I traded at two places (6 months total), no capital contribution. I didn't really ask questions walking into it. It wasn't so great in both cases. Now I'm looking at a situation where I might put up my own capital. (I had a possible opportunity out in NJ, but I just didn't have the flexibility to make a full time commitment) I guess the obvious advantage would be trading on my own time since its my money. The training and no cap deal out in NJ would have been better, but it just wasn't possible. Now I'm still looking to trade in their office and looking to find someone to learn from. What are some things I should ask? I've decided to ask if my money would be locked up, commish rates/fee/desk fees. Now i'd like to be able to know if the person i'm learning from is profitable. Maybe one way to do this is to ask for a pnl sheet. Another suggestions would be to just ask to sit next to them for 1 week before making the dive. Had I done this in my first two places, it would have been evident that neither place had a profitable trader. (there were only 2-4 traders in each place) Any other things I should look into?
Insist on seeing balance sheets if you're going to put up money with any firm ...and NEVER get involved in "sub-llc's" (this has been addressed a lot here on ET). --------- Now for an interesting story (at least in my mind).... A few years ago when I first set up my "Professional Traders Tour" panel (to present and answer questions at expos, etc.)...I sent out 27 requests to trading "guru's" to join me, and received 22 replies in the affirmative. Then, to be sure of the creditibilty of the panel, I asked that they simply state that they have made at least $100K trading in the last 12 months (or calendar year)...well, now the list dwindled to 6 total, and I'm questioning 1 of them...LOL ----------- Now, the traders that let you sit next to them were probably not hugely successful either...most traders won't tolerate any distractions while actively trading....we have a "hybrid" method that we use.....specific teaching times .... and hands on, ,full trading, boot camps....where the reason for spending time with new traders is to help grow the business, and the traders are compensated...and each student gets at least one day away from the full boot camp (15-25 new traders in one class), and is allowed to sit between 2 succesful traders for the whole day. Remember, this is an individual sport, and even if you sat next to my brother (who has made well over $100 million trading) you probably wouldn't be able to trade like he does. You simply cannot duplicate someone else's trading style and thought process. You CAN learn all the variables involved and apply them to YOUR style of trading.... Think about it this way, if you sat behind Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and watched him play poker (as I have many times), you probably wouldn't learn a heck of a lot about poker playing, even though he's probably in the top 5 of all players. (Beleive me, I tried to get help, and he was very helpful, but then he says "You have to play "YOUR game, not Mine".... Good luck in your ventures. Don