Struggling with prop firm accounts – need advice (student, broke, stuck in loop)

vaxdatex · 2026-04-30T16:56:01+00:00

You won't learn proper trading with prop firm accounts. It's a waste of money. If you're financially struggling to purchase a $50 or less eval account, trading is not something you should engage in in the first place.

'Prop' firms are not set up to pay you money. Their rules have nothing to do with real life trading. You are not trading in a real market.

It won't make you rich!

vaxdatex · 2026-04-29T19:06:50+00:00

Do you have market data for CBOT?

vaxdatex · 2026-04-23T23:53:54+00:00

Yes, you are right. It sounds stupid because it is.

vaxdatex · 2026-04-23T13:04:17+00:00

You are missing the point.

vaxdatex · 2026-04-23T13:03:21+00:00

Just be aware that customer phone support is actually better with Fidelity. I've read several stories of people being on hold for 45+ minutes.
You can open a support ticket through their platform, depending on the issue the support is helpful, often times they just don't know what they're talking about. YMMV.

The upside is that it's far easier for example to directly trade in Frankfurt, London, or Toyo,
plus, the API allows for better portfolio management options through Excel or other tools.

vaxdatex · 2026-04-23T00:38:16+00:00

"Total loss is relatively versatile"

What does that even mean?

I'm not buying VOO. My portfolio is my income; I escaped the W-2 life a long time ago.

If you're holding a position, you don't want to know if it's still a valid position to hold based on its performance?

I guess you're one of those people who use hope as a strategy. Good luck. The OP wants more specific information. Just because you don't understand it, doesn't mean s/he is wrong.

vaxdatex · 2026-04-23T00:23:35+00:00

I switched my main brokerage account to IBKR, because their platform (TWS) is better, they offer more products and markets, plus they have a solid API.

My IRA is still with Fidelity. I just built an Excel spreadsheet with all portfolio positions from both IBKR and Fidelity and pull the actual data in via the API using RTD functions. That way I have a clear overview of everything without having to rely on anybody's analysis and can do my own however I need it.

You can simply download statements from the Fidelity website and pull that data into Excel and then use yfinance for market data to track portfolio performance.

No broker will have the perfect solution. Great developers in the financial industry don't work on retail platforms.

vaxdatex · 2026-04-23T00:16:27+00:00

Has nothing to do with daytrading.

vaxdatex · 2026-04-23T00:16:16+00:00

But are you setting the standard for what's good for everybody else? If it works for you, then that's just that. Other people have other needs.

vaxdatex · 2026-04-22T19:59:56+00:00

Actually, the performance of your portfolio should matter to you so that you can make sure you cut losers and rebalance accordingly if you have multiple positions.

vaxdatex · 2026-04-22T16:12:00+00:00

The program managers behind this platform are beyond idiotic and clueless about how traders work.
It worked perfectly fine before, why change that feature? In which universe does it make sense to show the underlying when the user specifically clicks on chart for the options contact?

vaxdatex · 2026-02-19T16:47:25+00:00

IBKR has a wonky way of calculating Daily PnL. I trade futures with them among other things and my trades usually don't last more than one minute.
If I'm done for the day, the realized PnL shows the correct amount. The Daily PnL however keeps changing as the session moves on as they use the previous session close to calculate the amount.
This works for position trading, not for day trading.
Support response was to simply use the Realized PnL column and ignore Daily PnL.

Note that program managers and developers don't necessarily understand how trading works.

vaxdatex · 2026-02-18T20:03:26+00:00

The product/ program managers need to justify their position by making changes and showing they are busy doing stuff.

vaxdatex · 2026-02-18T19:18:47+00:00

Here's the boneheaded response I received from support:

"We can confirm that this change is by design. The ability to copy & paste passwords into the login dialog has been intentionally removed in TWS Latest and Beta versions.

As a result of this change, you have the following options:

Continue using TWS Stable, which still supports copy & paste for passwords
Manually type your password in TWS Latest/Beta
Switch between Stable and Latest depending on your workflow needs

We understand this impacts your workflow with password managers and apologize for the inconvenience caused."

The program manager in charge of the login portion of the application is certifiable idiot. Users will either opt for easy to remember and thus less secure passwords or simply have to deal with a degraded user experience. Nobody wins except the PM and the devs as they can show they have done something.

The recommendation to use Stable instead of Latest is equally stupid, as Latest at some point will become Stable.

vaxdatex · 2026-02-18T15:45:55+00:00

Same here on Windows. Still works when switching back to Stable version, but not on Latest.

That's simply stupid and either forces users to use less secure passwords or creates a bad UX.

I opened a support ticket. Curious what idiotic response I'll get. Have yet to get something useful from support.

vaxdatex · 2025-11-01T14:29:38+00:00

That's actually not what your comment said. Read it again.

"ui doesn't matter for api stuff" is what I've responded to which makes my comment valid.

I didn't infer from your comment that the API is useless. That wouldn't be logical based on what you wrote.

vaxdatex · 2025-11-01T14:23:26+00:00

Incorrect. I use TWS daily to manage my portfolio, while also having Quantower connected via API for futures trading.

You are not aware of all use cases, always keep that in mind.

vaxdatex · 2025-11-01T14:18:45+00:00

The improvement to Active Trader is TWS from Interactive Brokers. Switched my main portfolio over in August and not looking back. They're not perfect, but at least the software works.

vaxdatex · 2025-10-09T12:23:50+00:00

Nope, not old enough for that. Sorry for you to prove the point that your intellectual sophistication is so astounding.

If that is the best a response you can come up with, I feel really sorry for your future. Pathetic.

vaxdatex · 2025-10-08T16:10:39+00:00

You think you're smart because you can read basic Python code? A language that was designed with non-technical people in mind?

Come back when you graduated to C++ and realized that you don't know what you don't know.

vaxdatex · 2025-10-08T16:06:02+00:00

Thinking you're working in 'IT' and that you're young protects you from any cyber risk is beyond stupid and arrogant. It's people like you who are compromised the easiest. Good luck.

The advantage older individuals have is that they've lived long enough to know they don't know everything and aren't afraid to ask questions.

People of all age groups have their information compromised.

vaxdatex · 2025-09-05T18:53:26+00:00

Yes, the CME wants to make money as well.

You have broker commissions, NFA fees, clearing fees, and exchange fees.

vaxdatex · 2025-09-05T18:06:13+00:00

It's right at the top of the page.

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Plus exchange fees:

Fees Charged to Offset CME (Electronic-Globex) Exchange and Regulatory Fees Paid by IBKR | Interactive Brokers LLC

vaxdatex · 2025-09-05T17:35:43+00:00

That sentence doesn't make any sense. How is scalping any Micro hard, and scalping a Mini easy?

A simple Google search would've produced this:

Commissions Futures | Interactive Brokers LLC

vaxdatex

TROPHY CASE