<i>"I agree that someone who just "daytrades" is going to have a serious problem, no matter what. The "day of the daytrader" has been long over."</i>
That may be true for stock traders... a tough racket I wouldn't care to stake my financial future upon. Not true at all for futures traders, especially eminis.
While trading is considerably more difficult than years past, successful trading emini futures demands true trading skills. None of the order-flow b.s. payments or trading inside bid/ask spread... no reading specialists while depending on their human tendencies to manage stock inventory books.
That stuff has zero to do with true trading skills. Anyone who ever thought SOES bandit garbage or pay-for-flow tactics would/will last forever are kidding themselves. Temporary disparities in a market that will purge them out via self-survival.
A lot of high-income earning market participants (not traders) built their fiscal foundation on a bed of shifting sand. Winds blow, foundations on sand crumble.
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Any skilled trader can make a living right from the comfort of their own home. As for the $$ leverage advantages with prop shops, I see none for emini traders. A skilled trader can either earn their own bankroll thru organic growth or manage other people's money for 25% profits all day & night.
Key words being <b>"skilled trader"</b>. A lot of prop shop market players are not skilled traders... i.e. able to trade the correct side of rising or declining tapes based on pure price analysis alone.
<b>FlyBy,</b> develop that skill in the emini futures, you can earn a king's ransom yearly. Start with one contract and build your way to two. If you have the trader skills to produce 40% annual in stocks (albeit entirely different market conditions than today) you will be just fine.
<b>Don, </b> I have the utmost respect for you and your opinions. But... you are wrong about the day of daytrading being over with. I read somewhere your brother pushes 1,000s of eminis turned per session in scalp fashion. That's one way to skin the proverbial cat. Good emini traders can average +1% of account balance returns <b>per day</b> on average... over the course of time. That includes normal losing days and likewise the +4% of account balance days, combined.
Prop trading is viable, but by no means the only path to success. A lot of us private guys are sitting home, where we prefer to be, using a lot less leverage than the stock players while racking up methodical gains month over month.
We'll do that until we decide otherwise, because the market itself dictates nothing to us. True trading skills of navigating the tape can never be rescinded, once earned.
Best Trading Wishes