1.8 cents sounds pretty high...and ask them what the $2500 deposit is for...the reason i say that is because I "interviewed" with All-Tech a year ago...and they wanted that also, thing was if you lose that , you're done, unless you replenish it. So they are taking NO risk at all, don't let them bullsh*t you about letting you use their money, 'cause they'll probably only let you trade 100 share lots
another words, you're not an employee, you're a customer no matter which way they try to fake that
personally i might check worldco and some others , get the best price per share with smallest contribution, biggest payout(65% is an insult if you ask me)..learn the ropes, if you like it then scrape together a stake and check out a pro shop like echo or bright or leiber weissman and get 100% payout and pay less than a penny per share.
Good luck.