There is more to it, obviously, but I'm not going to write a book. This is the basics and what they'll probably say in their advertisement. I'm just trying to help people protect themselves from the same trap I was subjected to. There are times I have been successful, and times I have not. In 2009 the market stagnated and I got hammered. When it's moving, like it is now, I can do quite well. Bingo-ish, and understandably upset. I stopped trading a few years ago and went back to school. Used my money on living and education. As I said I was very tired of working from home and needed a change before I went all The Shining on someone. If it were legit...yes, I was a little desperate and bought into the illusions of grandeur. I was very leery of anything they brought before me. If you would like more information, feel free to PM me. Like I said, I'm just trying to help anyone who may fall into the same trap and would be curious if anyone else has.
Very kind of you to reply to all this and add more details. It certainly all makes sense now. I think that focusing on what is important here is key. You haven't lost any money yourself, and you've shown you can trade. I don't know enough about the prop world, but it seems like trading profitably is the biggest hurdle. Money should be easy to find. There are some traders here who are well connected am I am sure would be more than willing to help if what you need is an "in" at a good firm. One who I would suggest is @rmorse Every time he replies to a post he does so with the utmost professionalism. I'm not sure if he can help you directly with connections, but he might be able to set you on the right path. Edit: Of course you might not be looking for help and just passing info along about your experience, and I think with a more complete back story now, the info will be that much more relevant.
I'll take all the help I can get. One thing I've realized is that who you know is sometimes more important than what, and, unfortunately, I don't know anyone. Networking has never been my strong suit, but I'm working on it. Thank you for the advice! I appreciate it.
I find that networking and trading is a double edge sword. Because trading is so personal, most people aren't in the position to actually help any one individual trader other than generalities, and these you can just pick up from the net. Once a trader becomes successful, there is simply no need for anyone else. Its not like the real world where even though you might land a great job, its still important to maintain a group of connections because you might find yourself looking for work again and need to use your contacts. The trading world is full of people seeking help who know nothing, and people offering to help, who don't know much as well, and perhaps even have sinister motives. Once traders figure things out, disappearing is the best course of action. There are of course some specific areas where this doesn't apply, such as cases like this where a trader needs to get matched up with a firm, but these are issues outside of trading strategy and such. So not having built up a network is I think absolutely fine. I think if you have an edge and know how you trade, you're the guy in the position of power. Have you ever heard or something like https://www.topsteptrader.com/ ? I can't vouch for them, and I don't even believe that this is the best option for a trader who knows how to trade, but I think they are legitimate enough that you can at least demonstrate if you can trade or not. Passing some thing like this would I imagine be a good thing, but at the same time, this might just be something for the daydreaming regular folk who think they can make it big trading from home during their lunch break. The prop world, where a trader might actually have access to several million dollars of buying power is more than likely a whole different ballgame. Since you did say though that regular prop firms wouldn't look at you and hence you had to go with a shady operation, then perhaps you're not consistent enough yet, so that might be a problem, but this is certainly out of my domain of interest and expertise.
FINRA is the organization that records the names of all the brokers and firms that are licensed to do business in the U.S. I checked the guy's name and Capital Assets limited and neither one of them came up. It makes you go hmmmm.... They keep records for a minimum two years even after someone loses their license. If you can't find them, especially after you search the names of all the people you are aware of in the Seattle office, I would file a complaint with the SEC. You might even get a financial reward for doing it.... Do you have a Series 7 license ? It seems like you would need one to trade for someone else. Or another license related to hedge funds or mutual funds... Good luck. http://brokercheck.finra.org/Search/GenericSearch Bernie Madoff is still there.....http://brokercheck.finra.org/Report/Download/42779424
There is another that you can look at also. They don't seem to have personal without capital requirements https://manovermarket.com probably for those that want to trade but are afraid to use their own capital, so its probably not easy.
This guy is contacting me right now, as I write this he is talking to me. Wants to invest in real estate, wow!
So you were trading equities with a mortgage broker? The Google search term you cited comes up with a loan company in Seattle.