At my first firm, I started in a group of about a dozen guys. A year later, I was the only one still trading and it wasn't at that firm. At the one I'm at now, out of the group of like 25, in about 2 years, 2 got fired, 1 left for a better deal at another firm and 2 left because they got really good job offers from their old jobs, so the other 20 are still with them trading at various levels. Each office is different.
Have enough money saved or a second income to survive the learning curve. Trade small and conserve your capital above all else. If you manage to survive long enough, you will eventually make it.
Even if you have enough to live on for a couple years or whatever and trade small, don't you think most people will not be able to find an edge. Thus never really get anywhere?
I strongly agree here. Defining your edge could take a while. Most neophytes jump from one strategy to the next until they realize their is no perfect strategy. This is where backtesting plays a huge role and helps you build the confidence to follow the rules.
(As reported to regulators) Approximately 50% make it to year # 2 (yet 90% of all business ventures fail in the first year)...are we 5 times better than other business ventures? Who knows, this is a pretty individual business. Traders after 1 year learning curve (see above, basically those who stick it out, work hard, study hard, good discipline, etc.) "average" about $120-$150K (with some making millions, some losing money.."average" is not a great quantifiable number). Another good question comes to mind: What business venture can you have (extremely) limited downside risk, with an unlimited upside potential...and where else can you "borrow" a $million or two every day for zero costs? Some seek why they "can't" - some seek to find out how they "can"....tools are provided, traders provide the discipline and desire to succeed. All the best, Don
There are 100s of prop groups out there and most of them are "chop shops" & employ the burn & churn scheme. Steve's is one of the top 5 groups out there. A few of their top hitters are well known by name among who matters in the NYC prop world. So take his stats and then consider everything else. 25% make 5-10k? Maybe 2-4 years ago. More like 25% break profitable which means nothing with USA's cost of living and 10% make 5k+ a month.
Ok but hopefuls will push themselves to Year #2 and possibly Year #3 even if they are not making money and I have seen this and still observe this. It means nothing. A business venture has its own innate costs on top of the individual's cost of living, so it is much harder to maintain. I know of a guy who dropped over 50k this year daytrading a certain bastardly but popular Oil specialist yet he will continue just because he is like rich & can easily afford it. Does that mean he made it to year #2?