Futures Proprietary Trading

Discussion in 'Professional Trading' started by aetrade, Aug 30, 2016.

  1. aetrade

    aetrade

    Can someone give me a current (as of 2016) state of the futures proprietary trading arena?

    Names of firms?

    Types of deals?

    Commissions and fees?

    Risk capital required?

    How to join these firms?

    Do you still maintain your independence when you join these firms?

    Any other details would be appreciated.
     
  2. Maverick74

    Maverick74

    Sorry dude, you are mixing the old equity model with the futures model. The futures model "hires" people. They are not allowed to take risk capital. Better have a nice looking resume.
     
    bone likes this.
  3. aetrade

    aetrade

    Thanks.

    Can you tell me the structure of the deals for the "hired" traders? What are the profit sharing ratios, how much capital is provided to the trader, how are losses shared, what fees are charged to the hired trader, what are commission rates, is remote trading allowed, can I maintain ownership of my IP, any non-competes, etc.
     
  4. cvds16

    cvds16

    why don't you just trade your own money ? seems a basic question imho ... if your good you can make a living from that ...
     
  5. Xela

    Xela


    I can't answer for the OP, obviously, but it's very clear (for example from looking at all the Youtube videos made by people successfully funded by TopStepTrader to trade futures) that there are large numbers of people about, worldwide, with genuine, edge-based trading abilities and without enough starting capital of their own to be able to make a living from their skill-set, at least in the short-term.

    An association with some kind of prop-firm can enable some people to make a living while gradually building their capital, just as a mortgage can enable some people to have a place to live while growing their own capital investment at the same time. No real "big mystery", here, regarding "why people need such services", surely?
     
  6. speedo

    speedo

    Yes and they can build their disciplines under imposed constraints.
     
    Xela likes this.
  7. 2rosy

    2rosy

    one good thing about being a "hired" trader is that you can leverage off the firm's knowledge, infrastructure, ... Then if you leave that position and try to trade on your own you're just like everyone else and most likely lose.
     
  8. garachen

    garachen

    Names: Jump, DRW, tower, etc
    Payout: 5% to 25%
    Fees: on average. All in about 25c total per side. Including exchange fees. Varies by product.
    No risk capital.
    Really good resume plus actual skills
    No independence
    No IP
    No remote
    6-12 month non compete

    Hard to get an entry level job. Very competitive.
     
    cjbuckley4 and aetrade like this.
  9. aetrade

    aetrade

    Could you qualify what you mean by "no risk capital"?

    When you say "No IP" does that mean I keep the IP I bring, but cannot keep any new IP I develop while there. Could you please qualify.

    What's the typical amount of starting capital allocated to these "hired traders"?

    Thanks.
     
  10. Xela

    Xela


    For what it's worth (if anything), and just as a sort of "general note" rather than a specific answer to your question, I think it's more helpful and makes more sense to think of it and define it in terms of "maximum position-sizing permitted" than "funds allocated" (even if a specific amount of funds is allocated).
     
    #10     Aug 31, 2016
    aetrade likes this.