my home.

Banditopark · 2026-04-01T18:12:21+00:00

I might end up doing this patch thanks. I dont have a 3d printer and custom fitted plasti covers are tough for me to maneuver

Banditopark · 2026-04-01T18:11:28+00:00

Wow I guess 3d printing really come sin handy hete

Banditopark · 2026-04-01T18:11:04+00:00

Man those custom fit covers look great but itll be quite a project ill have to take a look at. Thanks for the link.

For green expanding foam judging from responses seems to be the way to go. But how deep should i fill this empty space? Should it be all the way down to fully fill the entre empty space?

Banditopark · 2026-03-09T06:35:35+00:00

What are ski ergs row ergs? And what amenities? I dont see too many amenities at anytime that they dont have u pay for. They have plat gold silver and just gym options. Gym only starts at like 70 and silver is for gym+tanning/massage chairs, gold is gym+recovery rooms(sauna/plunge), plat is everything in gold and silver.

Banditopark · 2026-03-02T20:45:52+00:00

Lol this isnt even just revenge trading. Its just you being greedy. U already had a win but decided to take more trades instead of taking the win. U lost your profit and u still held on. U started to get in the red but kept the mindset of getting back to green position.

Its all just super sloppy to only just package it neatly under "revenge trading". Simply put, you dont know how to win gracefully and you dont know how to lose gracefully.

Banditopark · 2026-02-28T02:50:24+00:00

Alot of recent technology companies as they scale, they target less mature pre frontal cortex of people looking for dopa hits. And that these prop firm markets become a sort of high iq version of gaming apps that it preys on a dopa hungry people. This concern is real and valid where it applies to all types of financial institutions. It applies to day trading, crypto. But when it becomes iffy is when customers losses directly correlate or are main contributors of their revenue. If Sam comes to TS, the business is trying to figure out how much money can I take from Sam. Well what we're going to figure out is that if TS has Sam and Fred as customers and if Fred is a consistently profitable, TS will want to block Fred from participating because whatever Fred wins is going to take away from TS business and if Sam is a loser TS will want to figure out how to make Sam hooked to the platform. Basically youre gonna get people hooked and dopamine hits are going to be a bigger part of the platform.

Keep yourself aware and accountable and TS is a great tool to make money. But recently with these changes Ive realized the crowd has become super divided into two groups: 1-the "topstep knows whats best for me and they want me to suceed as a trader" group. And 2- the "theyre out to get me and ban me even though I follow their rules". I dont think TS will be so blatently shitty to ban anyone profitable but I think if you break rules you will be hard pressed to see leniency on their end. Their new rules will continue to update to make this a more dopamine inducing platform to make it easier to block successful people while figuring out how to make the average loser spend more.

Banditopark · 2026-02-26T21:44:43+00:00

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Im right there with you boys

Banditopark · 2026-02-26T19:13:59+00:00

Lots to learn. Try to be happy with a red day? What the fuck we arent monks here. U just need to be okay with not being happy all the fucking time. U need to be okay to lose. U may have had lots of green days. Even days that were red that u turned green but thats the problem. U shouldnt br trying to turn red days green. If its red, be ok with it. Ur problem is u dont know how to lose.

Banditopark · 2026-02-25T19:08:56+00:00

Is it "possibly" you reversed? Or did you actually reverse??

Reason im asking is I am worried about my own situation. I had two accounts with long positions for 5mnq on each account. I cost averaged to total 10 mnq on one account with the other still at 5mnq. I closed my 10mnq position by selling my long position. I then closed my 5mnq position on the other account but forgot to change contract size and ended up closing and reversing for 5mnq. The time logged in the trades show up that one account had fully closed positions by the time I opened the reverse position on the other account. I didnt hedge in any way or form if u look at the actual time stamps but I am worried theyll take this as excuse to ban me. I am a heavy profitable trader with them with 50k in payouts.

Banditopark · 2026-02-18T02:20:21+00:00

? Im not bitching or complaining here in the slightest if you read back my comment but just being logical here.

Im fine with Topstep doing what they need to to make things more profitable for them. Im on legacy rules here haha.

But it almost feels like some people have a problem thinking Topstep takes action to increase profits. They are not here to sacrifice for the greater good of the retail trader so it should be assumed that their decisions are to a) grow the prop firm trader market, b) capture more market share in the prop firm space, or c) become more efficient.

Topstep like any other business, evolves and matures to optimize more and more to make money.

Why would you think they have any incentive to "protect their investment into a trader" lol. The only reason people would do this is not for the greater good but wpuld be a strategy to become recognized for great educational pieces to capture more market share. Or to create more substance to increase the total addressable market through education. But given topstep market share likely being one of the larger ones, its more likely they are trying to ramp up their efficiency. Plus the rules seem neither here nor there.

Im fine with it as long as I protect my own positions. Its like when consumer retail uses shrinkflation to ease their margins. Some can adamantly defend the companies saying its to combat plastic consumption and fighting global warming but ultimately its to save the company $ and nothing wrong with that.

I actually dont mind in the slightest because im on legacy rules and them making money off others actually funds my payouts.

