Originally posted by TraderJimR
Ahh yes, the perfect world! And everyone would get the company car of their choice, every trader would also get to live in a mansion and everyone would make ten million dollars a day!
I'm sure if you asked any trading firm about your ideas, they would love to see them implemented, but they would all go broke.
I have been at a few of the prop firms, and have friends that have traded at the ones that I haven't, and I can say a few things in their defense.
First, every firm wants you to be successful. For some reason many people here seem to think that all the firms are out to suck you dry and spit you out. I have not found this to be the case anywhere. Given the choice, every firm makes more money off of a trader if the person is around a long time.
Second, from what I have seen I will agree with others who have said this before: The majority of the traders that I have seen complain about a firm are unsuccessful. Many of them attribute this to the firm they were unsuccessful with, but from my experience the people I have seen in this situation I believe would have been unsuccessful at any firm, maybe to a greater or lesser degree is all. I have found that good trader can be a good trader on any trading system and at any firm. So I think instead of hammering one firm or another because of a trader's failures, the trader needs to look inside.
Finally, I know many traders that do very well, and none of them attribute their success to someone's book or someone's seminar. And none of them went into the business expecting to be shown how to make money. I have seen many an unsuccessful trader come into the business and sit behind a computer for months throwing sh*% at the wall with nothing sticking, then leave pissed that no one showed them how to be a millionaire. I would think that all the successful people would agree that if you want to be good at this game you need to take it upon yourself to truly learn the game. Learn the stocks you trade inside and out, study every trade again after the market. Analyze your day, your profits, your losers, where could you have more, what moves you missed.
The guys who treat this like a job and make it their life are the ones that do well. Sounds obvious, but honestly I would estimate that 50% of the traders I have seen treat trading like a part-time ATM machine: they want to put in as little work as possible and live the millionaire lifestyle, they just expect the market to pay them like it does the good traders and get pissed when it doesn't, and many of them seem to think that whatever firm they were with may have had something to do with it. You want to make money, don't expect anything and don't think some magic seminar or book will do the work for you. This is a job, plain and simple, treat it like one.
Anyways, sorry for getting off topic. I'm not a fan of Bright but I don't like it when people bash any firm for the trader's own failures. In my experience though I will say that I have found this to be VERY VERY true: IF YOU DO THIS FULL-TIME, THE PROP FIRMS ARE THE WAY TO GO! Any of them!!! I will always trade prop, I could never have learned what I have or made the money I have in a retail environment. BULLETS ARE HUGE! LEVERAGE IS HUGE! Not to take large positions but to float multiple orders. If you do this full-time you owe it to yourself to talk to the prop firms.
OK, my essay is over, back to trading.
-Jim
