Where Have All The Traders Gone?

Discussion in 'Trading' started by limitdown, Jan 15, 2003.

  1. ((almost sounds like that song, huh?))

    Where have all the traders gone?, or more correctly posed, where will all the traders be going once their current trading firms change their capitalization/corporate formation arrangements?

    The industry of Proprietary Traders, Day Trading and soforth is and continues to be the hot or hottest potato to try to hold onto. If its true that more and more offices are closing then its a fare estimation that:

    1) attrition through dwindling or slippage/drawdowns on the account are the primary cause

    2) closing trading offices due to INF (insufficient funds, traders or head count) to support the operation will continue to plague more and more offices

    3) SEC PDT is having the desired "competitive effect" upon the industry.

    The Pattern Day Trader Ruling has a pleasant upside in that it frees up all registered retail firms to offer higher (4:1) capitalization margin to more heavily capitalized customer accounts. More and more websites of the Prop Shops publically state that $35,000, $40,000 (Hold Brothers, etc.) and $50,000 (ETrade Professional, etc.) are required to be a licensed trader associated with their offices.

    Seems that the $2,000, $5,000, $10,000, $15,000 and $25,000 proprietary account opportunities have just about disappeared.

    By competitively offering almost the same enticements, namely magnified trading ability to all who qualify with/without being licensed is having a direct effect in pulling away more and more dis-illusioned traders from these offices.

    Have you noticed this also?
     
  2. nitro

    nitro

    Yes.

    nitro
     
  3. Tea

    Tea

    ......gone for soldiers all of them....
     
  4. Minime

    Minime

    May the best man win!
     
  5. I've known some good female traders...

    in fact my mentor was a trader on CBOT... and then off-floor for a fund; taught me all I needed to know but did not learn in kindergarten! Still have her orginal notes on charts we went over... and nothing has frickin changed; the more it changes the more it stays the same. Of course I proceeded to trade equities and options, not futures. Go figure, ('till now).

    Every time I question what the heck is gong on (wrong) her comments and admonitions come back to haunt and enlighten me.

    DO second the notion that the best man/woman wins!

    :cool:
     
  6. What makes that best man/woman win is what's being discussed here.

    Evidently these firms with all their vaunted, praise worthy "what makes me different" don't amount to anything when the gig is up.

    So the best man/woman may not have even made it to the finals due to unnecessary roughness.

    Pity
     
  7. I have worked and managed at 3 prop firms and am still trading, send me a PM and I will give you the "real story" on how prop traders are making money today, what to avoid. Since I am still working at one, I will not post this answer in the forum for all to see so I don't come off as an advertisement. I hope that would prove to everyone interested in talking that my reply is real world. :)
     
  8. I would hazard a guess that the vast majority of Prop firm trading methods are based on momentum scalping. While the daily ranges have been decent, the momentum for this kind of trading has not. They like to call it follow-thru and participation too. It is absent en masse.

    One member observed the day that the afternoon has been very lazy. I have noted the same. This absolutely must be driving the scalpers crazy. They are getting at best 2 1/2 hours of momentum and participation in the morning and that is it.

    It would be great if there are prop traders out there willing to post what is up in regards to the above. I am not asking you to reveal that you are still making a killing or getting killed. A comment on the above idea will suffice. Thanks.

    :)
     
  9.  
  10. Well, let's hope the Market can weed out all the scum. loansharks, misfits, and bashi-bazouiks. Then the rest of us can clean up.

    Just a thought.

    triple
     
    #10     Jan 15, 2003