Ahhh now i get it. That's still different though. when you are long. philosophically you can say they are short. But they are not practically and literally in the order book and actively holding those opposite positions. Meaning if i place a limit bid they are not actively filling my limit bid with a market sell order. it's just a sim im trading on. which is off of a live market feed. If they were literally on the other end of my trades it would mean direct interaction between two humans in the auction process right? The reason why im kind of stuck on this is because . When people usually hear that someone is on the other side of your trades. They are thinking about a live trader who is on the other side. Which means that person could fire up a bunch of market orders and run through your stop loss and take your money. Where as in this case they philosophically are on the other side of your trades. But they are not literally and actively on the other side of your trades .
Helios is not taking the opposite side of the trades. It is a sim environment controlled by Rithmic and Helios wouldn't be able to force the trades to lose without actually touching the accounts themselves. We also don't force anyone into the LiveSim - if a trader would prefer to wait a bit more for the live accounts, we are happy to keep the account on hold.
If E2T/Helios-succeeding company can get over this incident fairly unscathed (bruised, yes...but not down for the count) then I think they will make serious money once the Robinhood traders realize that there is another opportunity to trade without risking their own capital. This applies to all the Top 3 "funder companies" (TST, OUP, E2T), IMHO
The prop firm pays out the profits and the prop firm does not take positions against traders at any point. The LiveSim is carried out over a live Rithmic feed. It mimics, but cannot completely simulate live trading. It is merely an option for those candidates who have passed the examination and are eager to get funded, and does not and cannot replace trading on a live brokerage account. No candidates are forced to participate in the LiveSim. They can at their choosing opt to wait until the brokerage accounts are set up.
Selfmadedude, I would say you are risking your own money. You pay to take the test and when you pass it is your money that is keeping you trading. If you go below the drawdown number they close you out and you start again. They may lose a bit, but the cushion is your money from what I have seen, not theirs. They may allow leverage that wouldn't be available with the minimum you have to keep in the account to keep trading, but that leverage can really quickly take away the cushion of your money and again back to square one. I'm guessing they have autoliquidate set into the trading platform to avoid them losing much if you have a really bad trade against that hits the drawdown you have to maintain. This protects them, not you from a wipeout. I'm not saying these things are all bad. It is a way to possibly prove to yourself whether you can trade or not, but there is a cost. You can always trade on a sim on your own for essentially no cost through a broker. Another aspect for at least TST is that you don't get the advantage of futures trading on your taxes as your cut is reported as regular income instead of trading from futures income.
Then the prop firm must be taking the other side against their "traders" because money doesn't come from the market in "LiveSim". If "traders" win, Helios must assume the loss, and that's indeed the other side. What's the logic of limit order fills in the "LiveSim"? Does it 1. fill on touch, or 2. fill when traded through? Does it 3. something in between and simulate a queue position and if so, how?
No, if you lose money on the sim, Earn2 Trade does not "get" (gain) that loss. It's a third-party independent simulator (like a game). But if you win (the game), and let me say here the sim is an independent duplicate of the real market, then Earn2Trade will just pay you out of their pocket at such time as you choose to make a withdrawal from the sim, as if you had made real money on a real account. This is totally different from Forex platforms whereas the company owns or licenses the platform and can control all the prices, movement, etc., take the other side, or pass off the risk to the inter-bank market. On the Rithmic Sim, Earn2Trade is at the mercy of the real market, as they have no control on spread, pricing, or movement. But, they can't keep you on the sim forever. You have to agree to this limited period, and be offered to be moved to a true funded account at some time. One last comment; If you can't pass the sim at some point, you will never make money trading on your own brokerage account either, with any of the big brokerages out there. Hope my three cents helps. Best trading to all. -fg
P.S. Google searches will lead you to your answer. In short; It's the same, but possibly without the effect of market depth.