Glad your are sharing!! People here on ET enamored wit htese trade shops dont get full picture And if you have a bad month or Q, they tell you to F off in heartbeat and ruin your reputation etc.
This thread is becoming divided right down a certain line. It looks like the people who have traded prop before and have not been able to profit on their trading are negative on the industry as a whole and the ones who have traded prop and have been able to make money in their trading are generally positive on the industry. Hopefully the "little guy" doesn't really listen to anything (positive or negative) on an internet message board (oh wait, it's on the internet so it must be true) and they are intelligent enough to do their own due diligence and make an adult decision on their own. And if they don't do a thorough job of research and get burned, then it's their fault. Where did personal responsibility and just making a bad decision go in this world? And if they end up getting burned, lesson learned. It's not the end of the world. And if it ends up being great, well done. Each person will inevitably have a different experience based on their personality when trading prop and each firm will be different. Some are better than others and it would be great if this is what this thread turned into. We have all had to go through life and learn these kind of lessons and it has made me a better trader and person because of it. Pick yourself up and try again. Eventually you will find either the prop firm or the setup that works best for you, your style of trading and your personality. Some people trade best by themselves and others benefit from being in a group. Some people will trade better in a proprietary trading firm and some will do better on their own. Some people trade best when they have a firm looking over their shoulder to beat them over the head when they trade like an idiot and take too much risk and others won't trade well in that situation because of the pressure. It all comes down to what is best for you and your personal success. I appreciate everyone on this thread who has given their opinion but that is all it is...an opinion of some random guy out there (or gal of course), sitting behind his computer. This guy could be living in his mom's basement in his dirty underwear for all you know, trying to sound like an expert in trading. Anyone who listens to them is a fool. Oops, sorry everyone. Got to go. Mom said it's time for breakfast and I need to find some clean underwear.
+1 soccerscott on your post And thanks for the laugh as well. In any business there will be winners and losers. The winners will go about their business with a smile on their faces and the losers pout and complain that it is not their fault. That is how the world works.
Wow - Maverick is looking good. They're like a prop extension of Interactive Brokers !!! What platform(s) do they offer ?
It's threads like this that stand out as shining examples of why most people on this forum are unprofitable, non-professional traders. I'm also left constantly wondering why I waste my time here.
the kids on here crying about deposits are just little bitches who won't get anywhere in life. Same type of people looking for free handouts from government. This is what the entitlement system has done to Americans. What fools ya'll are to expect someone to give you a fully-backed trading account and allow you to trade however you'd like. discretionary trading does not exist anywhere. The firms that people mention here that don't require deposits accept professional traders who can demonstrate that they can generate enough commissions to cover their loses. If you don't like, that's just too bad for you.
You are absolutely right. And no one should expect a great prop "deal" without being able to prove a decent track record. That being said, a lot of issues raised in this thread were related to unethical business practices: refusing deposit refund requests, verbally indicating one deal and writing-up a different deal, not fully disclosing platform issues (i.e. delayed quotes, lack of stop orders, changing Buying Power without notice, etc). The list can get pretty long. I remember on my last foray, the manager indicated they supported an automated trading platform and had built an interface to their data feed. I discovered later, that was a complete line of B.S....it didn't exist.
I guess I still find it astonishing that in a business that has over a 90% failure rate across all asset classes that there are still an endless parade of people that think they can put up 5 or 10 grand, leverage it 20,30 or 40 to 1 or more and have a decent shot at making a viable career out of it. You really do have a better chance of being a PGA player even if you don't play golf. I started trading in the 90's and was fortunate to find a guy that backed traders 100%. The commissions were a lot higher back then so he made money on that and margin interest. I got a 100% payout and everyone was happy. Commissions came down a lot from 97 to the 2000's and the guy didn't like taking the risk anymore. He got out of the business and those days are over. Today I don't see how anyone has much of a chance with the prop/deposit business model. I was down close to 40 grand before I turned around and made money. They let me stay because with the commission they were up on me. Psychologically if you come in with 5 or 10 grand and you need to make right away, you have little if any hope. Prop firms have little if anything to offer somebody that has knowledge and money. The best thread in this forum is "Experienced Trader looking to open account with min 25K deposit", everybody should go back and read it. I know a couple guys that still trade prop that have the money to trade retail and I don't know why they do. What does somebody need a prop firm for that doesn't want to use ridiculous leverage? Sooner or later it's just a headache.
BP (leverage) should be assigned based on track record period. No track record= 5:1 fair track record=10:1 good track record=20:1 great track record=50:1 reassess every 6 months. Do good prop firms do this I wonder ?