i would not believe any stats on the industry. Who comes up with that stuff?? When was the last time someone called you and said they were with an organization to count how many traders are successful?? Yes i know plenty of failures. I know of successful people too. If you are afraid to succeed, then don't try it. I do well, and I'll never do anything else. I can't see myself ever working for someone else. I do what I want, when I want. Isn't that the best reason to try trading??
They always talk about the 90% of traders that fail. Let me ask you this: How about the 90% of average Americans that fail? They spend their lives hating their jobs, never making more than $100k, spending 10% more than they make on shoes, air conditioning, "luxury" cars, and when they die, their net worth is negative. So what makes anyone think he should continue living?
They are not prop traders, but institituinal and sales traders. Different concepts. These guys think prop trading is pure gambling, as if they know exactly what is going on and whats going to happen everyday in the market. LOL yeah right. Currency trading is the most like prop trading but nowdays it's more about the head boss traders telling the traders what positions to take, while they figure out how. BTW, off topic, but Goldman bond traders made a killing with Russia's government bonds back in early 1990s. Goldman always had a great international debt traders.
I am not the smartest tomato in the patch, but I have stuck with it for ten years here in rural Lower Jerkwater. If I can overcome the hurdles of coming from the rural poor and trade profitably in the three worst years for a long, long time...well...anyone that want's it can do it. To me perseverance is 99.9% of how to make it. This is NOT rocket science at all...the math is light...and all you need is common sense. All the info is out on the net for free...all you have to do is make the goal and be ready for success after years of trying. But you have to be willing. Read everything you can, talk to people that are doing it, get good tools, start small, get your mistakes out of the way....don't risk catastrophic drawdowns....stay in the game at all costs...do more of what works best for you...stay in the game. Regards, Bruce
Smartest tomato?! When is a tomato ever smart? When you use a phrase like that, you should at least choose something relevent..like: Not the brightest star in the sky. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer. lol but then again, maybe you just proved your point. FRuiTY P.
Once again, you prove why you are among my favorite posters... You mince NO words. Well said. Best and Good trading, David
This isn't education in trading. If you had the skills you would have been snapped up by a bulge bracket firm. Speaking of bulge bracket firms, Goldman Sachs has 20 propriety traders, just 20!! So, please tell me what drives you to continue trading when the inevitable fact is that you will not succeed, let alone break even? Well Halal you have struck an interesting point. I was a prop trader for bulge bracket firms for many, many years. I no longer want to keep a small % of the profits, I want to keep it all! Considering the 5% margin required for e-mini intraday, I'd rather work from home and not have to commute. Herein lies my point: You see there are very few great traders left at bulge bracket firms. Why? Because most of them have retired, like me, and are trading their own $. With technology came an odd dilema for the 'bulge brackets'. Since no clerks, assistant traders and junior traders are necessary because of the nature of how P&L, clearance of trades, blotters, reconciliation etc. . . are all computerized - there are NO apprentice's. That's right, noone is learning the business from the last era's greats. I'm not making this up, we stuggled with this issue for years. No MBA grad from MIT wants to sit next to a big trader for 2-3 years, getting coffee for him and watching every thing he does while making no $. The only people that the 'bulge brackets' are hiring are these MBA types. They go through a training program for 6 months and then are told they are traders. They SUCK as traders only because they have no experience. 90% whatever. I see young guys on here that don't have the chance to learn the way I learned and are saying screw it. "I'll put $5000 in an account and try to learn on my own." If they succed, the LAST thing I would advise them to do is to go to a big firm and let that firm keep all the profits. A hedge fund, maybe! More power to all the young guys on here. There is only one way to learn: watch the market and learn from your mistakes.
My guess is that rumor about 90% has been started by biggest firms just to scare you out. so you'd give your money to them because THEY know how to lose it right.
FRuiTY, I see you are unfamiliar with the nuances of Xurban humor...and certainly the interpersonal advantages of self deprecating positioning...but anyway.... My personal preference is to offer encouragement and assist those that want help up the ladder....as opposed to pulling the ladder up behind me... I've always found that sincere help is appreciated by those that are looking for it...and certainly not everyone needs it....forgive me that I am not quite Elite as you... Good luck to you... Bruce