Pattern Day Trader

I'm with scottrade also. I have like 5,000 buying power, but half

that is in cash. I can do like 3 or 4 trades in one business week.

Cash is ok if your swing trading like someone said, but with

cash, you cant short stocks, and of course you cant "day

trade" unless your JM :) (no pun intended).
 
Quote from FaderTrader:

The way a prop firm works when you put your own money up is...

You desposit $X (normally 5k). You are buying Class B shares in an LLC. The LLC itself adheres to the PDT Rules and is capitalized in accordance with those standards. The Class A share holders make money off of commission markups (above the base cost), which is still much lower than retail commish.

You can trade remotely at many firms. In fact, if you are only trading part-time and are, hence, doing low volume relative to a full-time trader, it's likely you'd be required to do so.

I'm going to pre-empt all those who say, "You better have good risk management because if anyone else is that pooled partnership blows up, you're screwed." Yes, this is correct - though rare - and can be mitigated by frequently swiping your profits. Also, as a Class B shareholder, you have no real incentive to blow up. So, there is - to some degree- self-policing since everyone has thier own money in it.

In any case, I don't know of any firms that cater to options traders, but I'm sure they exist.
More...

How is buying power determined?
Thanks............tman
 
Quote from tman:

How is buying power determined?
Thanks............tman
More...

Varies from firm to firm as well as the comfort level of the Class A members. If you trade remotely and they don't know you, you're likely to get less than someone who sits in thier office all day and who's been trading for a while.

I can get up to 80X intraday where I'm at, and in any case if you trade remotely, it will be well in excess of standard retail 4:1.
 
Well it sounded like what the broker was telling me, my punishment was that I would loose my margin.
Margin is something I don't use when tradign options so the loss would not be all that horrific. Except if of course I wanted to go back to trading stocks. Then I'd be much more limited.

Comp
 
Not to get off the topic, but sense we were talking about props, I wanted to ask if anyone who has worked at a prop and is, or has been a retail trader, do you feel more "Professional" by working in an office enviroment surrounded by other traders, and does this "Professional" feeling make you more successful?

- nathan
 
Absolutely. I don't think I could trade at home. Some people like to be around other traders. For me, it's really about getting up each morning and going to an office. Having tech people there as well is an added comfort in the event something goes wrong when I'm in a position - I could lose a point while I'm on hold with the clearing firm.
 
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