You work from HOME, with a Prop Firm you have higher leverage than retail accounts. As long as you don't have any felonies involving security or financial fraud, you can trade prop. However you must pass the series 56 exam. There really is no hiring process, you are sponsored.
About 2 yrs ago a lot of firms were operating within the US but using Firms in Canada to bypass FTC regulations regarding proprietary trading. This allowed traders without a series 56 to trade. I traded with one of these firms and did pretty well. However it took the owner to long to pay me my money. So rather than gamble with this clown, I stuck with retail. I will eventually study and get my 56 series license.
With a retail account (Etrade) you have a 2:1 leverage under $25k and a 4:1 leverage over $25K ($100,00) in buying power, with unlimited intra-day trades. Under $25k you are allowed a maximum of 3 trades every 5 business days.
Prop firms require a Series 7 or 56 license. You put up the minimum which is $5k with most series 56 license. In return they will give you 10:1 ($50k) or 20:1 ($100K) in buying power. The fees are higher because you have to rent software and pay commission. So your looking at about $400 monthly whether you trade or not.
With a Series 7 license a min of $20K is required and you will in return be awarded 1 million dollars in buying power. Bright in Las Vegas pays weekly which is nice. Because most firms pay bi-weekly. With a million in buying power you should do fairly well with small trades $300 daily or better. I do mean small incremental gains. However a better strategy, divide 1 million into 4 $250k trades and expect $200 per trade. Which should give you between $500 -$800 a day. Or you can do it on a single intra day trade. Eg: $2500 in 20min trading one stock purchasing 5K shares with a .50 gain. You have to test the waters and be smart.
One trader on here after passing his series 56 with $1500 bucks was given $200k in buying power. Unfortunately he burned up that money. But when you have such a small deposit. Your gains have to be minimum. I opened an account with $5K 10:1 leverage and made $1200 the first day using stock screeners. When your an experienced retail day trader, the biggest thing you have to over come is the urge to buy when you migrate over to Prop firms. Because the leverage is so astronomical it becomes enticing and overwhelming. I closed my account because it took me too long to collect. However at the time when I traded prop firms I never shorted and still made good money. So I'm still using retail and working full time. I want to have my $30K retail prior to going prop. So I can collect a check everyday via ATM. The best thing about Prop is the ability to short anything including penny stocks. Retail wont let you short anything under $7 a share. They tell you $5 dollars but that a lie. Try shorting it and they will tell you there are no shares to borrow. In addition you can't request those shares either. With prop firms I sent an email with the stocks I wanted to borrow and they were available, whether I used them or not.
Once you are licensed with a big firm you can work from home. Using 20-40:1 leverage with a $5K deposit. Which is more than enough. Be smart make your $5K back first and withdraw your initial investment. That way if you loose money, it's the markets money and not your initial investment. A loss is a loss, however it softens the blow. Once you extract your initial investment, trade hard and build up your available cash to about $20K and ask for 40:1 leverage ($800k in buying power). Buy 1300 shares of Apple or the like and jump out at .25 and upwards. $300 a day and then some, there is no reason why you should make $100k your first year.
Play with Macy (M) you can expect .10 easily that stocks moves .50 to $2 daily. Purchase or Short 3K shares and let it move .10. There is your $300 dollars before 10am. You have be careful and stay under the radar of Market makers. If you grabbing large shares they will drop the price or go against your momentum to get you out. So this is why it important to use Level II quotes. Noticed the largest volume and trade 500 less shares. Eg. if you see an order for 5K shares you trade 4500 and pray for a dime. Get out at $450 in 20 min or less. Don't be greedy you can close on a nickel or trail the stock by .03 cents after it moves up .05 ($250). When your shares are sold you know it will equal or exceed $250 within a 10 min. window. How many people you know make $250 working 8 hours, not very many.
If your patient and have both a retail and prop with 2 computers and 4 monitors. You can tell you boss to fly a kite !!!
