If a person manages someone else's account valued at 50-100k and trades equities, does one need to be licensed to do that?
the more important thing is reputation, proven track record, and how their strategies plan maintain investment. personally i dont have any experience with equities, i;m a fx based trading. for any managing account process, i think it's all the same, gotta have a closer look and deep research, reliabilty, repuatation, track record, and keep your profit target reasonable.
A lot of people Manage OPM thru ibkr' friends & family account structure. While IBKR may allow upto 15 accounts without a license, your state may allow considerably less.
i dont have any information how us gov agrrement regarding managing account. as far i know most brokers provide liability documents for account management. any license would be good too, but to made sure better had ask them about past trading performance, if they currently maintain other client account, simply ask for investor password, accesing their live trading performance, and have a closer observation for at least 1-2 months on their account activity.