The $25k minimum for day trading applied only to securities, not futures or forex. With futures, you can start as small as your broker allows. Money management in futures has a "friends & family" exemption that allows you to skip the expense and hassle of registration while you're small. I am less familiar with what is available on the securities side. Anybody know? The problem with managing money for friends and family is that, unless you're a total jerk, you feel bad when you go into a drawdown. That added pressure is not good for your trading, especially when you're starting out. It's better to trade your own money until you have the bugs worked out. Just be aware as you grow that the bigger your capital base, the harder it is to execute. <!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]-->
Strings : obviously you can't piss off if you have just made quickly say the 10grands you needed to go and trade somewhere else.
This topstep seems more geared toward daytraders. It would be kinda hard for a swing trader to try to make the 8.5K in 1 month with the 100K account and a max drawdown of only 3K. Furthermore one requirement is that you: "achieve an Overall Winning Day percentage of 55 or greater" - Is that a joke?
So if you are trading family/friends money do you have to get a CTA license and are you considered a hedge fund? I heard also about seed capital firms like BRI Partner's in Chicago - What's your take on this route? I think you would get more money than from friends/family but who knows what strings are attached with these places.
If you are into day trading, join a prop firm. They will allow you to have access to potentially millions of dollars in capital.
I definitely agree with this approach. And for some reason I make a lot more money trading when I have a job, compared to when I try to sit at home and try to do it full time. Professional income + 100% returnz on trading account = retired in 5 years :eek:
I agree that they're geared more toward day traders based on the criteria you have to meet. I think they set the bar pretty low for day traders with a 55% winning day percentage. That means about half your trading days must be profitable, not even wildly profitable, just profitable. Obviously, TopStep is not for you if you find their requirements to be too extreme.
What kind of family members or friends do you know that will give you money to trade with? Without having a successful trading background! First off I don't trade other people money unless I can back them dollar for dollar. When I have $30K in my account, them an investor can come in at $25k or less. So If for what ever reason, my losses and the stress level calls for a break (which has never happened) I can return the investors money and sleep at night. I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 phone. Looking to upgrade to the LG G Flex with T-Mobile on 4GLTE. That phone is 6 in display which is bigger than the Note 2. With the most important aspect, having 4G LTE for faster executions and application stability.