To the original poster, ETG has a program where you trade a prop account pari passu with your hedge fund. This allows you to build a track record on smaller amounts of funds while still being able to afford to eat. It also eliminates the conflict of interest because you are doing for the fund the same as what you do prop, just in a ratio. It can be allocated automatically. I spoke to some guy named Howard at www.Hedgecap.com which is affiliated with ETG somehow. He is willing to help defray the costs of legal and accounting as well as help raise money if your track is good after a year or two. PM me for his contact info and what he told me.
Valid points Jebara...for sure.. We look at prop trading, the way our traders approach it anyway, as a business as well (and I hope that all of our traders do). We have traders who have, as part of their "trading empire" hedge funds as a segment, but still insist that they receive all the profits from their own trading (more of a "security blanket" - something that they can control completely). I like to see our traders take steps as they grow their business, not jump into anything blindly, add people to work with them as the time comes, etc. On the exchange trading floors, most groups were started by one successful trader (my brother in our case, I joined in April 1979, 7 months after he started trading). I like to see our groups do well, acting almost transparently within our structure. Anyway, just more to think about. Don