$1500 for training $4000 to trade firm capital 50/50 split No commissions? What an impressive list... When i started trading prop at Hold Brothers, they required nothing for training. They placed me with the most consistent trader in the company. I never made a deposit. They gave me 1/2 million dollars to trade with after I proved that i can NOT lose money. They gave me 60(for me)/40 split to begin. They also gave me lousy commission at .01/share to begin. While I was there, another fellow joined and he lost almost $13,000 in about 3 weeks. They absorbed all of that and peacefully let the guy go. That is the type of firm you are looking for. That is a professional firm. But still, they will all rip you off in commissions if you are new.
I'm not up to date with the current prop scene but last I remember 1-2 years ago, I was able to get 250k-500k BP with 2k down as risk capital, 100% payout and very low commissions. When I started back in 2003, I put zero money down with 75% split and starting commissions which were high. This ended up going to competitive commissions and 95% split, eventually 100%. Keystone is taking your money for "training fees" and will simply let you trade till you lose a certain amount, at which point you are outta there or you pay more money. It is a scam, because when you put down risk deposit, that is the amount you are allowed to lose. When you pay a fee, which suspiciously is pretty much the same amount as most risk capital deposits, it is at their discretion when you are outta there. You think they will let you run through what you paid them or a smaller amount? Come on. And 50/50 split is a joke. I know there were recent regulatory changes which force these firms to adjust their payout & risk capital structure, but still, that's a shady deal. If you're putting down money, you should get 100% of your profits. 50% split to account for transaction costs is a huge ripoff.
"training fee" = deposit which = hedgefund structure which DOES NOT = TUCO. understand the equation !
Thats interesting...I'm still doing my research as to who I'd want to go with..the trouble for me is to find something like you're describing, but remote..I'm not the OP but thanks for that info..
I bet the same kind of deals are available. However, my experience is that for traders new to prop they don't give as much leverage as I've read they used to. In that regard, they are probably doing most new traders a favor because it would take them longer to blow out and give them more time to sort out a profitable way to trade. The good thing is that being "experienced" might only mean, I dunno - several months - so you can point to your volume after awhile and get better deals.
I'm with keystone and i like it. The training is solid, and worth 4k IMO, because it also gives you some money to trade. I view the trading their capital part as a practice account and plan to just fund my own once I am consitantly profitable. The guys running it seem legit and for me it was the best option to get training and practice because I needed a remote option. If there is a better way to get into the biz remotely for someone that wants training please let me know!
One other thought, if they just took people on for cheap or free, they would get a bunch of losers and a few nice winners. The nice winnners would leave. They have got to do it this way to make money. I don't think you can fault them for that. How else are they supposed to protect themselves doing this remotely?