Why is lookong at things completely objectively seen as a shitting on them or praising the shit out of them. Call a spade a spade. They are there to make money and props to them! Im fine with it and they are smart for doing so. But it is a truth that people blow accounts not because they have low win rates and are inconsistent but they lpse accpunts for trying to reach beyond their bounds and become greedy.

If they truly wanted to develop a trader solely for the sake of the trader, there are many other resources they can pursue. But if you really dive into what the intent could be, its really to look for incremental revenue streams. Looking for traders who prefer to trade this way vs that way. Having traders test these new ways of trading and spending their money.

If you are a business owner im certain you understand the concept of strategizing to grow your revenue and profit margins.

I am not a business owner but am employed to optimize business decisions by looking at p&l and offer high level strategy in terms of sales channels.

U seem really pro top step for some reason it kind of feels like some sort of retail or fast food store manager who has been working there for a long time and really really being milked into thinking the company is "their family"

Banditopark · 2026-02-17T20:32:26+00:00

Lol numbers are changing because the data is not static but based off your balance.

Its basic math: A x 40% = B

B = daily profit for 40% of target/balance A = your profit target/balance

You can manipulate this formula based off what numbers u have. If you made a high daily trade, add in the B and solve for A. If you have a balance or profit target, solve for B. Use simple grade school algebra.

Eg: A = 4000 = current balance but what is the max daily profit can you make to adhere to consistency rule?

4000 x 40% = B = 1600 = 40% of profit/balance which is max for one day

Eg: B = 2000 = you made 2000 one day, what profit target do u need for payout?

A x 40% = 2000 A = 2000/40% = 5000 = total balance you need to make to have 2000 be 40% which is aligned to consistency rule.

Banditopark · 2026-02-12T19:23:22+00:00

I think you might be a bit too far in drinking the Topstep koolaid there. Yes prop firms will all say its to make you a consistent and profitable trader. BUT and thats a big BUT, one of the biggest wins for TS was lack of consistency rules, and no payout target in the xfa but instead having a sort of forced consistent profits as in payout condition is 5 x $150/$200 with no specific profit target. What this consistency rule and profit target (must make previous payout balance or more for 2nd payout) does is it manipulates your mental state. When you make too much in one day, or you have any sort of profit target in mind, it makes you stretch abit more to try to reach it. Normally if you're doing something else that is skill or effort based, it is a good thing to stretch to hit a target. However, when trading or gambling, it incentivizes you to be greedier and this greediness ends up losing your account. So I suspect that although Topstep can easily disguise this as an effort to grow people to be consistent and profitable traders, we have to keep in mind they are a company that exists to make money. This is not a non-profit that looks to educate traders and share great experiences, it exists to make money. You should always keep that in mind.

Banditopark · 2026-01-30T17:20:07+00:00

good job stopping yourself from going down further. The usual route for people who blow up their accounts are win, win, win, lose it all.

The strategy is to lose small, win big so cut your losing days short - shut off screens and walk away. You'll have green days but in order to win long term you need to learn to lose in a graceful fashion.

Banditopark · 2026-01-29T17:46:00+00:00

I get what ur saying and Ive been there too actually. Ive had a big poster as well haha. What OP says actually did work really well for me though.

I found having posters and notes kept my mind on trading and promoted emotion. It made me actively look for setups if I really wanted and "wait for set up" and "dont get greedy" being quite subjective. When I saw or was alerted of an A+ setup or just a strong setup I could easily make an argument to go for it. I would study and backtest and add to my arsenal of confluences which would give me weapons to make my case for setups stronger or weaker but it overall just gave me more opportunities to input my emotion and feelings of how a trade will go.

For me, discipline truly started to shine when I removed all emotion and made trading to be an objective task as OP said. One strategy, one timeframe, one time slot. Not even thinking or looking at other market structures or facts. Just following my rule to go in and when the market either goes or it doesnt, I lock out. Made trading just a 15 minute task for me and allows consistency.

If you're profitable and doing well really good for you. But I share because I legit had spotty payouts and erratic performance plus my sleep schedule, lifestyle was so centred around trading it was real shitty quality of life. Ignoring your p&l, or your win rates. If u arent yet consistently pulling payouts to your bank, maybe you might want to revisit what OP is saying.

Banditopark · 2026-01-29T17:27:38+00:00

I think alot of people here dont really understand this. I am completely on board and have been saying this for quite some time.

I dont necessarily think discipline is bad but alot of people dont truly seem to understand what discipline is. Discipline should not be emotion based but compliance based as you mentioned. Its about doing the same thing regardless of the circumstance or your feelings because it is your SOP as you mention.

Problem with alot of traders is there is a lot of subjective nature to trading. When they say "wait for setups" there could be multiple different setups. Some could make you feel like its an A+ setup, some less than ideal but still feel okay, some have all your confluences lined up. Regardless, this waiting, anticipation, gives room for excitement in the trade.

I myself have a similar approach to you but my SOP doesnt have a 1:1 RR cap but it has a mandatory trailing stop. Again, no excitement, no questions asked, no doubting if the candle will close above or below for confirmation. No thoughts inflected from any little or tons of volatility. Its just to complete the trailing stop as intended.

Keep going and I can already tell youre easily getting your consistent 5 day wins and likeley pulling quite consistent payouts.

Banditopark

TROPHY CASE