How come you are saying that I have no desired for this job ? I put school on hold because short of cash, not because I was lazy or stupid. I did not have money to pay for the rent or grocery. How could I stay in school and be a good student when my stomach was always hungry, it was also because I ate a lot too, nothing fancy or expensive, just nomal food. I have been reading, researching and trading all on my own, just me myself my laptop and books, no family, no friends, no social life in more than one year. I just started to have profit in the last 3 months, now my net worth is up. But my tiny Ameritrade account probably will not be able to make enough money to get me a green card in the next year. I don't have margin in this account and they only let me make 1 trade in three days with the same money. If I have to leave this country, I'd better shoot myself right in the head. I got an American's flag and an American's map hang in my room since I was in Junior high. Just watched American movie, American music, I was born outside of the states but I am an American at heart. I quitted college also because it was just a cheap rural community college. I coundn't be satisfied with that, I went to one of the best high school back home, got a national prize for computer programming (Pascal), I was able to chose and go straight to whatever university I wanted, of course back home. I called myself Newbie because there are so many experienced trader in here, also a lot of successful peoples, a few millionaires. Guy like me should be called newbie. What would you do if you are in a situation like mine right now ? Will a good firm sponsor for my green card if I make a good trader ? Thank you very much for your post. Sincerely, Mali.
Mali, I came to the US on an F1 visa and got a job at a university after completion of my studies. If you have an F1 visa but are not attending school then you are out of status, regardless of the expiration date of your F1 visa. Since 9/11 the INS has been ever more vigilant about out of status F1 visa holders. My advice to you is to go back to school, finish your studies, then get a job which will enable you to build up a trading account. If your trading doesn't work out then you have something to fall back on. I know this advice is probably something that you don't want to hear but consider the alternative possibility of being deported. Richard
You do not know what you're getting into... Trading is a very self-fulfilling and morally harsh business (You make money or you're out). Having the legal handicap is not suited for trading. Prop. firms are a different animal than trading retail. They expect you to scalp your ass off and most of what you did in the Ameritrade account will help but have little to do with what you will be doing. I would wait for your situation to settle. It's psychologically different with trading a longer timeframe. Also, with the desire... I think you're in it for some other reason... tell me why you would like to trade. Academically, why are you in the current situation? How are both situations building up as to what you are looking into doing? Answering that... do you have desire to be a trader?
Judge as you would any business venture. Sure, I may be biased to the upside, but you might consider evaluating your chances in any business venture as a gauge for your chances in the trading business. Trading is a very personal thing....and the "successful minority" who do well are very happy....and we all look to the financial world as part of our being (at least the people on this board, for the most part). Being a serious player is not easy, and yes, you need to have a strong conviction to come out ahead. Don
is just me or is it strange that a guy that claims to have $10k to speculate with is starving and cant afford school? priorities off maybe?
F1 Visa Students need proof of financial support from parents. I don't know about the thread starter but it is needed to go into school as a foreigner... He might have his parents pay for his life expense, cheating on his parents by using the tuition for trading capital, fully supporting himself, etc. etc.... Who knows...
What's wrong with put school on hold to spend full-time trading ? I did it, I did it after I took the business administration class which had the introduction about the stock market in which I found immediate interest in. Yeah, you were right WD, I were in it because some other reasons too. There were too many reasons for me to be in this career, legal, money, and the most important thing was interest. Everybody knows that one would hardly find success if he doesn't have passion in what he does (He might be if he is David Letterman right now). Thus I wasn't stupid enough to ignore this. Eventually I was right, after about one year, I have been able to make a modest living from the market recently. This country is very generous (like blonde ), it always gives people the opportunity to work, to prove themselves. Some of you would hardly see it the way I do. Like giving a meal for a rich guy ( :eek: ) who almost never have to wait for 8 hours between each meal, he would find it's taste is normal, sometimes awful. But give that same meal for a poor guy (who is handsome, by the way ), who often eat one meal a day, he would find it's just damn tasty, damn delicious. My question is that is there any chance at all that a proprietary trading firm (just an average one) in NYC area would take me as their proprietary trader? From my situation you know that I am below a normal guy because I have a legal handicap which I can take care real soon, or probably the legal department of a firm could take care right away. Plus I would put up $10k cap, and I would sign a contract with them for at least three years even the favors are in their side, to show them how grateful I am because they give me the opportunity. Plus I am making a living from trading right at this moment, it's just small, but that's why I need their money to trade. I want to know the risk so I could go ahead and sell everything in my apartment to move to NYC at the end of this month, also at the end of the lease.
I just finished the school, because I have a completion fettish. It didn't really help my trading. If a guy's really willing to starve himself to keep $10K in a trading acct then maybe that's a good indicator of what he should be looking to do. It's an unlikely story, but I pulled similar stunts in college.
mali, if you are really a good trader, then go for it and you have all the money you have ever wanted, mail, if you are not a good trader and have just been lucky, think about what you will do if you cannot make a living at trading
On the other hand, I know two things about US immigration: 1. If Satan has ever actively inspired anything on this planet, it is the US immigration laws and related government practices. 2. No one, not the people who made the law, not the ones who are responsible for implementing it, no immigration lawyer, not even anyone on this board, actually knows what maledictions like "out of status" actually mean or what consequences they have in reality. I believe this country is not sufficiently developed to handle the matter any differently than the current status quo: If you pay the right people (usually any high priced immigration attorney will do that on your behalf or, even better, be that person) you get your green card within a couple of months. Otherwise, if you speak Arabic or wear a towel on your head, your green card application will be denied. And if you fall into neither category, which seems to be your case, you will have to call a lot, write a lot, drive around a lot, wait a lot, and most importantly, pay a fortune in fees for a period of approximately a decade, and after that you will become a citizen. It doesn't really matter if you are out of status or unlawfully present or a terrorist for that matter, as long as you don't check that box on your application.