If you are not entering actual positions, it is by definition not trading and nothing is being bought and sold. I have no beef against these outfits where the end goal is an actual funded account. I am not bitter, just surprised someone would take the time to promote outfits where the company wins when the trader loses.
Scams don't always assume the form of outright fraud. You can do it in a way that is still borderline legal b/c it hasn't caught the attention of lawmakers yet. A few things that stand out as being shady: 1) False marketing wrt account size. Does advertising their program as a $50k account when it's really a $2000 account constitute as false advertising? 2) Trailing drawdown based on real-time PnL. Anyone with a brain knows this is the true elephant in the room when it comes to these programs. This rule, more than any other stringent rule, is the #1 culprit as to why so few are able to pass these programs. It's a carefully crafted rule designed specifically so that these funding companies can have their cake and eat it too. 3) Some companies prevent withdrawals for an extended period of time (i.e. Merritt Black's Apteros Trading only offers QUARTERLY payouts!!), knowing that b/c their rules stack the odds in their favor, the more their funded traders are forced to trade their LiveSIM accounts, statistically it's eventually just a matter of time before they are wiped out or break some arbitrary rule. It's similar to how casinos love to lavish their guests with entertainment and food b/c they know they have a 51% edge. So as long as they can get their guests to keep playing, mathematically over time, the casino will make money. Anyways, if you MUST try this out, go with a funding company that allows EOD trailing drawdown and allows withdrawals anytime of any amount. Topstep and E2T fit this bill but Topstep is goddamn awful for other reasons. I'd go into more detail but Topstep forces you to sign an agreement prior to being funded that stipulates TST reserves the right to legally sue you if you badmouth them online. No, I'm not even joking. 100% speaking the truth here. So that leaves Earn2Trade as the only viable candidate. But that's only if you really have to. Overall I don't recommend these funding companies for like 99.99% of people.
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