I would ask a friend. That's best. Firms that want deposits or training fees are usually some form of shit. It might also be a sign that their risk management sux. They might be using your money to control some or all of their risk. I get annoyed when they ask for money. They seem like beggars to me. It's also an insult b/c I don't lose much money and they still want money. Look, if I lose money, I'll write you a check. The lockup sux too. If you want to leave, you can't get your money back for a year. Annoying. What I would do is find out how long the firm has been in existence. Good firms have been around for at least ten years and are established. Go to the firm and talk to management. Look at the traders. Look at the office. If you see mook mofos, thugs, degenerates, people dressed like homeless people, and so on and if you hear them speaking busted English or talking like criminals, well, you will probably get f*cked soon or later if you join the firm. Clean office, better firm. Look at their bathroom. Clogged toilet equal shitty firm. No pun intended. Some of these traders don't know how to wipe their a$$ and flush toilets. Not a joke. In one firm, the compliance insisted that traders shower daily. No joke again. Payout. This is really important. Ask how often you get paid. Ask about ALL fees including commission. Prop firms seem secretive about this. Get this in writing. Bi-weekly paid out is good. Monthly is bad. Bi-monthly? Tell them to go f*ck themselves. Who gets paid bi-monthly. Fishy stuff. Pay out on demand is best. I would keep the least amount of money at the firm possible and withdraw money as often as you could. What's your reason for joining a prop shop? At Worldco, a trader next to me would joke that prop shops are chop shops. I gave you some brutal truths that you probably won't find in the prop shop ads or hear from the prop shop guys. It's also nice if the prop shop orders lunch. Convenient. Breakfast is good, too. Better prop shops gave me free food. Also, try to see the profit and loss of the traders when you visit them. They should be able to pull it up on the computer screen. If the firm is good, they should not have to hide this. In fact, good firms with good traders would show it off to you. I noticed this. It might give some indication of the type of traders they have.
$5k does not give you a lot of choices. In my opinion, it's also not enough money for option trading. The better prop firms that allow option trading ask for around $100k. [/B][/QUOTE] Considering all the uncertainty around these firms 5k is all I would be willing to risk. For my strategy 5k(with 6 :1 or 10:1) would be enough. I use options( front month, sometimes weeklys) to iniate my trades eventually creating a strangle in which I trade the stock around them the whole time pulling profits/or legging into the options when needed. It reduces some of my profits but I won't get blown out. And with the volatility lately, over the course of the month both legs have been profitable. I mainly trade the beast BIDU. Sometines GS and a few other others. I'm a small guy. I only trade 100 to 300 shares. But with Bidu going up 10 and then down 10 in a single day thats all I really need.
I mainly trade the beast BIDU. Sometines GS and a few other others. I'm a small guy. I only trade 100 to 300 shares. But with Bidu going up 10 and then down 10 in a single day thats all I really need. [/B][/QUOTE] ------------------------------------------- Imagine how much fun trading that way with $250K would be......Cheers...Bob
Here are a bunch of questions you should be asking: 1. Do you allow traders to trade remotely? 2. Do you require Series 56/7? 3. What are your commissions rates and is there a minimum ticket charge? 4. What's your payout split? 5. Do you pass back exchange rebate fees? 6. Do you offer advanced order routing mechanisms? Do you have access to midpoint routes and dark pools? Please elaborate 7. Do you have special relationships with floor brokers (floor routes)? If so please describe the fee and rebate structure? 8. Do you have a capital contribution requirement? If not, please describe any risk management parameters (such as max drawdown per day) that you have. 9. Please elaborate on how much buying power you provide? If this depends on capital contribution, please elaborate on that too. 10. How do you process payouts to your traders? 11. What trading platforms are available to traders? Do you charge a platform fee? 12. Please describe any other fees that you require traders to pay? 13. What type of training do you offer and is it free for members?
10:1 on options is going to be hard to find with 5k. you'll probably get offered 2:1 or 3:1. Options are risky cause shorting calls can lead to unlimited loses.
I really don't write options unless I put on a spread or leg into a long. I need the leverage to trade around my options using the underlying. I may spend only 500 to 1.5k on options just as a partial hedge in a given month. Broad Street offers options with 5k. They seem to have a lot of fees. Here they are. Is this about average for a firm? K1 annual filing fee. 100.00 FINRA Non-member processing fee. 85.00 initial FINRA disclosure processing fee 95.00 per incident FINRA Annual Systems processing fee 30.00 FINRA US termination fee 30.00 Outside brokerage account fee FINRA monthly 25.00 FBI background check fee 20.00 initial Fingerprint fee 21.00 initial CBSX inactivity fee. 100.00 monthly Then basic admin fees. incoming wire 10.00 outgoing wire 25.00 returned check 50.00 This doesnt include platform fees. Can I eliminate any of the FINRA fees since I am already registered with them (6 and 63 expired, current series 3)? Here are some more potential fees if I want any of the following. No prices mentioned. NYSE level 1 ASE - b/a l, last quotes Nasdaq level II Nasdaq Total View US indexes BATS book Direct edge book NYSE open book(specialists order book depth) ARCA book listed ARC book OTC. I use TD and their weak tools, Level II and charts and do just fine.