Hi DarkTrades, DHOHHI is nitpicking on you "having experience". Naturally, he assumes that if you have been daytrading stack then either: 1) You did it for a prop firm... and then you wouln't be opening this thread; or 2) You have been trading with a $25k+ account and lost enough money so that you are ready to risk only $5k now - nothing to be ashamed with that: everyone who traded real money has had their share of losses; or 3) You have been trading on a longer time frame only and now want to move towards daytrading; or 4) You've been trading in a paper-trading account.
I left a corporate job in 1996 to trade full time. Been at it since, profitable every year and proud that I can volunteer after school at an inner city school 3 days/week tutoring disadvantaged kids. Sorry you don't like the truth. You say you have only $5K. At the same time you say you don't need training and that you have experience. And you conclude that your goal is to get to $25K so you can be a PDT. Why do you only have $5K? That's a legitimate question. If you have experience and do not need training why isn't your account at a point where you have the $25K you aspire to have? For the record, today I traded SVNT, AA, PMCS, QCOR, SANM. I have no reason to post my trades anywhere online -- what's the value? Nothing. It would merely be a labor intensive effort that does nothing for my P&L. I posted to you after hours - twice at midnight and tonight just before 10:00 pm. Posting trades during the trading day takes away from trading. And I sure as heck have nothing to prove to you or anyone else. At the end of the day all that matters to me is did I make $$$. Regarding my 1200+ posts; uhhh, that covers a 7+ year time frame. I average less than 1/2 post per day. You, in your short time here, average 3 times as many posts at 1 1/2 per day. You're welcome to use the Ignore feature on me.
The ridicule is bs. No-one is in any position to judge anyone unless they have seen their P&L - AND by looking on their monitor cause anyone can doctor up a scanned image of a K-1!!!! Why put up $25k if you can put up $5k? To look good to people on the forums? Makes no sense.. Any firm could go bankrupt you never know for sure, sure do your due diligence etc.. Losing $5k vs $25k in such a situation is a big difference. Personally for me there is another factor. I go to my wife for $5k to gamble with - takes some effort but doable - 25k = F*** OFF! Has nothing to do with how good I am - talking about minimizing risk here..
1st time poster on this site. I don't know how experienced DHOHHI or Darktrades are but DHOHHI definitely makes a valid pt. I've worked a prop firm for nearly 7 yrs and seen many guys come and go. Everyone's definition of profitability is different, mine is a trader who can generate at least 200k net annually. A trader who has done that for at least 3-4 plus yrs can begin to say they are experienced and have made a career out of trading. Newbies bring in 5-25k, experienced traders who've been in this business for several years should be capable of putting up 50-100k to start, depending on their risk profile. To hear an "experienced trader" talk about bringing in 5k is a joke. Hope you have at least another 50k in capital once you burn through 5k.
Hey DarkTrades. I am in the same position as you. You have nothing to prove to these people. I have had a system in place for about a year and traded in my off time. I had a job which I was laid off from. I was not expecting to get laid off and right before I threw a lot of money (95% of my liquid cash) into real estate as a venture with a colleague. I still have about $20k in stocks (half is in pennies so can't get margin). I decided to do prop trading as an alternative for now. Good luck. I had hoped you would get better support from people here, but thats human nature. To knock people down and boost themselves up. I would take my system over anyones, head to head any day.
Kseries created that account in June 2008. I doubt it's a fake account that he decided to use now on this thread.
Like others have already said, find a CBSX firm, which does not require the 7 but you have to fill out the U4 registration form and get fingerprinted for background check. While I am not sure what type of leverage you can get with a 5k deposit, it is worth a look but be advised that your deposit is locked up for 1 yr. Avoid unlicensed shops as they hide behind "your training fee is really a deposit model" (read all about Team Trading to see how you can get screwed). Some good CBSX firms are JC Trading (a site sponsor) and Avatar Securities (a NY based firm). But unless you plan on doing serious volume, and I don't see how you can with your planned deposit/leverage ratio, then you have little room to negotiate rates.
Like others have already said, find a CBSX firm, which does not require the 7 but you have to fill out the U4 registration form and get fingerprinted for background check. While I am not sure what type of leverage you can get with a 5k deposit, it is worth a look but be advised that your deposit is locked up for 1 yr. Avoid unlicensed shops as they hide behind "your training fee is really a deposit model" (read all about Team Trading to see how you can get screwed). Some good CBSX firms are JC Trading (a site sponsor) and Avatar Securities (a NY based firm). But unless you plan on doing serious volume, and I don't see how you can with your planned deposit/leverage ratio, then you have little room to negotiate rates.