Any active WTS Traders here?

M

MoneyMatthew

I am a former trader with WTS. I ended up having to get a day job again. I did not blow up my account, ultimately my downfall was not having enough saved up for monthly living expenses.

I have read these forums on prop trading here and there and the activity seems to be down. I am sad to hear that Echo is gone and it seems like a few of the sub groups at WTS are gone now also (CTG comes to mind). It looks like WTS has less regional offices now as well (just Atlanta and New York now?).

Overall I had a good experience with WTS. The only complaints I had was it would sometimes take more than 24 hours for them to provide and updated spread sheet on their portal site to confirm trade executions/trading activity and fees for that day. Any time I called up their main line they would answer my questions, sometimes they were a little blunt/very quick to the point but I think that is probably a New York thing.

I hope deposit prop firms stick around. I know everyone thinks they will die off but I like the freedom they provide.

I am just curious to see how many actual prop traders are alive and kicking and active here?

I think Maverick74 said this in one of his posts but it is true, getting a Check of any amount is a huge accomplishment/honor. Must people blow up their account or never get above the deposit amount to pull a check.

Tip #1 is having enough money saved up to cover one year of living expenses. More than once I had to spend two months of conservative trading just to break even on a week or two of bad trading/out of control/no discipline trading.

Tip #2 paper trade or trade in a simulator before going live. Forward test any trading systems you plan to trade.

Tip #3 Do not lie to yourself. Are you actually profitable or did you just get lucky? I can go back and look at my trading journal to see when I got lucky and when I actually took calculated risks and stuck to my plan. An example of "getting lucky" is holding on to a losing trade and adding to the position and having it ultimately turn back around in your direction.

I salute all prop traders for taking the risk and giving it a shot. I did have to return to the working world. I make over $110K now but the feeling of beating the market and pulling a check from a prop firm (even if it is below minimum wage lol) is a great feeling. A day job is safe and predictable, you show up do your thing and get paid. I kinda miss the Monthly survival vibe/attitude that you get when you prop trade. Maybe I will give it one more shot lol...
 
The fact that you earn over $100k a year with a 9-5 believe it or not may have impacted your risk tolerance. Because you knew you could go back to work and earn a decent living. So you increased your risk, sustained loses without stressing out.

Trading for a living you have to reduce your living expenses prior to venturing out. With a $100K annual salary you should have opened the account with at least >$25K capital contribution. Asking for a 50:1 margin having $1.2m in buying power. Which should have been more than sufficient to support yourself with a good strategy.
 
Hi jb3398,

I appreciate the response. I actually did not have a $100k a year job before I started prop trading. I was very lucky to land this position after I put myself between a rock and a hard place trading wise.

I don't like the idea of having $25k locked up for one year with a prop firm. I don't even know if I could get 50 to 1 at WTS? Where do you trade jb3398?

I hate to burst anyones bubble but after a few months that special feeling of making more than $100k is gone. The government absolutely rapes me on taxes. My monthly bonus gets hit with a 25% flat tax right off the top...nothing I can do about that. It actually feels more exciting to pull a check from a prop firm..believe it or not...

I don't mean to ramble on here but any active prop traders here fighting the good fight?
 
I dont know why you wouldn't get 50:1 Jazzybebo got way beyond 50:1 with WTS.

"Hey! sorry it took soo long to respond, didn't know hoe to use private message in forum..
test is 3 hours long, use all the time given, don't rush.
WTS.. you don't really need a min deposit, but I did deposit $1,500, have a leverage of 200k .. took the test twice."

The preceding is 133:1

I have a retail account, I traded prop once. With that firm we had traders with 100:1 leverage. I started with 25:1 because of my $5K contribution. Had I deposited $10K I would have been given 50:1. But since they were a small firm, I didn't want to plunk down $10K. When I spoke with Bright they advised the same thing, leverage is no big deal we can give you 100-200:1

If your paid $100K a year, (congratulations on new job) and your worried about $25K with a prop firm. You should reconsider whether trading is something you want to do. The fact that you can short most stocks with a prop firm creates awesome opportunities. But because my account is retail, today they were missed opportunities. With 50:1 leverage, you should be able to make that $25k in a month or less. To make that money in a month you would have to earn $1250 a day, with $1.2m in buying power which is definitely do-able.
 
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I don't have a problem with $25k being in a trading account. I just don't like the idea of having it locked up for a year. If I put $25k into a retail account I get SIPC insurance on my account and access to my money at any time (no lock up). If you don't mind me asking, which retail firm are you with? I thought about using Lightspeed or Interactive Brokers.

$25k in month profit sounds amazing..I know it is possible. I remember making $3k in one day back when shorting LVS was the thing to do a few years ago. Even if I could make $25k in a month I first need to become consistent. I never truly achieved that when I was trading.
 
Yeah I traded with WTS. I actually got the Fusion platform and data access for free until they sent out a mass email saying that they made a mistake and we would now have to be charged a monthly platform fee. That was in the summer of 2012. I was charged a monthly platform fee after that lol...
 
Yeah I got my series 56 a couple of years ago. I think if I wanted to re-join I could do so with WTS. I think I will have to file a form U4 to re-join/associate. If I do not have to take the 56 again then that would be nice.

I am not shopping around or actively looking for a prop firm btw. I just wanted to make this post a get a sense of how many people on elitetrader are actually active with a prop firm. I think all of those Canadian and offshore firms are not trust worthy. Hell I barely trust U.S. based deposit prop firms.
 
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