So I called keystone and I guess you have an option to go to a 50 / 50 payout, but only pay 2 cents / 100. Could this really be true? Seems a bit too fishy for me. they are not a broker dealer. I couldnt find the answer in the keystone thread a bit back.
What seems to be fishy ? Take good note that many firms offer 2 cents /100 (0.20/1000 shares) and payout much higher than 50%.
It'll be tough to find .002 unless you know what you're doing. 50/50 is decent in that light, and if you prove your worth you can likely negotiate higher later. But given that, keystone seems to have aligned their incentives with yours while you're learning: to just make gross profit. They earn when you do. That's a different model than a chop shop (which I started at, and while I grossed pretty damn high they fleeced me on .01 a share)
I have talked to them. I am curious what you ( NYC212) think is fishy about them? I know at least one more prop that offers $0.002.
How much training fee/enrollment you have to give to keystone to join the firm? Is the fee you give them is put into your account as your starting balance (in others it is yours if you leave) or is got to Keystone for good. I heard you have give them 4k USD simply for joining.
check their website for Premier (20cts per 1000 shares, 50% payout) and Platinum ($1.20 per 1000 shares, 80% payout) programs. Joining fee is $4,995 for 4 months training. yea, the other thread keeps beating about the $5K being used as "deposit" for your losses but no its payment for enrolment and training to become their trader.
Unless you're signing a contract for a fixed period of time (say 2 years), paying for training without a guarantee that you won't be booted after a short time is a waste of your time.
For those who can't do math, 2 cents/100 shares is .0002/share, not .002. To the topic, many shops offer this deal because they have an agreement with their clearing for a fixed commission for trading a specific stock. If you get this deal, you are limited to what they tell you to trade, which is what they guy next to you trades and the guy across from you trades. Benefit to the firm is that these trades tend to cross each other so that the firm exposure is kept to a minimum. If you want the freedom to trade stuff like GOOG or CME or GS, etc, you would not get that teaser rate you mention.