Hello, I could really use some advice today, I'm doing some soul searching here trying to decide what route to take in my trading career. First off, I've been studying the market from a technical perspective for several years now but I only have extensive experience in scalping futures. I didn't fare well at scalping and since I'm more of a stat guy, I've leaned towards implementing methods where my stop and target are always pre-defined and there is no discretion involved. I've spent many months trying to decide which strategies suit my personality and I'm starting to feel like I'm on my way towards building something profitable, although I don't have a track record yet to back it up. My question is: should I look for a proprietary trading firm where I can either get fully backed (harder to accomplish since I've already failed at one firm), put up some of my own money and get leverage from a prop firm, or trade totally independently with just $8,000? That's really all I have and I feel like it isn't anywhere near the amount I need to make a go of it unless I want to take enormous risk. What is your personal opinion? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
imo, $8000 is nowhere near the amount of capital you would need to do statistical arbitrage, a strategy which generally emphasizes risk management and an acceptance of decreased returns. A 30% return on $8000 is not enough to live on... in addition stat arb has a high win rate but is equivalent to picking up nickels in front of a streamroller, as the platitude goes. You could try a prop shop, although the few that take a very quantitative approach to the markets are unlikely to hire someone with no experience. Your best bet is to find another approach to the markets for the time being. There's a lot of ground between scalping and quant trades. EDIT: Btw, it is my experience that the smaller your account is, the more effective and important discretion becomes. I can't imagine any other way to achieve multiples in returns while protecting your account.
i was in a worse boat than you when i made the final decision that trading is what i wanted to do. i had just made the decsion to quit work and trade for a living, and met an extremely beautiful but crazy mexican lady. ended up taking more and more out of the account to try and save the marriage, blew the account out and got rid of the crazy lady. at the beginning i had a mere $2500 (1991). but by god i was gonna be a trader. i swallowed my pride and got my job back to pay the bills with a little left over. i also went back to bartending on the weekends to generate extra trading cash. i took very conservative swing trades only. put every spare nickel i had into the trading account. for roughly two years i traded during the day, worked my night job and tended bar. i worked 7 days a week and a good 18 hours a day. Very and I mean very few breaks. i made the sacrifices necessary to fund my trading account where i could get back to trading. i made sure that i stayed sharp and in tune with the markets by taking those swing trades and paper traded as if i had my big account back. Looking back I would do it again if I ever had too. And the best part is I know I can.
The only answer here is Swift Trading. Dont you want to be like these guys in the photos who trade millions of shares per day? Swift Trading has turned many guys into multi-millionaires starting with just pennies.
Here is Brad. Brad used to be a homeless man who came from a small village in China. Brad managed to round up $5000 from working construction jobs and saving money by staying in a local shelter. Brad has managed to turn that $5000 into 250,000 in one year. Can it be done? Sure, but you have to go with the right prop firm.
I have a couple friends I worked with at the prop firm who did roughly the equivalent of that but they're both scalping. I'm not cut out for that. I'm definitely going to look for a prop firm but I think it may be unlikely that anyone offers me a job.