That's great in theory, but the questions is, how good are the coaches and trainers? - If they can't "cut it" as a trainer, then what is the likelihood that their students will cut it? In fairness, I paid $99 for my prep course. Not bad at all, compared to what other people will charge you for an introductory course (just do a web search). I did pay (far more than $99) for another course before starting at Swift, and it was worth it. My trainer was lax, at best. When we asked him for some tips, his answer was "buy low, sell high". Great. What a mentor. At the time, he had made some kind of distinction between "momentum traders" and "credit traders", whatever the fcuk that means in the real world. But at least they passed the ECN credits on to you, unlike some brokers. I knew much more about Technical Analysis and market mechanics than my trainer ever did, because I went and learned that on my own (plenty of books out there and tons of free info on the Web, newbies). You couldn't discuss any of that with him, though, because he didn't know anything about it, and frankly, he didn't care. Point is... to "cut it" as a trader, it does help to know a little something about the arena, but really, it is 99% psychological. If you can't stand to lose a little money, then chances are you'll hold on to those losers 'til you lose a lot of money. Yet, the environment in some Swift offices (especially the one I was at) is not a healthy psychological environment for trading: - You have to make x amount of dollars over x amount of days before you can move to the next level, or before you can start getting a paycheck, etc. - Your trainer watching your trades like a hawk, yelling at you to get out of a trade when your position is against you 2 cents (you gotta give room for the market to breathe, man). Is that what is called "risk management" at Swift?? - - Your trainer yelling at you to "make more trades". - Other, more tenured traders, supposedly "great traders", yelling at their computers like little children when their trades are not working out (instead of stopping and reversing). Chances are he's eventually going to be the next trainer. - Just try asking your Swift coach about how or where to set up a stop loss, and see if he even knows what a stop loss is. Risk management. - Platforms (ProsperNot) that go down frequently, reducing your chance to make the x amount of dollars in x amount of days that you are so worried about because if you don't you won't be "hired on". - Finding out that when the offices in the more exotic parts of the world were being opened up, that the traders there were probably going to be paid only 10% . And you wondered about getting only 30% of what you made? So, as far as getting an introduction to trading and getting a little exposure to the markets is concerned, Swift is passable for that. And hey, it's free - or at least the barriers to entry are low. But for getting "coaching", "tools", "risk management", and a psychologically-supportive environment to trade in, you may have to look elsewhere (or find the 1 in 10 branches, where such a thing might actually exist).
swift's payout and commissions are better for some... 14 cents a ticket blows away 1$ a ticket when you make 5900 trades in day. (yes I've run the #'s...) even on my slower days when I make 1000 - 2000 trades (and make a lot less cash) it still works out in swift's favour... I'd be broke if I were paying 1$ a ticket... I'm sure there aren't a ton of guys like me out there though... a lot of people would be better of at 80% on a 1$ ticket commish... cheers! mnx
Also, there are so many other factors to consider when trying to decide where to trade. Thats the nice thing about the industry in Canada these days. Your not stuck with 1-2 options, there are plenty. As for other factors, you have to consider Buying power, Leveraged deposit or full prop, do you get paid when you want to or paid when the check comes in the mail/wire, and of course software. Not to mention remote/office, who buys and pays for hardware/software/overhead. To my knowledge there are per share deals from .20 cents - $3 a thousand from 50-100% payout, and per ticket deals from .60-1.00 a ticket 50-80% with varying companies and software. And then swift is variable from i think .15-.45 a ticket depending on share lot (because last i heard clearing was .065 a thousand up to a max of something like 5k shares) Thats what i know!
also we have to remember that a mnumber of swift branches are located in areas where there is no other day trading firms so the only choice is to trade at a swift branch. Yes montreal, toronto (and surrounding area) and vacouver area have other firms where a person can see if their style of trading is better suited to those other firms payout structrure......but for the prairie provinces and the maritimes there probably arent many other choices and so one is stuck with trading at swift.
Good on ya John. It's fair from the top to the bottom. Competetive, but fair. If ya didn't/don't make it and still have the time to anonymously sit here and bitch and whine about it - well it certainly looks good on ya - whiners.
So, assuming you are fairly new at swift but are netting 500/day on 100 trades or so, what whould be the best option? Stay at Swift or go to another firm. If so, which ones are the best?
LOL.....if you are netting $500.00 a day on 100 shares you are a god!! Do the math you won't be netting five hundred a day on one hundred shares. The bubble burst a long time ago those games are long gone!!
I think the swift womb is the like human womb. 9 months should be good. Dont leave too soon theres no point leaving and making less/0 and then not being able to go back. EDIT: Unless you have a strategy you cant do at other firms. I assume you have thought that out though. 100 trades is nice and low, depending on shares you might be able to do one of the 100% deals out there.
100 trades, not 100 shares - not planning on leaving anytime soon but 35% is hard to swallow - trying to make rent, etc. Any suggestions on other prop firms I could investigate? Which ones are the best? Would the trading environment be similar, ie ecn's, execution speed, etc?