The purpose of this thread is to hopefully give me a fair read on this firm and maybe some general career guidance. Any traders out there ever work for this firm. This is my first post, but I'm an avid market watcher and am seriously working toward a career in prop trading. FNYS salary/ training etc. look attractive as a lead in. some of the others that look good too, from what I see; Worldco and Heartland Securities. Any takers to open up a discussion, I truely appreciate it. and if you work there and want free lunch, maybe after the close I'll be happy to pay for your time, say at Smith & Wolensky, on 3rd Ave! No joke, to me it would be worth it because I read about so many nightmare firms I don't want to make the wrong start.
seriously. I don't know this particular firm but let me say this; where you work is not nearly as important as what you do there. In trading you are faced with a series of challenges to make decisions. I figure this most firms have some training but you should be self educated in trading IMO. Number of factors I think are important in firm selection; 1) how much money do you need to personally put up to trade 2) how much is (all inclusive) cost to be there, desk fee, cents per share (ticket charge ? - avoid them, RUN !! from a place like that) 3) how long is the contract - commitment 4) how much is the salary (if any at all) 5) what is the profit breakdown So since it your money and your life - you assign weight to these as you see them important. A person who is working at a firm may say to you - "it's a great place becuse I get a salary" -he may need some money to live on, doesn't mind a 40% 60% split to the firm, for the first year. You may think it's nuts - you have a small trust fund to live on. My point to illustrate is that it really does not matter what anyone says, you must know what you want !!! So assign priorities to the list above and interview these forms according to you needs and wants. I used to work at ETG with Bob Kanter - he used to charge us a large monthly fee (desk fee) $1500 (yes I use to work in the big apple too) Now if you can scalp something of a sure thing - he would put lot more money at your disposal and the split was 70/30. 70 going to you. You could make 20k to 50k a month $1500 is nothing !! If you can't create a little situation for yourself like that your $1500 expense will kill you, no matter how good you are. Anyway good luck !!!
First New York Securities was one of the original proprietary trading firms. They were in business before direct access software and used Floor Brokers to execute orders. They back traders with firm capital and pay out a percentage of profits. I don't comment on other firms. Before signing up with any proprietary firm-read employment contract, talk to other traders that have traded there and look at the firms in house technology. If you do have to sign an employment contract , read all the fine print carefully. Good luck. Gene Weissman Lieber & Weissman Sec., L.L.C. gweissman@stocktrade.net
andrasnm: I definitely need to find out more about this place. Your right salary definitely matters for now. Otherwise I would be left to my own devices to raise capital. That would take time. I've got the patience to do it and am trying to get myself in a financial position to make a year long run for it, no holds barred! ie I study technical analysis, read markets all day at work, etc. I even trade my 401k! only long side LT term trades, but I'm putting my money where my mouth is. (its a small amount) FNYS- Their website is most enticing (its seems to be for a newbie like myself). Gene; being the business owner side of an LLC, I respect your comment about a contract. I will take that to heart and watch out for fine print. Although, I would love to hear the juice on this firm, I've read much about others. I'm just not about to buy into the advertising that takes place on a firm's website, so I like to hear the dirt and make my own decision. I just have not heard much. Maybe that's a good sign?! Thanks again. My offer is still open for lunch!
I talked to a guy on vault.com who interviewed with FNYS. He got an offer but turned them down. The story goes that the CEO did the interview. The guy looks over the candidate's resume and says, "This resume sucks, you're not fit to trade with us." Then, the senior traders come in and start firing questions at him and curse him out. Basically they tried to rattle him. But he held his own and they gave him an offer. I've heard of Market maker firms in Chicago that do something like this. My classmate interviewed with group 1 and they pulled out a stop watch and fired off rapid math and statistics questions. But FNYS does pay a salary and doesn't require you to put up squat. You lose their money for a year. Sounds like a sweet deal to me. Also, the other rumor I've heard is that you can make 450K in your second or third year. Or get fired real quick cuz you can't handle the pressure. It sounds like that movie boiler room... But since FNYS pays a salary and it's a big time NYC firm, competition must be stiff. I know a guy over at Momentum. That's also a salaried prop trading shop. They get 200 resumes a week. All the ex wall streeters must be rushing to the prop shops now. Tough competition. But good luck. And whatever you do...don't cry in the interview
liltrdr: I read the site Momentum is another that looks good. Any numbers on the salary? I really couldn't care about salary, its simply a means to save myself the time it takes to save that kind of bank roll
I think it's around 45K. It's good. That's why the get all the Resumes. Good luck. The guy I knew who got in knew somebody trading for the firm. He had to wait a year before he got in. WorldCo might be a better bet. They're bigger and constantly have ads up on Monster.com. Check Monster.com out too.
Also, Andrasnm used to work at ETGtrade and knows people there. Email him and ask him for info. They offer a salary. Also, have you considered taking out a loan to trade?