Hi Elite Traders, First and foremost, I would like to thank all of you for the plethora of credible advice you have provided within these forums. I have been lurking these forums for roughly a year, and quite evidently, I have only recently made a account, but I have certainly learn't a lot about trading just from spending a few odd minutes browsing around. Here's my situation. I'm soon anticipating an interview at Title Trading based in Toronto. Hopefully, this shall be my first "prop trading interview," so I can't really say that I quite familiar with the interview questions at a prop trading firm- particularly Title Trading (indeed, I did run some searches on ET). Thus, I have a few questions: 1) What sort of interview questions can I expect at a prop trading firm, specifically at Title Trading? 2) What sort of technical questions can I anticipate? 3) Would there be any mental math/ arithmetic questions? I do know that prop firms such as Jane Street Capital, Tibra and Optiver have some grueling mathematical and analytical reasoning questions. 4) Would Title Trading expect me to pay any capital up front? I'm somewhat short on cash at the moment. 5) Any recommendation on my interview preparation? I plan on reading up market wizards and cranking open a can of Red Bull before my interview... Thanks again for your advice. Cheers, Paradox
My guess is that their first questions will be whether you're going to pay for their training by check or credit card.
Does title really require their newly recruited employees to pay for their training? That would be awkward.
Really it depends on the owner of that office if they will require a fee for training, deposit or wjatever else you would like to call it. Firms ask for all different things that from advanced software fees to deposit. As for the questions you will get asked, well they are a lower level firm (not like some of the firms you mention from NYC) so really the interview will be pretty basic. Also if you are short on cash at the this time prop trading is probably not the type of job you want. As you will only get paid a percentage of what you make and on average traders take 6 months before they start making money. As a trader who now owns a floor I will tell you it is not easy at the start. I see lots of traders who could of made it have to stop because they run out of cash. My advice is if you don't have at least 6 months living expense or willing to work all day as a trader and then all night doing somingthing, don't get involved yet. On a side note if it is just the upfront money you are worried about look at SwiftTrade
Does that come before or after a pulse check and confirmation of capital deposit? I suppose after, so they can include your question in regards to cap deposit.
Thanks for the advice! Would it be safe to assume that the prospect of mental math questions popping up during the interview is somewhat improbable? My mental math skills are really, really fuzzy, which is quite ironic since I'm a math major.
Which office? I had to put up a deposit at one of the Title branches in Toronto 3 years ago. You should be interviewing them. The most important questions are "Does anyone at this office make real money?" "Does the person who is going to train me make money?" "Do the managers make money trading?" "The people that are making money, will they help me out or will they just keep to themselves (which is most likely)?" For the office I joined, the answer to all those questions were NO (though I didn't know it at the time). Take your money and try to find a better place. But if you can trade on their dime then go ahead. But you'll most likely be so excited to see all the traders and the action that you'll join anyways. It all comes down to getting into the right office with the right traders. It can be the difference between making it or breaking it, speeding up the learning curve by months or years. And there's no math questions. Probably just ask you what you like to do, interests, hobbies, whatever. And if you have a check.
This is F'n hilarious. The only thing Title or Swift or WTS are going to want to know is how quickly you can deposit your cash into their account and how soon you'll blow out. They'll be trading against every position you take and if by some miracle you're a good trader and profitable, you might, if you're lucky, make a profit and collect a paycheck in the first two months, after they cut it down with desk fees, training fees, software fees, ecn fees, and steal your ecn rebates while rerouting them into their total volume. Your commission rate will be just obscene, at least 10 cents per thousand, and your profit sharing will be at best, 25%, your leverage nothing near what they promise, at best 10:1. Good luck. I hate seeing this happen to rookies. It's really starting to piss me off, actually.
Well, I wouldn't agree with all that. I started at 40% as total newb and moved up to 65% as I made more money and I left because I wanted a better deal (just like anyone should when they start making real money). Commissions and sterling fee always remained the same at .20/1000 and $150. There were no training fees and nobody stole my rebates. And I had as much buying power as a wanted (though I only needed 250K or so) Swift and Title don't want to see you blow up. How do they make money that way?? Have you actually traded at one of these places to make those comments? As much as I despise the people at Title, you are totally wrong. BTW, my deposit was 2K (which I got back eventually) and 1K for sterling fees for several months. I started a total newb and when I left them I had made between 150 - 200K. Though that's not typical. I think I was the only profitable trader there....