I have few questions to ask to Prop Firm traders. After you join the firm, are you require to trade everyday (M-F 9:30 am - 4:00 pm Eastern Time) even on days or weeks that you know is best to stay away from the market? If your income is a % of the profits that you make not a salary and you made some big profits on Thursday, do you still need to come in to the office on Friday to trade? I actually talked to someone that trades full time at a firm and takes Fridays or any other day off after taking some big profits out the market. I'm new to this and trying to understand how prop firms work. Thank you
They're generally pretty flexible on attendance. <i>"I actually talked to someone that trades full time at a firm and takes Fridays or any other day off after taking some big profits out the market. "</i> This is a fine example of pure, unadulterated <b>piker-think</b>. Only losing traders and small-time grinders will ever think like that- let alone actually do this. You probably won't listen to me now, but you'd be best off to <b>never</b> take any sort of trading advice from the above mentioned piker. Big profits are a reason to <b>push harder</b>- NOT a reason to step back.
I agree trading is pretty much like the weather, tomorrow will probably be pretty much like today. Why would you cancel tomorrow ?
If you want to be profitable I suggest making your hours 8am-6pm M-F with additional research/work every weekend. Try not to miss any days and push yourself, like Rearden mentioned, harder as you see yourself getting better and better. There is no reason a newbie trader should even think about anything but becoming profitable. Thinking about shortcuts and 4 day workweeks is incomprehensible to me. If you want to make it, you must be totally dedicated.
When your just starting the more screen time the faster your learning curve will go because you will experience various market conditions. The first seven months that I started trading at a prop firm I would get dressed and grab my laptop computer and get on the bus at 5:50am and ride 80 miles and get in the office about 8-830am and would leave at 415pm. The time on the bus I spent researching what to trade/reviewing trades.etc. Before you worry about taking time off,etc you should first see if your even going to make it at this game. Once you see you can make a living and are consistently profitable then you can enjoy the flexibility of prop trading
It's really all up to you. I would suggest you put in time both pre and post market doing news analysis, trade review, and research on your stocks and strategies. You don't need to trade every day, but I wouldn't not trade one day because I made a big score the prior day. You never know when the market is going to work for you. I remember one month that really sucked and one morning in the last week of that month, totally unexpected, all losses were gained back and and it made that month stellar. Now the question is when is that day going to hit? You never know. I remember reading one of the Market Wizard books where one of the traders made his year's profit in just one or two days a year. The problem was, he didn't know what days they would be. So, he never missed a day, never took vacation. Wouldn't that suck if the week you took vacation, that day occurred? And if you're not seeing things going on in the market, keep your hands off the keyboard! You don't need to trade, but you should hang out in case something happens... wouldn't you hate it if it was a ho-hum day, and you never came back from lunch , just caught a movie, only to find out Bernake said something and the market moved 200 points?
this is kinda away from your topic, but i use to work for a prop firm that traded in the S&P pits (and options pits) that only allowed their new/entry level traders 1 day vacation every year, until they have been with the firm for 18+ months. I remember in the interview, the manager said, "some days the market is really slow so you'll be able to watch the 'Price is Right' and play some Sollitare on your PDA to pass the time [in the pits]...so we give our entry level employees 1 day for the first 12-18 months, depending on their progress, and a week after that first year." and, in my opinion (especially if your a prop equities trader) there is always something moving that can make you some money. And if you truely love trading you should love to watch the market and its movement regardless if you have money on the line or not.
It would depend on which type of prop route you choose. Our traders are fully independent, and actually run their own trading business within ours. Some trade an hour per day, some all day long. If you're being paid as an employee-type than I suppose you are under the terms of your employer as in any other job. Don
Don Bright, Can you please explain a little more on how your independent traders run their own trading business within yours?