From Evaluation to Live: Navigating The Futures Desk Journey

Recalling My Experience So You Can Draw Your Own Conclusions

Achieving funded status at the Futures Desk is a multi-stage process:

Evaluation → Sim-Funded Stage → Live Account.

Each phase can come with different sizing, risk controls, and approach - but it doesn’t have to.

Here’s my play-by-play—and how strategic adjustments propelled me from a $1,050 “base hit” goal to an 11.7% live-day gain.

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1. Understanding the “Base Hit” Concept

The Futures Desk’s base hit (example below) is a minimum daily profit target you can achieve during the Evaluation in order to pass the eval in the minimum days selected. For example, a $1,050 base hit means:

• Hitting $1,050 profits for five days grants funded status (this changes according to what you purchased).

• Pressured sizing: I traded 2 minis (or 20 micros) to meet this in five days.

Daily Base Hit Example

Sim-Funded Stage:
Post-eval, the profit buffer is set to whatever the drawdown was in your eval (e.g., $3,000 for me). I maintained similar sizing to clear this buffer—trading bigger until I’d secured the simulated funds to then move to live.

Live Account:
Took about 4.5 days to get my live account (Monday request, Friday login). I dropped from 2 minis/20 micros and a $1200 daily loss limit to 7 micros max per trade and set a strict $600 daily loss limit. I also switched to CQG feed/TradingView from ProjectX—better fills outweighed ProjectX’s risk-management features for me.

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2. First Live Day: Execution & Results

I received credentials late on a Friday—no time to force trades, but if the opportunity was there, it wouldn’t hurt. I saw there was an IV Wall aligned with an intraday Ceiling from the OMM tool, so I:

• Longed on MNQ while watching an ES retest of high-of-day (Unfinished Auction)

• Shorted on MNQ as price rejected the Ceiling and reverted towards some single prints

I was so confident in the reversion probabilities, I set a limit order and walked away to go to dinner. Upon return, I saw a total of $264 profit, an 11.7% gain on the live account for the day.

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3. Performance Metrics: Eval vs. Live

Profit Factor:

• Eval (2-minis): 4.17

• Live (7-micros): TBD
  Measures gross profit divided by gross loss. A value above 1.0 indicates a profitable strategy.

  

Recovery Factor:

• Eval: 9.23

• Live: TBD
  Calculated as net profit divided by maximum drawdown. Higher values reflect quicker recovery from losses.

Sortino Ratio:

• Eval: 3+

• Live: TBD
  A risk-adjusted return metric focusing on downside volatility rather than total volatility.

Sharpe Ratio:

• Eval: 22.18

• Live: TBD
  Measures risk-adjusted return relative to total volatility. Higher values indicate better risk-adjusted performance.

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4. Adjusting Risk Parameters

• Eval: Up to 2 minis / 20 micros to hit daily base hit.

• Sim: Maintained similar size to clear $3,000 buffer.

• Live: Reduced to 7 micros; $600 max loss per day.

Pro Tip: Align sizing with account rules and personal drawdown comfort. Bigger size in evaluation; lean size live to protect capital.

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5. Psychological Shift: From Simulation to Reality

With real money on the line, my discipline intensified, to be honest:

• Caution Over Aggression: On my first live day, I waited for clear setups instead of chasing action.

• Reward Tangibility: Seeing an $800 payout within hours reinforced that this is real money, sharpening my focus.

• Account Protection: Daily payout potential encourages guarding the account, not gambling it.

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6. Key Takeaways and Next Steps

1. Know your stage’s sizing: Adjust from aggressive (eval) to protective (live).

2. Checklist before each session: Vectors, Open States, IV Walls, OMM levels.

3. P&L Metrics: Monitor profit factor, recovery, Sortino, Sharpe to refine edge.

Ready to master each phase? Embrace disciplined scaling and let the Fractal data guide your journey from evaluation to live funding—and beyond.

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Note: If you’re interested in an evaluation with them, you can (as of the time of this writing get 60% off any account using the code “ROBLESH” or just use this link here. If you do, let me know and I’ll comp you a week of premium Substack articles at no cost!