are they common in this industry? i will be signing papers soon to open an account with a prop firm in NYC and forgot to ask during the "interview" about this. if they are, what form do they take? i will make sure to read the paperwork before i sign but any warnings for red flags would be greatly appreciated.
Traders come and go all the time. It's the nature of the business. I don't knw if there are any non-compete agreements but I do know that many firms don't require you to sign paperwork and/or binding contracts to be apart of their trading group. Just make sure that your firm is nothing like these guys. After doing some research about some firms I applied to I found this about one of them: Prop Firm Review As long as you are careful, do your homework and check everything out, you'll make the right decision. Good Luck!
non-competes are extremely difficult to enforce, unless you are stealing clients or customers at your new job. I wouldn't worry about it in the least.
If you keep your mouth shut about your past and present, it is very difficult to find you to make a noncompete stick. It is not like every prop shop exchanges their trader lists with every other, looking for possible former workers...
Never sign a non-compete or employment contract... Firms should be doing something so that their traders WANT to stay, not staying because they are locked into some deal