Interesting. Dont really know much about 'prop firms'. It seems to be quite an american thing - Im in Europe. Still I imagine they would take people from all around the world (not that I could do it until i saved up some money for a while but still) Prop firms lend you enough money to be able to daytrade with $25k plus? They also take some of the money you make? Do they take on anyone as long as you have the $5k? What is the a/c opening process like? I went to a prop site a long time ago (bearcapital i think?) and there wasn't a 'click here to open and fund you account' option like im used to her in europe, lol. thx
It's not a standard process where you can open an account with a few clicks. You need to speak to someone and they can explain it all to you. You put down a certain amount of money (each firm has different requirements) and then they give you anywhere from 20:1 to 100:1 intraday buying power, which avoids the PDT rule. The commissions you pay are generally less than retail brokers, but the catch is that they want a percentage of your profits (usually 20%, but it varies). All losses come out of your own money, and they have risk control that monitors how much you're losing. They have the power to cut you off if you lose too much and start endangering their own capital. Last time I checked there were firms that took on anyone, although I'm not sure if some require a series 7 or not...things may have changed since I looked at it. Check out the forum on ET for prop firms, as well as the broker reviews on this site.
Bad one again. Had a short signal in globex - it was showing me a few points profit that i didn't take. I thought id slightly increase my stops today, and just my luck, the day turned out to be one way up trend stopping me out for 3.5 points. People tell me to never short the ES market as it will always generally go up. Odds are in my favour to buy it etc. That may be the case, but at the moment my trading is too short term for that to effect me much i think....but maybe not! Went short at 1026 in the evening and closed it for +1. snatched profit. Torn between taking all my signals and just ignoring all short trades as i am fighting against the government with short trades. day = -2.5 points - ill call it -$150 So first red week: week total = -635! Totals So far: m+450 t-180 w-175 th+340 fri+35 total week 1 - +$470 m+200 t+120 w+140 -th155 fri+200 total week 2 - +$505 m-305 t-85 wed - +140 th -360 Fri - -150 Total week 3 - -$635 looking forward to seeing how next week plays out for me. Gonna increase my stops slightly and might tweak some things over the weekend.
thanks. So whats the a/c opening process like then out of interest? Is it like a job interview or something? why do i need to speak to them? is it a long process? I demo traded a stock trading platform today. Done really well. Seemed that because there are so many stocks to choose from there is always a stock making a pattern that i can trade. I did over trade tho, but done loads better than i did trading the ES today. Nearly all of the profitable guys in the pnl thread trade equities i see...
I can't really answer these questions, as I don't trade prop myself. You would be better off posting in the Prop Trading forum to get an answer on these....
ok day. Feel a little unlucky as im using bigger stops today which has been suggested to me a few times, although as luck would have it, they worked against me today. Every winning trade i made never went more than 2 ticks against me, and the main loser i took a 4 point hit on would usually have been stopped for about -1.5 or so. Still, its only one day. 10 trades - way too many: +2.5 -.25 -4 -1.5 +1.5 +1 +1.25 +1.25 +1.75 +2.25 Total = +5.75 say +$180 after comissions and stuff.....
I have attached my ES trades for the day via a chart if anyone is interested in viewing or has any comments.
If you are using a demo platform, do yourself a favor and check your fills very carefully against Time and Sales and watch the DOM display carefully to make certain you are being filled on the ask for buys and on the bid for sells. Demo's give unrealistic fills at best, and some fill your buy orders on the bid and your sell order on the ask. Even my goldfish could make money under those conditions.
hehe. I trade with other demo traders (and real ones) in a skype room, and the demo traders are getting killed each day, so you must have a smart goldfish! this is from the ninjasite regarding demo software: "The Ninja Trader fill engine considers time bid/ask volume, and last trade volume to calculate fill probability. It also generates random order delay times to simulate real-time conditions when placing orders. The algorithm gives time credit (to model order queue position) to limit orders based on the length of time the order has been resting at one price. Therefore, an order that has been sitting for five minutes will be given fill priority over another order sitting at the same price level for only one minute. The Ninja Trader fill engine also takes into account slippage for market orders and simulated partial fills as well. You can rest assured knowing that the realistic fill engine is not giving you optimal fills that may falsely pad your simulated trading statistics" Also, as i mentioned in earlier posts, I am adding on 'charges' each day after commissions to help cover anything in the demo that may help my results (although this doesn't appear to be the case)
winning day again. Way too many trades again. I ignored a nice long setup which wuold have made it a great day. Thought it was up too much to carry on flying up. More fool me. Total +220 say $50 in commissions. say $20 for the sake of it/random costs: $+150 So far this week mon - +$180 Tue - +$150