Traders of today...
- Thread starter trade-ya1
- Start date
I run a small prop firm which hires traders in a 'farm team' format. I offer the worst deal on the street. However, I do afford them the opportunity to make the transition from day-trading firm to legitimate hedge fund (and all the good things that come along with that, such as resume improvement, access to learn from incredible talent, have exposure to strategies that exploit legit edges, be exposed to strategies which have much greater scaleability), we do not offer a training program. We expect the traders to align themselves and make relationships with our current hedge fund traders. Basically, they get to view the inner workings of a hedge fund from the inside. Also, we allow for the possibility that if a trader is truly outstanding and has proven himself/herself to have a legitimate edge and be profitable, we may stake this trader with funds from the hedge fund. We've already had a trader turn down our offer of additional funds. Anyway, don't want to get much into the details here as I don't want to be considered advertising. What I will say is that the trader must back his/her losses with 100% of their own capital. PM me if anyone is seriously interested. I have hired a few people off of these boards. Thanks.
You say, trade-ya1, that you will "likely be running over $500 Million sometime during 2004". Curious.. do you have a current figure?
As has often been said on this BB you have to say beforehand and then successively demonstrate your trading or system success to prove that success if you are making specific claims.
Personally I would always steer clear of making any specific public BB claims of success .. but I do think this site provides a central venue for the trading community and the various viewpoints coming from that community.
Thing is, to back anyone you need them to demonstrate whatever success he/she may claim. Past records and so on in trading or indeed in business generally can often amount to diddly squat when it comes to performance NOW and in the immediate future. Surely for a hedge fund, successive consistent success that can be demonstrated to you is what you want?
As has often been said on this BB you have to say beforehand and then successively demonstrate your trading or system success to prove that success if you are making specific claims.
Personally I would always steer clear of making any specific public BB claims of success .. but I do think this site provides a central venue for the trading community and the various viewpoints coming from that community.
Thing is, to back anyone you need them to demonstrate whatever success he/she may claim. Past records and so on in trading or indeed in business generally can often amount to diddly squat when it comes to performance NOW and in the immediate future. Surely for a hedge fund, successive consistent success that can be demonstrated to you is what you want?
...if you can say, where on the spectrum of profitability of your ensemble of prop traders does 15% a month fall? Thanks.
If you are referring to what percentage of 'day-traders' we have in our Farm Team are making 15% per month, I would say we only have a very small number of traders in that program currently. We have one outstanding superstar that makes about 50% per month with hardly a down day. He is off the charts. I take no credit at all for his success, it's all him and he came to me as a superstar. As for the Fund, I would never hire anyone that is making as much as 15% per month. That strategy is either too risky for my Fund or it can only deploy a relatively small amount of capital. Best. Neal.
The issue of what does a percentage return mean for an individual (prop) trader has come up and been discussed many times. Namely, what does that "50%" mean? Does said trader have some given amount of capital which is swept out each month (or so), ala most prop traders, or is "50%" a number that is compounded each month. If the latter, it shouldn't take too long for him/her to surpass Bill Gates in wealth. That is, of course, if he/she can continuously compound it
. What kind of capital base does said trader employ? 50% of what? Of capital USED? Of capital ACCOUNT BALANCE? What dollar figure range are you talking about on a daily basis? What kind of volume?
All these are important questions and issues to be answered and resolved because the "50%" (or any number for that matter) is just one component of the complete returns picture. Without the others, performance is difficult to gauge.
Just some food for thought and discussion.
Goodnight.
p.s. not knocking Mr. Superstar, just want to understand the components of that number.
let's say, for example, a prop trader puts up $1000.00 of his own money and is given 100x leverage by a very generous prop firm. hence, the trader is using $100,000.00 of capital. the trader earns $1000.00 in his first money--doubling his initial $1000.00 stake. now, do you say he earned 1% or 100% in his first month ??? see how this deception could be used by prop firm promotors ? how would this return be reported ?? is it percentage on capital used or percentage on capital contribution ?
something to think about.
best,
surfer
something to think about.
best,
surfer