Well after eight years in the business I am finally throwing in the towel on prop trading, just cannot make enough money anymore. Well, let me clarify. I make $500 to $1000 a day with no overnights for 20 days a month then get crushed one day to lose most of it. I trade a couple million shares a month.
I got started in '98 at one of the best Day Trade shops in the country and made good money through 2003 even after decimalization and the bear. Whereas most of my peers from the heyday blew up long ago, my strategy enabled me to consistently make enough to live a nice lifestyle. I was never the big swinging dick of the room, but played a real risk averse game. I only traded when the market was moving, always traded on the right side of the market, and never allowed my ego to prevent me from telling me I was wrong about a trade and needed to hit a bid to get out. I was taught to never double down on losers and managed to stay away from this losing strategy until recently and thus the one big losing day a month.
But the past year or two I have found the moves to be nonexistent and volatility in the Nasdaqs I trade to severely lacking. In my mind decimalization killed day trading and algorithms all but ended any sustainable moves. When I started trading I was going for half dollars and full points, now I trade for nickels and dimes on 5 times the size.
My assets as a trader are my ability to read the tape, identify real buyers and sellers of any issue, and patience and discipline. I found my edge fading the Spoos and Emini to buy or sell relative strength. I am a tape reader who can watch every print in a handful of stocks at the same time to determine who the axe is any issue.
Bottom line is I love everything about trading and don't want to quit. So I put it to you, how can I leverage these skills to get on a real trading desk somewhere. A lot of pros at the big BDs scoff at day traders but I know I can better fills than many of them. I have seen more lazy MMs who just run a stock up to get the order filled just to have it drop back down when they are done.
I'm targeting buy-side hedge funds, asset managers, mutuals, and pensions right now (sell side seems to tough to crack) but even with an MBA and experience filling institutional orders I am having a tough time getting a foot in the door.
Seems like a lot of these positions are advertised on Bloomberg but I gave mine up a couple of years ago. I am ready to move to just about anywhere but NYC to get a job but cannot seem to find an in. So what moves should I make to get a trading job? And I won't be offended if people really believe I should just hang it up, but please be critical and useful.
seasonedpro
I got started in '98 at one of the best Day Trade shops in the country and made good money through 2003 even after decimalization and the bear. Whereas most of my peers from the heyday blew up long ago, my strategy enabled me to consistently make enough to live a nice lifestyle. I was never the big swinging dick of the room, but played a real risk averse game. I only traded when the market was moving, always traded on the right side of the market, and never allowed my ego to prevent me from telling me I was wrong about a trade and needed to hit a bid to get out. I was taught to never double down on losers and managed to stay away from this losing strategy until recently and thus the one big losing day a month.
But the past year or two I have found the moves to be nonexistent and volatility in the Nasdaqs I trade to severely lacking. In my mind decimalization killed day trading and algorithms all but ended any sustainable moves. When I started trading I was going for half dollars and full points, now I trade for nickels and dimes on 5 times the size.
My assets as a trader are my ability to read the tape, identify real buyers and sellers of any issue, and patience and discipline. I found my edge fading the Spoos and Emini to buy or sell relative strength. I am a tape reader who can watch every print in a handful of stocks at the same time to determine who the axe is any issue.
Bottom line is I love everything about trading and don't want to quit. So I put it to you, how can I leverage these skills to get on a real trading desk somewhere. A lot of pros at the big BDs scoff at day traders but I know I can better fills than many of them. I have seen more lazy MMs who just run a stock up to get the order filled just to have it drop back down when they are done.
I'm targeting buy-side hedge funds, asset managers, mutuals, and pensions right now (sell side seems to tough to crack) but even with an MBA and experience filling institutional orders I am having a tough time getting a foot in the door.
Seems like a lot of these positions are advertised on Bloomberg but I gave mine up a couple of years ago. I am ready to move to just about anywhere but NYC to get a job but cannot seem to find an in. So what moves should I make to get a trading job? And I won't be offended if people really believe I should just hang it up, but please be critical and useful.
seasonedpro
