Are there any prop firms in the US that follow Swift's model - hiring young kids out of college and letting them trade small size and lose the firm's money until they turn profitable, at which point they get a percentage of their profits? I've only been able to find prop shops that require a deposit and make money off your commissions. I'm considering a move from NYC to Canada just so I can work at Swift, however if I can stay in the US, my life will be much easier.
Um, why don't you just drop down 2k and go to a prop shop here in the US. www.utropix.com/jmowery/PropFirms.html There are a ton of options. If you can't afford to risk a few grand to trade now, then how would you possibly afford to stay at swifttrade for a few months with no income from trading, and any income you do make will be insanely small because of the low payout. Be sure to think of these things before you up and run to trading. A quote from one trader who PM'd me about swift a good while ago after I asked him about his trading style/method: =========== Yeah..... so, just think about it.
I have a friend who works at swift who has personally attested to the uselessness of Swift's training. As he had, it is like he is being thrown in front of an airplane without any training and asked to fly. I don't expect Swift directly to teach me anything. I believe succesfully trading the the stock market, especially very short term "day" trades, is an extremely difficult task that takes extensive experience, market intuition, and discipline, all of which one must learn on his own. I also believe there's no way to "paper trade" level II while gaining any level of appreciation for the frustration of waiting for specialists to fill your order while prices move against you, etc. I have some money which can cover living expenses, and can get financial help from those around me if it comes down to it (for living, at least). Basically, the reason I'm looking for a swift like business model is that I would rather spend $6,000 per year on living expenses and get an endless trading bankroll I can use to learn than spend $6,000 per year on living and another $10,000 on trading losses. Is it true that the only Direct Access brokers requiring no money up front to trade exist outside the US? I see the high requirements to trade the stock market, but I already know that my first major goal in life is to succesfully trade the market and I will spend the years required to do it. If I have to sit in a Swift office for 5 years before learning to trade, so be it. At least I won't burn though mine or my parents $50,000+ in the process.
The Problem with Swift is not just that the training is useless. it's useless ofcourse but also they make it next to impossible for their trainees to succeed. Since most of the trainers actually know nothing about trading, they have unrealistic expectation from the trainees. For instance they expect you to trade with a stop loss of 2-3 cents, basically trading noise. if you got out with a 4-5 cents , they will grill you because you "didn't cut your losses " Basically they think that since their risk tolerance for new traders is 2-3 cents, the stock market needs to comply and stocks need not to have any spikes etc New traders have a 50 $ loss limit per day, they start you with a 100 shares. 50$ per 100 share is not bad, but they expect you to move up quickly to 500 shares, i.e you stop loss per day now is 5 cents. - Now all what you need to register a losing day now is 2-3 trades with 2-4 cent loss. - You said you can spend 5 years in swift, let me tell you , once novices star trading lives they have 2-3 weeks maximum to make it. if you reach your loss limit for two weeks straight, your out. as a previous poster said they churn through people. - I would'nt leave NY and come to canada just for the sake of Swift. there's lots of alternatives for you, trading Forex or futures don't need much capital. Anywayes, good luck
Um wow am i the only one reading this thread, where to begin? Okay, for starters, swift training is not an endless money tree free for plucking. If you're losing money it won't be long before you get the boot. How much do you think it costs to live on your own for a yr? I know swift has many offices but i don't think they've expanded to the ewok village - which would really be the only place you could live w/o paying: rent (hey i bet the trees are comfortable in february), food (lots of forest squirrels around) and transportation (swinging in the jungle like tarzan). You're telling me in NYC there's no prop shop that will take you with 5-10k down? I'm sure you could always get a part-time job on the side selling crack or something if needed.
HLV recenty introduced a very very very simialr model to swift's... I think I read about it on this website. Don't know much about HLV but you wouldn't nned to leave the country... good luck mnx