I agree with most of this except the part about rates. If you find the other things you're looking for, .004 isn't a bad rate for a brand new trader. I'd actually be a little hesitant of anyone offering sub .002 for someone with zero experience. Pretty good advice overall though.
it is beyond me why a beginning trader should trade beyond 4:1 leverage. it is almost a guaranteed way to blow out the entire account. what firm in its right mind would give a beginning trader .004 and desk space without a deposit?
No "lock up" of capital here. You can certainly feel free to send questions to: donbright@brighttrading.net or simply give me a call to chat: 702.739.1393. Might be easier for both of us, LOL. Don
I wanted to add to the comment on how a prop firm makes money. Not only commissions but also monthly desk charges, training fees (i.e. continuation education) and seminar fees. As far as commissions go, 0.004/share is actually pretty good for a newbie. If you can't make money with this, then cutting it in half won't really do you much good. As a newbie, learning proper trading strategy is far more important than what your commission are. I learned to make consistent money when my commissions were double this amount back in 2000 and the market was choppy and trending down. If anything, high commissions taught me to pick my spots carefully and be patient. Super low commissions tend to encourage churning, shot taking and impatience which fosters bad trading. Low commissions are a double edged sword for newbies (and many veterans) because they don't learn the true value of a trade. It's not the number of shares you trade but the quality that counts. I've known traders that did 50,000 shares a day that blew the pants off of other traders doing ten times that volume per day. Off course, prop firms would much rather have the high volume jocks anyday. Again, don't worry so much about your commission rate. Look for a solid mentorship program with active, profitable traders who you can learn from.
how the prop firms make money on pure newbies (students) who do not pay any deposits nor any monthly fee
My final thought is that with such a low starting capital you should focus on getting the fixed expenses as low as possible. Avoid training fees and inflated desk fees. The last thing you want is to have to make 10% per month just to break even. Also make sure the software is suitable for what you are planning to trade.