Quote from coachd:
You do not need to worry about loses after the $5000 because they will just close you account when you get to that level. To be honest if you are looking for a job as a new grad prop is not they way to go. I use to manage a successful floor with 60 traders and out of the newbie less the 10% would succeed to become a good trader and be able to trade for a living.
The training you will receive will not really help you trade. For the most part if a firm had a strategy that worked why would they teach it to you and give you such a high percentage of the payout rather then just have a blackbox run this strategy. These firms hire out of University knowing that you will loose your deposit most likely but charge 0.001 per 1000 shares comm when their cost is about .0001. So lets say you trade for 3 months on that $5000 the firm will prob make at least $2500 just off your comm. So if they hire 10 traders they will make at least $25,000 just on comm.
My advice to you would be to get a real job while you trade a demo account and learn about the market, or contact one of the firms that require a smaller deposit like WTS and see how hard this industry can be. I will be honest I have had years in the mid six figures but I have also had years where I earned less then $30k.