I have developed an automated LFT system for equity trading. After the back-testing and 6 month real-time simulation, I am ready to put it into work. Since I do not have the trading capitals, my plan was to trade for an institution such as a prop trading firm. I have contacted a few local firms (in Toronto, Canada). They only get involved in intraday trading. So I am posting this note here for advice from experienced traders. My questions are: 1. Is there any low-frequency trading firm that operates similar to daytrading firms and trades US equities anywhere in North America? 2. Is there any other way to access trading capital? 3. Is there any person interested to work with me as a partner on this? My time is limited as I have a plan to develop a HFT system, which is very time consuming. I have a webpage with a brief introduction at http://intrendstocks.com/index.php/back-testing/79-general/378-productsummary Your inputs are appreciated. Kevin
I was in the same situation as you are, until I realized that depending on others is a bad thing. Because when they give you money, they dictate the terms. Keep in mind that when someone wants to get access to trading capital, this practically means that the Person isn't profitable, because otherwise he / she would be successful even without additional capital. My advice is this: Start small, and then scale up. Start with a monthly profit of a couple of hundred dollars. When you can't be successful with 30k, you won't be successful with 30 Million.
In my experience most firms don't really care for backtesting results. If you believe in the strategy go and trade it with your own money. Go prop since they can get 6:1 leverage on overnights
Not everybody is cut out to be a trader, and even some who are, can find themselves short of capital. There may still be opportunities, if you have something to offer. You might have a look at http://www.collective2.com/ (I haven't used them). Or you might find some other way to sell signals on subscription, or better yet, sell the system.
ProTrader432 and jb514, Thank you for your response. Your advices make sense. From jb514 comment "Go prop since they can get 6:1 leverage on overnights", I assume there are prop firms that allow overnight positions. Trading with my strategy requires large amount the capital; otherwise, the performance curves would be much volatile. If had had $1 mil of own fund to trade, I would have started trading at IB. I will try to find a prop firm with higher leverage.
C2 business is very interesting. I have spent quite some time on their website and will do more. The only thing I am not sure is the performance computation. From the question postings related to performance calculations, it seems to me that they do not follow the widely accepted industry methods; however, if C2 has a standard calculation formula, it is fair to all. Thank you for your advice.
kudos for the webpage. Lots of people come on these boards asking for advice but very few actually put in the effort as put in by you. I am sure you will get something. My advice - arrange for 50-100k from friends and family and start trading. Your results seem ok. Take debt of 30-40k if you have to but actually start trading. As soon as you start trading, start TALKING about your system and its performance in front of everyone who will listen. 4-6 months down the line, when you have some actual brokerage statements to back up your backtesting performance and you have talked about it to 100s of people, you will start getting inquiries. You have already said you are an investment advisor - even if you have only 1 client today, you can start to build your business slowly and in 6-9 months trading a system will take you forward. Good Luck.
This thread is very interesting, because it unveils a gap in the market. On one hand, there are High Net Worth individuals, which are looking for successful strategies. On the other hand, there are people that have strategies and are looking for money (like the starter of this thread does). Now what's missing is a platform, a service or whatever to match these two groups toghether. There might be already some platforms around, however they aren't good enough. An enterpreneur could make tons of money by filling this market gap
A friend of mine has used c2 but according to him it is not very useful and the cost is too high. Keep us posted in your endeavor.