How successful are prop traders?

L

lasner

I have a friend that's been trading for a prop firm for about a month. He told me that if things go well within the next couple of months they give him 15 million to trade with.

Is this standard for prop firms or is he talking s**t.
 
Quote from USAtrader:

If this is your friend's first month trading he's full of it.
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There is no way a person can learn enough about the MANY pitfalls of trading in a short time.

Successful trader's learn from their mistakes...
And it takes years to make all the important mistakes.
And, imo, a trader is "experienced" if he has gone an entire bull/bear market cycle trading daily.
This is about 5-10 years.

After 2-3 years and 1000s of trades I thought I was great... but I had a LOT to learn.

I think people that believe there are "shortcuts" success...
Are either under 25 and lacking in wisdom... or they are born losers.

rm+

:cool: :cool: :cool:
 
Yea - I had a failed trader from Scheonfeld try to tell me that they gave him 25 million in BP just because he asked - and that he put up no money.

Meanwhile, he's now in the management operations training program at Deutsche Bank shuffling papers around a desk.

People who brag with such over-the-top figures are almost ALWAYS full of crap.
 
Quote from lasner:

I have a friend that's been trading for a prop firm for about a month. He told me that if things go well within the next couple of months they give him 15 million to trade with.

Is this standard for prop firms or is he talking s**t.
More...

the latter

have them say that to him, after he proves himself, instead of dangling the same dusty, stale, moldy old carrot that they all dangle in front of every trader...
 
15 million in margin or in notional principal? If it's the latter then I don't see why it wouldn't be true. For example, 15 treasuries is not that big of a position. Also, I suppose it depends on what he's doing. Is he putting on a spread trade, or an outright position? Is he trading something like Eurodollars which are not very volatile, or something like JGBs which are?
 
After enough time, you come to realize that many in this business base their entire future on the word "IF". IF only I had bought the low and sold the highs, IF only I could make $1000 per day, IF I can prove consistency, MAYBE these guys will give me X million buying power. Yes, many of these children will jump at any chance to tell you these wonderful IF's that may await them in the future. Good day.
 
Quote from lasner:

I have a friend that's been trading for a prop firm for about a month. He told me that if things go well within the next couple of months they give him 15 million to trade with.

Is this standard for prop firms or is he talking s**t.
More...
If he is talking about being enabled to trade a certain number of contracts or shares in a year that would have a market value of $15MM, then yes it is possible. What is possible, however, is not always what comes to pass. His performance will determine how much or how little he is allowed to risk.

$15MM is around 230 ES contracts or about 80 DAX contracts or about 266 YM contracts at current prices. That is certainly possible in a scalping environment. Very few people make it to that level in 1 yr.
 
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