Best Prop Firms For A Beginner
- Thread starter saltycoot
- Start date
i think you are just giving your definitions and not saying that a "legit prop" is going to necessarily be financially better for everyone?
i mean, an experienced, highly profitable trader MAY be better off at an "arcade" where they get to keep all of their earnings. i say "may" because it would depend on the type of trading practiced, i.e. daily volume, the commish paid, vig on overnights, etc.
for the OP, here is a list of props to check out...
http://www.tradersnarrative.com/list-of-proprietary-trading-firms-735.html
good luck
I totally agree with you. EXPERIENCED and profitable guys may be better off at an arcade.
The title of this thread is for beginners. The best place for beginners is where they have no financial risk.
When firms pay 100% payout they don't really have an incentive for their traders to be profitable. Yes, they can make more commission dollars but taking the turnover rate of traders, I doubt it is that significant. The firms that offer lower payouts on the other hands are more invested in making their traders profitable because they make more money of their P/Ls. These are also the firms that provide more structured training programs.
i apologize for my tunnel vision eyes that tend to focus on the last post, especially if it is something that i interpret as being debatable. should take the "moderator" title to mean that you are generally just trying to help and not just promote one or another Prop firm.
i acquiesce. all that you say makes total sense.
to paraphrase in a long winded styley, the firms profiting only as a % of their traders' earnings MUST do all they can to make their traders as profitable as possible. the larger the % the firm gets to keep (smaller payout), their motivation would be commensurately higher to have better mentor/training programs. so, from the list i posted above, do you have any idea which ones give the best training programs?
also, any ideas on the good, financially stable, 100% payout firms that have good commission rates and a good trading platform?
you, as moderator, may know but i imagine you may not spend all of your free time calling the different prop firms to get the skinny on them and better serve the ET posters
thanks
Quote from colonelangus:
i apologize for my tunnel vision eyes that tend to focus on the last post, especially if it is something that i interpret as being debatable. should take the "moderator" title to mean that you are generally just trying to help and not just promote one or another Prop firm.
i acquiesce. all that you say makes total sense.
to paraphrase in a long winded styley, the firms profiting only as a % of their traders' earnings MUST do all they can to make their traders as profitable as possible. the larger the % the firm gets to keep (smaller payout), their motivation would be commensurately higher to have better mentor/training programs. so, from the list i posted above, do you have any idea which ones give the best training programs?
also, any ideas on the good, financially stable, 100% payout firms that have good commission rates and a good trading platform?
you, as moderator, may know but i imagine you may not spend all of your free time calling the different prop firms to get the skinny on them and better serve the ET posters
thanks
LOL about the whole response and moderator thing.
It's difficult to provide a payout structure and commission fees without knowing a person's style of trading and average daily volume size.
The best thing to do is compose a generic e-mail with all questions (payout %, commission fees, whether there is a training program, initial contribution, etc) and just send it out to as many firms as you want. Tell them if you are a new trader, your expected daily volume and how you trade.
If you tell them you are a experienced scalper and trade 50,000 shares a day, Firm A, may give you a deal of about $3/1,000 (before add/take liquidity obviously). If you are a new trader, you may be encouraged to do more position trading (which will result in trading much smaller daily volume), and Firm A will give you a deal of about $8/1,000. The rates all depends with the individual trader. Even within the same firm, guys get different rates. For 100% firms, the arcades where you put up your own money, I wouldn't pay anything over $5/1000.
In terms of finding the best training programs, look into Chicago firms. I think Chicago firms in general are the most legit. In NY there is FirstNY and De Shaw, but they are exceptionally competitive to get into... they even pay a salary for their prop guys. I would pursue the Chicago firms. You may want to brush up on some introductory computer programming and quantitative finance skills though. Some of these firms do some more complex things than just trade stocks off support/resistance levels or other TA. But you will learn about making markets in options, pair trading, and maybe arbitrage.
Here is a good recent link that has similar questions:
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=165793
There are also some other great threads in the prop forums.
I've also been getting a lot of PMs interested about getting some information about the prop industry, so if you want shoot me a PM and I will copy-paste the messages I responded to them.
Good luck
Yeah I know somebody that used to work at hold brothers and now works at T3 capital but from what he's told me it seems like their for mostly experienced traders. The only good firm i've heard about for beginners was RBC capital. I still haven't heard from them. I don't have a college degree but I am licensed series 7, 63, I work in the financial services industry as a financial advisor.
For newbies, Bright is the way to go...expensive shop but if you can learn you will overcome their high rates. After that go to JC, solid group.