Performance Report: March 14, 2026

This newsletter exists because I trade in public. That means the wins get documented — and so do the losses. Before we get into the current numbers, here's the full picture from day one.

Since November 2025, I have spent a total of $4,033.36 across three prop firms. Against that I have received $3,254.00 in payouts, putting the current net P&L at -$779.36.

That number looks bad on the surface. The story behind it is more interesting.

This is where most of the damage happened.

Between November 2025 and January 2026 I ran multiple evaluation accounts with The Futures Desk, paying assessment fees, plan resets, and renewals across 17 separate transactions. The total spend with The Futures Desk was $2,032.00. Against that I received $663.00 in payouts — three withdrawals of $500, $130, and $200 gross respectively.

The Futures Desk ROI: -67.4%

The problem wasn't that I couldn't pass evaluations — I passed three. The issue was the cost structure. Fees added up fast, resets weren't cheap, and the 80/20 payout split meant I was keeping only $0.80 of every dollar earned above the threshold. The math simply didn't work at the pace I was trading.

What makes this chapter more painful than the numbers show is that I did break even with The Futures Desk after going live. I had built over $3,000 in profit inside the live account that never made it to a payout. By that point I had already started purchasing TopStep and Lucid accounts, my focus shifted, and the Futures Desk account blew up with all of that profit still inside it. The $663 in payouts I did receive doesn't reflect what was actually built — just what was withdrawn before the account was lost.

The true opportunity cost of The Futures Desk period isn't $1,369. It's closer to $5,000 when you factor in the profit that was never captured.

I stopped trading with The Futures Desk entirely. That decision changed everything.

Once I shifted focus to TopStep and Lucid Trading the trajectory reversed.

TopStep: Total spent: $1,106.86 across 10 transactions Total received: $1,682.00 across two payouts — $670 on February 18th and $1,012 on February 25th Net: +$575.14 ROI: +52.0%

TopStep's first $10K payout structure is 100% to the trader — no split. That changes the math dramatically compared to The Futures Desk's 80/20 model. I passed the combine, got funded on a 150K Express account, and it has been producing ever since.

Lucid Trading: Total spent: $894.50 across 8 transactions Total received: $909.00 — one payout of $1,010 gross on March 10th, $909 after the 90/10 split Net: +$14.50 ROI: +1.6%

Lucid is essentially at breakeven right now, but that's misleading. I currently have multiple Lucid eval accounts actively progressing — several of which were profitable during the sessions documented in my trading journal. The $894.50 spent on Lucid has funded a pipeline, not just one account. The payouts from that pipeline are just getting started.

Total spent: $4,033.36

Total received: $3,254.00

Net P&L: -$779.36

Total payouts: 6

Average payout received: $542.33

Average recent payout (last 2): $1,011.00

Break even target: $779.36 remaining

Payouts needed to break even at current average: less than 1

At the current pace with two funded accounts producing payouts, I am less than one full payout cycle away from being in the green overall. That milestone is coming very soon.

This is worth stating clearly because it's one of the more unusual aspects of how this works.

My overall net P&L is currently -$779.36. That means I have spent more than I have earned when you factor in every evaluation fee, subscription, and reset since November 2025. But Rewards Club members have already been eligible for real payouts during this same period.

Here's why: the Rewards Club activates on individual trading payouts, not my overall net P&L. Every time a single funded account produces a payout over $500, the pools open regardless of what my total expenses look like on paper. The fees I paid to pass evaluations, buy resets, and fund new accounts are sunk costs — they don't cancel out a payout once it's triggered.

In other words, I could be down $5,000 overall in expenses and still send out a Rewards Club payout the same week. The two numbers are completely separate. My expenses are the cost of building the pipeline. Your rewards come from what the pipeline produces.

As the pipeline grows — more funded accounts, more frequent payouts — the gap between my expenses and earnings closes fast. But even before it does, members at every tier are eligible to earn from every qualifying payout along the way.

The Futures Desk Spent $2,032 · Earned $663 · Net -$1,369 · ROI -67.4% No longer active.

TopStep Spent $1,107 · Earned $1,682 · Net +$575 · ROI +52.0% Active. 150K Express Funded account building balance.

Lucid Trading Spent $895 · Earned $909 · Net +$15 · ROI +1.6% Active. Multiple eval accounts progressing. Pipeline building.

The lesson here is straightforward — The Futures Desk was expensive and inefficient. TopStep and Lucid have both turned profitable. Dropping The Futures Desk was the single best decision I made.

I have not yet paid taxes on any of the payouts received. Here is what the tax liability looks like based on my brackets, using the most recent $1,010 Lucid payout as an example:

I also plan to allocate 5% ($50.50) to a 401k and 10% ($101.00) to a Roth IRA from each payout, bringing total deductions including retirement contributions to $636.30 per $1,010 payout.

The tax liability across all six payouts has not been settled yet. That is something I am tracking closely as the payouts grow.

Here is what the numbers look like as I scale up funded accounts, based on the current average payout of ~$1,010 per account:

2 accounts, biweekly payouts: ~$4,378/month gross

2 accounts, weekly payouts: ~$8,755/month gross

3 accounts, weekly payouts: ~$13,133/month gross

5 accounts, weekly payouts: ~$21,888/month gross

These are gross figures before the firm's split, taxes, and expenses. But even at the conservative end — 2 accounts paying biweekly — the monthly gross starts to look like a real income stream.

The current focus is getting more Lucid eval accounts funded and keeping the TopStep 150K Express account healthy and producing. Every additional funded account adds directly to the next payout.

Every payout you see documented in this report triggered or will trigger a Rewards Club distribution. As the payout frequency and size grows, so does every pool.

The community is still small. That means the pools are split among fewer people right now than they ever will be again. If you have been considering upgrading your tier, the math is most favorable while the subscriber count is low.

[View the Rewards Club page] [Upgrade your tier]

All figures in this report are real and verifiable. This is not financial advice. Past performance is not indicative of future results.