Most if not all prop groups in Chicago put traders on simulator. yeah its not 100% the same but it does see how well that recruit can trade. How he holds his position manages his account etc..
From what I see you can trade however you want outright spreads etc.. if your method is profitable they back you. Sounds straight forward.
I've traded for years and all I know is I spent thousands on figuring out the learning curve of trading.. if this program or a farm program had been around 10 years ago and you said I could get in the trenches and trade a live market risk free use whatever strategy I wanted to implement in the market.. then if my ass is good I go live plus refunded my deposit (which i believe it is).. sign me up.. hell I was dumb enough to save up $2,500 dollars and go to a bs online trading academy class when I was 23. Not all new young eager traders have that.
If you can't tell I am still bitter about the $2,500 OTA class. lol
You can't be bitter about having made a decision that otherwise wouldn't have taught you the lesson to know you'd made a mistake. It's a paradox. Just like every trading decision.
Like why AAPL crashed after earnings, but GOOG did not. Explain that.
Ok, Ive got the deal with Patak Trading Partners. You do not need to supply ANY capital other than the deposit you have to put down in the beginning. I think its $65 right now. This is a new company and Im guessing that is going to go way up because for $65 you get access to all the CBOT/CME live feed markets. So even if you dont want a job with them, it is very useful to have access to. If you make a lot of money in you ''Combine'' you are hired. Thye have a set amount so there is no gray area in whether you get hired. I think you have to make $6,000 in the month that you are doing the Combine.
So this is pretty legit. Id say its a genius idea and maybe the best thing that could happen to wanna be traders just trying to break into the industry because you actually get to learn for a month before being thrown into trading live markets so you cant make all your mistakes without taking a big lose. Obvisouly the learning curve is longer than a month, but this program would help get out the biggest kinks before a guy goes live.
What is interesting is that live BATS quotes are free via Worden's "freestock charts.com", and that there may be further changes to the cost of real time data in the near future, seeing how the industry will be grabbing whatever is left, with the prospects of worldwide depression taking shape.
One could say that the wannabetrader trader model was made better from 2000 to 2010.....but after 2010 perhaps the model will come about , something like:
1) prove your edge in live simulation at no cost
Data costs could drop next to nothing in order to allow for this....thus enabling a sizable "sifting" process. Firms would be looking to sift bigger numbers.
2) No deposits (SEC rules etc.)
3) Small initial funding that is increased as performance merits.
The industry in terms of business models and legalities has changed quite a bit from 2000 to 2010, and in 2020 will be quite different than it is today.
The industry is in its infancy, because even just 10 years ago, the trading venues were dramatically different.
Kudos. Absolutely. Some really intelligent, well thought-out, organised thinking here, which shows that the industry has started to evolve beyond the churn and burn model Assent created, that maybe something better will come of this industry now that retail has merged towards proprietary, and proprietary has been stripped away from the banks and where the money should be, in hedge funds.
I want to reply to this more specifically, but it's Sunday, God isn't trading today.
Patak and Pulsar are on the right track....but not quite there...but are initializing the "internet based remote sifting model".
Here is what may be useful:
Prop firms:
All offer a form of screening via simulation for no fee.
The prop firms have investor backing that are looking for "interesting performance prospects".
Stocks, ETFs, or futures could be utilized.
No deposits.
OK, I'm going to have to take the other side of this here. Look you guys, there are a lot of people on this site that are getting the mistaken impression that some model is broken or not working. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Here in Chicago we have over 50 prop firms. They are having no trouble finding traders, good traders. Don't fix what's not broken. These firms are executing the same model they have for years and it works. It works very well.
I don't want to sound like a dick here, but the fact of the matter is the equity prop firm has been a dumping ground for years. All the guys that couldn't get into an investment bank or top tier prop firm have gone the route of the deposit prop firms. Those firms were never meant to be bulge bracket firms. They are bucket shops. Don't get me wrong, there are good traders at many of these places, but a majority of the guys that are trying to trade there are not tier 1 traders.
So if you guys really want to trade prop there are two ways to do this. One, is to be fresh out of a top school with advanced degrees in stats, engineering or computer science. The other is to walk into one of these firms with your trading sheets in hand. Show them you have the stuff and they will point you to your seat. Everything else is bullshit. The system works, stop trying to change it or claim it needs changing.
