Whats with all the hostility about trading with a shop that gives you leverage and decent rates? Call it what you want, a job, a business whatever...who cares. It is what it is, you get the tools you need to trade and if you can make money great if not move on. The brights, echo's assents..etc. dont promise anything, they simply allow you to give it a shot. Thank god for firms that allow you to trade without having a phd from MIT or not having a million bucks saved up. Geez..
There is no hostility. I just question the motivation of the person. I maintain that you can trade futures without live quotes without expensive setup and still make a decent living on a job. All you need is 5k-20k (of course more the better) So why the big need to be full time? Well that is what I question and argue. Most people are either lazy, live in a pipe dream of becoming the next Soros or both. Of course when I was doing it we had an edge, 1/8 NYSE . You could scalp muni bond (ETFS) funds and make 50k as month with little risk. etc.
Personally, I am very happy to have had the opportunity to trade on someone else's dime. Although the success rate is very low in this business, it doesnt take away from the fact that a prop firm gave me a chance to prove to myself that I could compete.
So why the big need to be full time? To exclude other people from my making a living. From other people perspective I am not a diplomatic person. From my perspective, humans are shit. I couldn't care less to have Soros's money.
The big firms definitely prefer kids right outta school. Major is irrelevant. Its about who you know cause they are going to train you from scratch anyway. These firms prefer the youngsters as they are deemed to be more "trainable"
Just buy your way in - put up 10-20k at a trading firm. Lose that - learn - put up more. And never look back. Sounds easy? It isn't. That's why trading (successfully) pays well. The question is whether you and your family can stomach the risk of potential financial ruin - an easier decision to make at 25.
Once someone develops fallacious beliefs about the financial markets... It's almost impossible to straighten them them out. People will get hammered for decades... and literally go bankrupt (I've seen it many times)... But ** refuse ** to address the basic problem that everything they "know" is wrong. That's why smart people with a "blank slate" are good... They are perfect for brainwashing into your a very specific methodology that benefits primarily the prop shop. rm+