Quote from traderchi128:
Ok GMST, here's my 2 cents on everything. I think I have conversed with you on here in the past. You seem like a good kid so I will try and be nice. No promises.
For a new trader/guy with little to no experience, Patak is fine to start out and see if you can make it. Spend a few hundred bucks instead of funding your own account and losing it all if you don't have what it takes. If you are profitable they seem to be very willing to back guys. If you can't get out of the combine then you probably shouldn't be trading. To me their daily loss limits seem reasonable. I think you are hung up on the max position size in regards to $ limits. Well.....nobody is forcing you to trade the max size every trade. Either save your max trades for ideal set ups or wait until you build a cushion to do more max trades. You have to remember, a lot of new traders/wannabe traders out there have no discipline/no risk management skills. While you might think that Patak is being a bit tight, they are teaching you the most important tool of being a great trader which is discipline/risk management.
The one problem I do see with their program is the bouncing back between real money and sim accounts. That , in my opinion, is a horrible way to do things. Trading can be a psychological mindfuck at times. If you have a guy on Sim and he does well enough, then you back him, he goes through a drawdown and back to sim, when he is making money on sim the 2nd time he is going to be beyond messed up thinking this should be real money. While I am no fan of sim trading (I have been in the biz 20 yrs and seen so many do great on sim, then get obliterated when it went to real money), if a firm is going to use it, should only be for the initial period. Maybe have the initial sim time a lot longer. Maybe 3-6 months (I can't really see how in 20 days they will know much). Then after that longer time back them. For those who are going to whine that 6 months on sim is too long and they can't afford to live? Boo friggin Hoo. Get a 2nd job while learning. That or cut back on your lifestyle until you get going. All of us traders who have been around started out making squat and having to work 2nd jobs. There is no free lunch in becoming a trader.
The other thing which is a concern is the lack of traders making any real money there. Being open for 2 yrs and not having many guys reach 30k implies to me that they don't have adequate funding for their experienced guys. That's a red flag.
So now that I have confused you, here is my take:
New guys should go there, and find out if they have what it takes. If they don't do well, no big deal...only a few hundo.
If they do well, then trade for a year. If they don't back you with adequate capital then take your track record to other firms out there that will. They ARE out there. Just got to look and put in the effort. If you can't get into a firm then show your track record to a friend/family member who completely understands trading and maybe they will stake you. If you are that good, they shouldn't have a problem doing that.
As far as Mav. Give him a break. He has been short a ton of JCP stock for a few weeks and is getting squeezed badly. He has the right to be ornery.