You're assuming the guy who puts on the spread miscalculates the cost of the spread, and when both sides move against him gets wiped out. and conveniently ignoring the fact that he can endure "huge, huge losses on both sides."
the spread trader is just simply trading the middle of the market and a proper spread can endure all kinds of heretofore unforeseen moves, no matter how violent they are
whatever just based on years of observation the younger you are, the more outright you are the older you are, the more spread you are
so good for you, you're making a million dollars a year at a prop firm. Who will they be talking about five years from now? My guess is, it won't be you
for crying out loud, you don't even know what your ROI is, and in my book that makes you a smalltime gambler, and if you are that good, why are you looking for job?
> Browsed through many threads and hundreds of and posts people seem to be asking a few of the same things about what's important. These were just my observations. I'm helping people. Or if it's interesting to others, that counts too. > You're a bitter little child. Poor kid. No-where did I state that I was making a million dollars. I am not even close to that. I have made nothing braggable at all. I have shown many people my equity curve and my account. 7-figures is way off. I made $0 for the first 12 months because of how sink-or-swim we had it, with zero teaching and zero guidance along the way. > I'll still be there in 5 years so I hope they're not talking about me, but talking TO me > Asking what an ROI in futures trading is a bit silly. Why? Oh, hang on, let me go ask the 3 biggest guys at the firm a series of specific questions: #1 What is your ULTIMATE dollar stop? #2 How much money have you left in your account? #3 Of the 10 or 20 markets you have access to, tell me the Maximum number of limits you have in them ALL #4 What is the exact dollar-rate of margin that you have to theoretically pay if you held all your limits. These guys won't even tell you what they made last month and you want to probe them for this? Asking ROI is too hard to gather. This is futures trading. This is a game where leverage is 20 to 1. They are primarily DAY traders. And besides, the ROI changes because we are under my firm where we get heavy discounts on the margin cost for every single contract compared to a retailer because of the high brokerage that the firm does, as a whole. . > If the traders at my firm were any good, you are saying they'd be independent. WRONG. They would need to keep upwards of $2 to $5 million dollars as a DEPOSIT, just at the exchange or their broker, because of the huge margin requirement. Without being specific, let's just say that two of the three guys are on a '100% split' anyway and the 3rd one is definitely above 85%, possibly even 90%. Obviously my company recognises these guys do not need the company and could do it by themselves. They just profit from their brokerage. Also, the brokerage these guys do counts towards the 'tally' for the company so it helps lower the total cost of business for the firm. Not to mention the teaching value they sometimes provide. So yes, none of them need the company, but they enjoy the environment and having the office and they trade with old time friends as well.
though i agree on all the above point you`ve outlined in the entry post,it seems impossible to make it for the small timers.and here i`d agree with emg the member,that the game is not built for the small timers.it`s mandatory to collect in the game,b/c the take-off traders account for,probably, 0.01%,statistically.