I hope I at least put a smile on your face, cause I'm laughing my ass off here. I can just imagine what the guy offering deal did right after theump left the room. Probably high-fived his buddy, did a backflip and then exclaimed loudly "Coke and hookers for everyone next month on me"
Not the 200% and 100% you mentioned before, now it sounds a lot more reasonable. Cause I was very close to making fun of you, but Im in a good mood from a solid BJJ class. They are hooking with the overnight leverage. Here is a little secret about Carlin. They charge a high vig (interest) on the overnights. I'm not trying to bash the firm, I thought in all it was a good experience for me but that overnight vig is ridiculous. Do you actually need that much leverage overnight? Are you really going to hold $500k worth of stock on a regular basis? I can direct you to a much better deal depending on what your real overnight need is.
20 to 1 intraday is great for a skilled trader but my guess is Carlin et al will get that $50,000 as commission money from 95% of all novice traders that put it up. A mere 2.5% drawdown if you are extended will cut your capital in half. If it happens twice more you would have the same margin you would have if you put up money at IB etc.
I went from years as a broker, then traded full-time, then was a seminar presenter across North America - and now I'm back to trading full-time. It's a VERY tough business. I don't care what any of the "experts" on this site say. People don't realize how difficult it is to make "x" amount EVERY month consistently to support your family. My advice to potential career traders is the following: 1) Have at least 1 year's income set aside in a money market (ideally 2 years). 2) Whatever amount you think you need to get started, as someone once said, you'll need twice that. 3) Do NOT have "daily" goals. Simply have an annual, monthly and weekly goal. 4) When you hit your goals, STOP trading. 5) ALWAYS set a stop!!! Why go Prop? All you need is to put your money in a retail account. If you're trading stocks, that's 200k in BP, which is more than sufficient. If you're trading futures, you don't need very much at all (PDT rules don't apply). There's a lot more, I may start a thread on this - but that's some of my advice and I do trade full-time.
I couldn't agree more ...just a hint you are way off ... that's why you're getting all these astonished replies about a bad deal ...
Look at Bright, Assent, or Hold Brothers for a better prop. deal. Check out IB and Genesis for the lowest commissions in the retail arena. That is the kind of deal we used to see 7 years ago, alot has changed since then. Good luck.