The belief is probably true. 95% lose their trading capital, and most of the other 5% likely breaks even, makes small amounts, or made large amounts for a short period. I don't see why prop firms should be any different. And if scalping, that is even harder, trying to overcome all the trading costs. A few people know how to trade. I don't think a prop firm is going to get a newbie or losing trader much help. And if you know how to trade, others there at a prop firm may try to copy or steal your work. This based on some testimonials given by others here on ET - where other traders dig through their trash can or walk off with your computer printouts or spy over your shoulder or even possibly tap into your system, trying to discern your edge.
account insurance is standard for hedge funds, although much more costly than in the past, but still a corerequisite for any fund. we'll be fully covered by our backer.
LOL. that's funny because i was hedged on all my positions over the holiday weekend, fully expecting it be a killer down day because of the korean news, and it was. but i was down 22% on my remaining open positions, i took profits on all my winners on friday before the close, and today, i'm actually positive on: AAPL GS SPX MSFT DELL HPQ INTC DIG DOW EMC F FIG FSLR (just went long 10000@182.75 with a straddle on the JUL200C+P and 100JUL185P to cover my downside) JPM KFN BLK BRKA PNC RMBS SKS GOOG YHOO i'm not really following the ETFs at the moment, so i'll have to get caught up because this is a broad market selloff. oh, and atticus, i'm up on GS and BAC.
i tell you, bro, from your initial rant a few posts back, i was thinking you had been partying with Jeff Macke last week and were still up and waaaaay sleep deprived/delusional if you passed that bee-itch 7, then you at least have some discipline(or you were a finance major). not that it was all that difficult but so much shit, like 98% that i knew i would NEVER use trading my own account made it tough for me to study. if you did not have much in your account or were just trading the branches' flow and you were having crazy $37k swings, that does seem crazy and another reason why i think a lot of prop firms end up blowing up. the prop firms i have been acquainted with require some of your money and have fairly tight capital management in place where some Big Brother entity is always watching and if you are getting killed and adding to your position, the IM will beep, "dude, what the fuck are you doing?! from here, you can only close positions and if it continues out and you do nothing, we will shut you down." or some such statement. luckily, i have never gotten the message/call. seriously, some people have $10k in their account and intraday over a million $ no problem. but from the perspective of a prop firm that wants to stay in biz for a while longer, if a trader is of the poker ilk screaming "ALL IN!!" when you have a 10 jack offsuit or more, long 70,000 shares of BAC just before the FOMC meeting's announcement, if they decide to raise rates a half a point, not only is the trader completely wiped out in .13 seconds but the firm's capital is in serious jeopardy, you know what i mean? i think most firms will give you leeway on such if you have proven yourself, which would mean that you never do stuff like that. then again, from your story, obviously you can at some places but then, you never said how much you opened your account with. oh, and yeah, from my earlier post, i have no idea if one can trade half a million AAPL per day as i rarely trade NASDAQ but know people that trade slightly more than half a million of NYSE stocks that are only slightly more liquid (30 million per day) and with BAC, 5 million would be an easy enough feat. either way, stick with it and good luck with whatever system you are using or decide to use. it is good when i am enthusiastic but to me, waaaay dangerous when i am feeling like there is no way that i could lose money (like just last year when i was riding a 6 month winning streak, when any down day was followed by a killer up day and i was...yeah...invincible. well, June took back half of the year's profits.
rockin' good news!! you do have some good, liquid stocks that are showing a mike tyson RS, at least today.
i know how the props manage risk. it's a total joke. no wonder they blow out so many traders. an IM from a guy sitting in his office watching 200 positions at once with his finger on the kill switch is not risk management. that was one of the key reasons i ditched going with assent branches. totally unprofessional. moronic. stupid...the list goes on. absolutely agree. sometimes i am tweaked out, but i ain't doing rails on cnbc. i may have the girl under the desk, though, so that would throw my concentration off a bit. LOL. but aren't we all sleep deprived? i know i am. fuck, i work 20 days. any trader who isn't shouldn't be doing 100:1 leverage. they should be doing lines to stay awake. my educational background is sufficient to work for goldman sachs, trust me. i just never pursued it. why would i? i like my freedom. i am an entrepreneur at heart, always will be. 25K swings is nothing, you know that. and yeah, i could do 500K AAPL in a day, i'd be scalping dimes and nickels off that biatch and not going for the homerun. i would never take a position in any bank today ahead of an FOMC meeting, or when bernanke opens his mouth and black flies fly out. the guy has the kiss of death. i trade BAC on a technical basis only. i've done quite well on it, too. up about a quarter since i bought back in at 11.00.
nah. not the same guy at all. if you're such an expert, you should be making positive contributions to this thread instead of, as usual, being an asshole like atticus, traderzone, and so many other jerkoffs on this site who have nothing better to contribute than playing arrogant, ignorant devil's advocates. obviously, you don't like the current system either. and you're probably not alone. my inbox is getting bombarded about this thread. if you've seen so many kids blow out with assent, and you're still there, obviously you weren't helping or teaching them anything of value, which makes you a greedy self-centered jerk, or you just don't care. i mentor people all the time, and most of them make money from my advice. but i'm not a financial advisory, i'm a trader. you should dump assent and become one of my traders in the fall, prove you're not full of shit like the rest of all these prop rockstars claiming they make millions a day scalping BAC.
...you do have some good, liquid stocks that are showing a Mike Tyson RS, at least today... sorry if i confused you, Mister Lang sir, but RS is referring to what traders call "relative strength" which is strongly indicated by upward price movement whilst the rest of the industry/market is getting killed, much like today. write that down, r-e-l-a-t-i-v-e space, s-t-r-e-n-g-t-h, can be useful also, good liquidity is referring to stocks that trade a lot of volume relative to other stocks on most days. it is useful if you want to trade what in the slang of the trade is called "size." both of these, along with a less contentious attitude towards your fellow ETs may help in your trading for a calm mind sees the market more objectively. perhaps think of changing your ET moniker as it may be that you feel as if you HAVE TO be a bellicose douchebag as portrayed by Mister T in Rocky 3. just a thought.