Is experience at a prop firm required to be a successful retail trader?

[qlai]

The blind leading the blind, cause anyone that is good is trading and won't give up their edge to retail

I doubt if you post your complete system, anyone will be able to trade it, let alone remove your edge. I don't think people come to ET to rob half baked ideas. I think the noob comes for guidance from people who walked the path.

Unless you learn how to do it yourself, you will never be able to adapt.

I agree, but how do you start is the question! What is the shortest path to figure out if you got a chance? The generic answers, while true, are not practical.

 

[sle]

It dawned on me the commercials seldom lost, they either grew the product or processed the product and hedged with futures.

On an unrelated note, the theory of hedging your output with futures is somewhat different from the reality when dealing with agricultural commodities. A lot of the "commercials" that grow the product actually want to be long the futures. While it's counterintuitive, it makes more sense once you consider the bull and bear scenarios for aggs. When the harvest/yields are good, prices are low but the farmer has a lot of product to sell. On the other hand, if there is a drought/swine flu and such, the prices skyrocket but the farmer does not have any product to offer.

 

[ElectricSavant]

Most farmers contract with the seed company with a predifined price.

So you can see where hedging plays a role as insurance.

ES

On an unrelated note, the theory of hedging your output with futures is somewhat different from the reality when dealing with agricultural commodities. A lot of the "commercials" that grow the product actually want to be long the futures. While it's counterintuitive, it makes more sense once you consider the bull and bear scenarios for aggs. When the harvest/yields are good, prices are low but the farmer has a lot of product to sell. On the other hand, if there is a drought/swine flu and such, the prices skyrocket but the farmer does not have any product to offer.

 

[Sprout]

I doubt if you post your complete system, anyone will be able to trade it, let alone remove your edge. I don't think people come to ET to rob half baked ideas. I think the noob comes for guidance from people who walked the path.


I agree, but how do you start is the question! What is the shortest path to figure out if you got a chance? The generic answers, while true, are not practical.

Improving the quality of the question improves the quality of the answer.

The answer that make any real difference are the ones that we work out for ourselves from the questions we are able to form.

Answers are locked by the ability to ask the right question.

With any obscure path, taking a step reveals the next.


Trading & Exchanges by L Harris is similar to having a topological map of the ‘lay of the land.’

 

[Handle123]

that is why HFT traders have programmers on their team,who then share in the profits

I was under the impression all were programmers and none of them were manually trading? As far as "sharing", those who own the company get more as they usually their own funds or recruiting for more? The best of the best get more than the least, isn't that how life is usually?

I have never worked in prop, but have managed OPM and larger, but can't stand working with people as they generally have no idea of how much work trading requires in research, most rather steal then give it away. Older I get, more untrusting of traders, so many have other motives other than making profits.

 

[Handle123]

I doubt if you post your complete system, anyone will be able to trade it, let alone remove your edge. I don't think people come to ET to rob half baked ideas. I think the noob comes for guidance from people who walked the path.


I agree, but how do you start is the question! What is the shortest path to figure out if you got a chance? The generic answers, while true, are not practical.

Actually I have given away a few of my systems years ago, people send me emails letting me know they are trading them, and I still trade them in automation, but they are back tested each weekend and tweaked. You have to understand trading well enough to know when they need to be changed, and why many systems that are sold fail, people who buy them, they buy cause they can't trade let alone adapt.

If you have to question if you have a chance, you have no chance, as you lack confidence in your ability to running a business. This business is no different than any other business with the exception of it now entails much more technical as in programming skills, but even that is never enough. This business requires huge amount of time, you give up much of your life to play this game, no vacations, no parties or hanging out with buddies, better divorce the wife then you have more time.

I have seen a few systems get totally destroyed from the masses and pros buying/sharing it. Usually Pros get it for free and force signals to fail till trigger stops out retail and they reverse. So I have bought many systems through the years, and where retail gets stopped out, I enter.

So read books and learn where retail stops are then make a well back tested system based on retails failures, then automate it. Tada.

 

[Handle123]

On an unrelated note, the theory of hedging your output with futures is somewhat different from the reality when dealing with agricultural commodities. A lot of the "commercials" that grow the product actually want to be long the futures. While it's counterintuitive, it makes more sense once you consider the bull and bear scenarios for aggs. When the harvest/yields are good, prices are low but the farmer has a lot of product to sell. On the other hand, if there is a drought/swine flu and such, the prices skyrocket but the farmer does not have any product to offer.

Part of my family in Illinois and Kansas been doing it different for years as they sell futures at peak growing to be able to lock in profits. Meats on other hand, rather controlled market, it would have to take a swine flu scare to make them move limit for days. But meats are my favorite market to trade. It is sad that the small family farmer needs to work outside of the farm to make decent profits, big business grows it then processes it much cheaper than small farmers.

 

[EsKiller]

Improving the quality of the question improves the quality of the answer.

The answer that make any real difference are the ones that we work out for ourselves from the questions we are able to form.

Answers are locked by the ability to ask the right question.

With any obscure path, taking a step reveals the next.


Trading & Exchanges by L Harris is similar to having a topological map of the ‘lay of the land.’

How come you need to speak in babble and riddles like Hershey used to do ? Do you think anybody really wants to decipher this bs ?

 

[qlai]

Answers are locked by the ability to ask the right question.

Agreed, but not very helpful. The book is a must read.

 

[ElectricSavant]

I think Sprout's posts are rather eloquent and I find his posts thought-provoking. His method drives into you the essence of the message..

It's folks like Sprout, Hershey...etc..that make ET enjoyable.

ES

How come you need to speak in babble and riddles like Hershey used to do ? Do you think anybody really wants to decipher this bs ?