Let me see if I (a newbie) understand this correctly? In comparing the differences between going with a prop shop vs. using a direct access retail broker from home, there are some resources those desk fees are paying for, which might be self-resourced by a trader at home for the same or less cost than the desk fees, such as: *) desk space *) computer rental *) internet connection *) data feeds *) electronic trade execution One objective advantage of going prop is to get around the PDT rules if you have less than $25K in trading capital. More subjective advantages are the interpersonal aspects of training and environment and feedback (i.e. discouraging mental accounting by knowing that someone will see your numbers) Aside from all the above mentioned advantages which tend to be rather common across most prop shops, what other resources are made available? Do any prop shops make available historical data repositories for backtesting of prospective trading systems? Do any prop shops make available computing resources beyond just the desktop workstations used for charts and trade execution? (i.e. compute servers for number crunching?) In other words, tech resources more completely representative of what is available to institutional traders, for which it might be more of a hassle for a retail trader to resource themselves?