I read of them all the time in the UK and Australia. Guys making one to many hundreds of percent a year trading futures at prop firms. Stuff that you can only learn there, with them, not online or in books. Are there any of these places in the US? If so, what are they and where are they? Are they making as big of returns as the AUS and UK guys? What's it take for a noob to join? (It's a bit of a catch-22 since you can't learn how to do that well without being a part of the prop firm in the first place - and thus, you won't get hired.)
I moved your thread into the Prop Firms forum here at ET since it's more appropriate in that location. With regard to your question, you may want to check out the sponsor of this forum, TopstepTrader. Their ads appear at the top of every page of discussion within this forum.
https://www.tradenet.com or one of these: https://www.tradingschools.org/prop-firms/ some thoughts on stocks: https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=UUA7QSCHWRdRrJEEjfLq3g4A i cannot stress enough the need to trade on a real time sim prior to using real $. Although sim is easier than real life (better fills, no psychology issues) if you aren't profitable on sim, no way will a noob make $ in real life. Please dont rush into this
It is not hard to make 100% return on your capital when you are given a leveraged account. That's why these guys boast % returns. Say you deposited 5k into a prop account and you are given $200k to trade. If you place a $200k trade and make 3%, that's $6k or 120% return on your initial deposit. People that posts big returns almost always have something to sell so be very careful. Your best bet is to try to find traders of a local prop and ask for feedback. Most people lose money so chances are feedback won't be good, but at least you get a sense of what it takes to be successful and learn about the reputation of the firm.