Thanks for all the great posts.. I'd like to join a prop shop on the west coast but it's hard to find them out here. I'm 26 and been a retail trader for 2+ years, last year full time. I'd appreciate any help..
Every once in a while I like to log on here to read some of the foolish comments from people like Momo, or Traderblue. Take it from someone who has had success with EVERY style of trading, Swift gives you the option to do what you like (tho admittedly, you will be limited at first). It is a good starter, and there are very few firms which compare. I have had months where I made over 30 K on spread, and months where I made over 30K on rebates alone. You are only brainwashed if you allow yourself to be brainwashed. If you want to look for something else, you may find a better payout with a comfortable software. Most likely you will run into a bunch of fools who LOVE to talk, but in reality have nothing but a limited software, hidden fees, and financial headaches. Silly me..working 14 days each month, living a nice lifestyle, but without hope of ever becoming a REAL trader. You with Golden also Blue?
A Swift employee or Manager ? Listen, honestly I dont care one way or the other. Swift Trade is there NOT for their Traders but for the founder Peter Beck to get rich off. The same guy who was in the PORN industry before building this "great" company and growing it all the way to the third world nations. I am not with Golden and frankly dont have to many kind words for them either. Golden is a wanna be Swift and at one time might have been an alternative. Not anymore. I have never disputed that Swift might be a place to get your feet wet, but that Swift is NOT an honest, reliable firm. The rake is worse than Las Vegas, the software is a joke, the managers know jack shit about trading, and the culture is that of shut up and do as your told. They DO and WILL force rebating , and they will laugh all the way to China and the rest of Asia. Giving their traders 10 or 20 percent. Prop in general is shifty and shady. And the King of deception is Swift Trade.
The bottom $line is how many min. $dollars to daytrade, i.e., NYSE & NASDAQ, what's the leverage? What does this "notional money" actually cost the prop firm assuming they give it out to their traders? If $1 controls $25, then that buying/shorting money -- day trading only -- can yield immense profits, particularly on an automated quant price discovery basis watching the entire market, verses the dinosaur trader capability of just a few stocks at a time. My own quant programs are yielding a 2% to as much as 10% NET day trade return per day, non-leveraged . . . though the horsepower of my workstations can animate a TOY STORY in about an hour.
I am looking into joining a prop firm myself and am doing some due diligence. Since most prop firms (e.g. Bright Trading) requires Series 7, I thought the firms themselves would be registered as broker-dealer, and thus we can look up their files (including any possible SEC regulatory actions) on the NASD website. But that is not the case (e.g. you cannot find Bright Trading based on a search on brokerage names). Can anyone explain to me why is it that the traders are required to have Series 7, but the firms are not registered? Also, does anyone know whether we can ask the accounting firm that does the audit for a prop firm to verify that the audited balance sheet prop firms provide us is the true copy? Finally, does anyone know a good law firm familiar with contracts between traders and prop firms that can vet these contracts for us for a reasonable legal fee? Thanks a bunch.
Bright clearly states on their website that they'll show a prospective trader all of their affiliations, balance sheet, etc. Ask Don. don@stocktrading.com
Just to make you aware, we now have an option for non-licensed traders to join us....you can't get the full buying power, as with a S7, but you can get 10: or 15: to 1. I've started a list for the first 25 applicants, please send me a PM or email to don@stocktrading.com with a contact number. I don't want to make a "splash" here on ET (I mentioned this on another thread, and have had a lot more interest than I anticipated. We can also add Canadians form all provinces. As always, we are safe, secure, and transparent with our balance sheets and contracts. PM or email only, please.... Don
lol i'm on the floor don. you're really in left field. you're a nice guy but clueless on the real world. you've even said the advantage of going with bright was the leverage which i can get anywere anyway.but lets say i agree why the hell would anyone go to bright with 10-1 or 15-1 leverage? your rates are by far the highest out there period. .007 for 1k or less? if i'm doing 50k vol i can get 50-1 leverage and .003. on 1 million shares a month thats a huge 4k savings.you need to lwoer your rates huge