I don't know whats involved with starting a prop firm but in my research over the last 2 weeks I can tell you that there are a lot of differences and i'll put up some for the new people looking into prop trading so they know what to look for: some will only let you trade in their office some you need a series 7 some you don't some you need a series 7, plus a couple other licenses some 5000.00 start, some 10,000.00 some you can trade remote from anywhere you feel like some you can use cable, some require t1 fees for software can be 125.00-600.00 depending on what you want and how many shares you trade you can be locked in to the software fee for 12 months even if you leave in 2 some give rebates for volume,some don't 10-1 buying power 20-1 4-1 all depends on your deposit and the company some train you in their office with their cash, no deposit but its like a job, and you need a series7 + some let you keep 100% of your profits, some take 10-30% depending on your deposit and experience some charge 1% of the buying power you use over the 4-1 some let you get a check any time you have profits, others let you get a check every 2nd and 4th friday, some once a month some only do checks, some wires and the fees for wires can be 50.00 so far non have a direct deposit like ameritrade , like paypal, where it goes electronically right into your bank account some guarentee your deposit, some don't some have huge capital behind them and some are operating on a shoestring some will answer every e-mail and every question that you have and others won't give you the time of day, and if they treat you like that before you sign up, why would you sign up. you really have to do your homework and ask a lot of questions so far BRIGHT TRADING- that DON answered every one of my questions and e-mails, even about other companies after I said I would probably try it without a license first, If I don't end up at bright,I'm going to take their course just to get the knowledge that they have, seems to be a well run and capitalized co, plus they have a radio show on their site so you can see how they treat people, I know i've talked well about DON in other posts but if somebody treats you right, pass it on. ECHO- ROB and SUNG, answered a ton of questions, I kept them on the phone at least a half hour each , I think their pretty well backed, they have remote trading, series 7 required, HLV- ERIC was pretty helpful on the phone, no series 7, checked out their chat today was pretty good, still checking them out PMI- no series 7, but 1% charge over 4-1, and some other charges ALLIANCETRADER- not a prop firm but you can trade like one if buying power is all your looking for, 4-1 on 500.00 deposit, they have a simulator you can down load free for 5 days to test the software, I traded 600,000 shares on it today pretty fast, nothing like ameritrade, I did keep my own prophet.net charts up becuase I didn't like there charts, I hope direct access is that fast in the real world AVATAR TRADING- a new start up, only talked to them one time, no series 7, the guy was going to come to my house to show me how the software works This is just some stuff that I learned this week, I hope it will help a new guy out
Atmosphere is important at the end of the day and wouldnt mind hearing about any positive experiences anyone had