stockbroker trainee vs. prop trader trainee

Quote from MTI_44:

I am just saying what I was told. Also, I know since E1 has had some boiler room talk, that could be why he moved up so quickly.

Maybe, or he has a rare gift for it or he has a lot of rich family friends.

So ask your pops to hook you up with those big $10billion net worth traders and get yourself some clients ready to go.

Problem solved, question answered. Dollar Dollar Billz Yo!
 
Quote from Hydroblunt:

You're a funny dude. Remember to take everything with a grain of salt. You have a very disillusioned view of the brokerage and prop trading industry. Do some serious research.

4 years to run your own branch, lol, you should aim at simply being able to take home anything above your draw (if any) after a year.

with an attitude like that, you've lost the battle before it's even begun....it is entirely possible to make a 7 figure or greater income in either profession, but that's obviously the top tier performers. you have to possess the tenacity and intelligence to climb to the upper echelon....
 
Quote from Hydroblunt:

Maybe, or he has a rare gift for it or he has a lot of rich family friends.

So ask your pops to hook you up with those big $10billion net worth traders and get yourself some clients ready to go.

Problem solved, question answered. Dollar Dollar Billz Yo!

It is my friend's father. And there is only one problem. He lives in California with his rich friends and I am in New Jersey going to Rutgers. I trade on my own between classes. I am going to see though if he does have any friends in the city.
 
Quote from NYSEscalpa:

with an attitude like that, you've lost the battle before it's even begun....it is entirely possible to make a 7 figure or greater income in either profession, but that's obviously the top tier performers. you have to possess the tenacity and intelligence to climb to the upper echelon....

I agree with you 100%. I hear a lot where someone says "Yeah, but only about 1% of people actually achieve that." I always look at it as though everyone who wants to be that 1% can do it. Look at Richard Branson. He was poor when he was younger and long story short, RICH AS HELL. Going from rags to extreme multi-billionare riches is probably the .1%. But nothing is impossible.
 
mit 44,

A broker in training at Smith Barney...Lehman, hardly a bucket-shop boiler room and a 13+ year career is not the fast track to success. (The majority of brokers at SB were also worthless, mindless nitwits with one thing in mind - COMMISSION, but that's for you to figure out.
You're an educated young man with a great deal of potential and maybe a few good contacts to help catapult your career to a place you are clearly not ready for. Make sure you're not getting hurled to the sharks.
I'm trying to explain to you that the two professions (the old stockbrokers and the new Arcade Runners) are from the same blood line. In fact, I would bet the many (and I know most of them) are either old bucket-shop dealers or over-night millionaires from the Soes Bandit days.

As for being a stockbroker today, it's just foolish to even ponder it. You could consider going to a mutual fund, like Fidelity, and learn very quickly how to trade by placing the orders of their customers who tend to make the wrong investment choice and learn from it. All the while building a resume that is worthy of a job in the event that you don't pass muster as a trader............
 
Quote from NYSEscalpa:

with an attitude like that, you've lost the battle before it's even begun....it is entirely possible to make a 7 figure or greater income in either profession, but that's obviously the top tier performers. you have to possess the tenacity and intelligence to climb to the upper echelon....

With a complete lack of what is going on in the Brokerage industry, you're best off not even thinking about entering it. I never said it was impossible, but without some edge or pure luck or a gift from nature, you're in for a GRIND.
Take a does of realism, it helps to make correct decisions, protect your downside and create a safety net. Build yourself up with the "rah rah" attitude and you may find yourself desperately broke a year from now, wondering when those 60 hour weeks will pay off.

Quote from MTI_44:

It is my friend's father. And there is only one problem. He lives in California with his rich friends and I am in New Jersey going to Rutgers. I trade on my own between classes. I am going to see though if he does have any friends in the city.

This is why I said to do research. I'm giving you good advice here. Don't matter where they live, E1 actually aims at international clients, mainly UK & Australia. This is 21st century.
My friend, an ex successful broker who stupidly wasted all his money went back into the biz. He tried out E1, went back to his old boss. E1 has NO DRAW but a good payout. It's not a boiler room, they won't even let you write tickets without the account being funded. That 50-200k/month kid, I may have met him, even he says that it may have been luck on top of hard work. Landed that one client and that set off the catapult. That's still 1 in hundreds, just counting E1 alone.
You do this. Get your friend's dad and his richie friends to at least give you a push by starting small BS accounts with you. I doubt 50k-100k is anything to them. Until you get the grasp of it, let them dictate their own trades. You may learn from them and maybe evolve.
If you are able to come into E1 with accounts ready to go, even if they are not that big, you will get special treatment and a HUGE boost. Look, most successful brokers (discounting boiler room), are successful because they know rich ppl and come from those type of backgrounds. I've interned at Merrill's private client group in NYC (their top brokerage office) for 2 years, I would know. It's about RELATIONSHIPS, first and foremost.
 
I have worked as a sell side position trader, a buy side fixed income manager, a sell side institutional salesman, and now a prop trader. I would choose prop trading over the rest hands down. The problem with the brokerage industry is the unchecked egos of your coworkers. Man do I have some stories. As far as sharp guys making good retail brokers, forget it, it's the dumbest that succeed in that business.
 
Quote from Don Bright:

I get that question a lot, and it's easier for me to say which professions are the most difficult (always exceptions)...and it usually gets me in some trouble (being frightfully honest causes a wrinkled brow every now and then)....

1. Stockbrokers (they think they actually know something about trading for a living, but rarely do...there are exceptions).

2. Engineers of any sort (this is where I tend to get wrinkled brows)....Engineers for the most part expect to see "the bridge fully built" before they place even one rivet into it. They tend to think that there is some formula for trading (obviously there isn't)....but, that being said, if an engineer can open their mind to training, they tend to develop great trading plans and workable automated programs.

Doctors are a bit tough as well...since they are generally "over achievers" they think they "should" be able to do something as simple as trading after a week in the saddle.

Don

You think those are tough, try an ex-college Finance Professor. I thought I was going to kill him.
 
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