Where can I go for funding?

I get where you’re coming from. Trading other people’s money and getting a percentage of the gains (…and not sharing the losses) is the best scenario that a trader could be in. If you can trade 10x your personal account size using OPM while keeping 20% of the gains for yourself it would double the rate of return on your funds. The only problem is market volume. When the AUM gets large enough some of yours strategies may not be possible due to volume. You’d have to spread it out over additional trades and that will likely drop your performance.

Ty, Yes, I think that's a really major understated issue. I almost feel fortunate not to trade OPM in light of this. Volume quickly becomes an issue. There's also, for me, an extra weight or responsibility trading OPM, perhaps like driving someone else's car, I don't feel OK about taking risks that are valid but that fall outside normal business limits.
 
There are funding solutions but the high prices they charge combined with the demands and aggravation to get approved will likely make you think funding is not worth it. You might check out https://percent.com/ I don't know what % they will expect but i can share my experience apart from stock trading funding.

On my regular business we pay 6% per month to ad agencies for a line of credit to buy media (online advertising) with most payments due 30 days after the month of activity. Even at that rate it's not easy to get approved.

Or amounts to 6% per month. Some agencies I must prepay and when I send them $100k they credit me for $94k. Credit is expensive because of the risk involved.

Ty for these insights. 6% is impossible by my standards. I sometimes use creditcard and resent paying 2% pm. However, my creditcard is really sharing the risk in the same way.

I think this addresses a key point, that's hard to express. From my POV, with my own money, I can't afford to sustain LT losses, and I don't get them. Whereas an investor trusting someone else has to factor in a sizeable risk.

I've seen this in the 2ndary loans market. There might be a very safe scenario (low LVR etc) but is outside bank limits (eg old age of the developer) and if I know the guy involved there's effectively no risk premium - I know that. But an outside investor would not know that in the same way and has to charge a high risk premium.

What I'm trying to say is that OPM factor in unnecessary unknowns that have to be "paid for", and often amount to an unfeasible solution.
 
Does this really matter for most people though? If he has the skill he says he does and isn't just using time, general bullish bias of major US indexes, account and/or position size to turn a profit, than by the time AUM becomes a factor he will have all the money he needs and wants (unless maybe he's trying to purchase and maintain yachts). Again I don't accept him trading lower volume instruments or not trading futures. If he understands how the markets work, than he can trade the higher volume instruments. Otherwise he's likely just finding some temporary niche or using the above things I mentioned and in that case his edge is a lot less likely to last because whatever he is doing is in a vacuum and if context changes, most likely so will his results.

Yes, I think it does matter. Even on mainstream trades on big instruments (and I'm not big) the market can give me only partial fills on even 100k trades. And then chase has to begin. Trading x10 would be a bother.

I like to trade afterhours sometimes, and that's very trade size dependent and yet is not "some temporary niche"
 
There is a lot of money out there wanting to be traded. If he wants a 24 hour solution (which there is one that isn't even a bad deal **if you can actually day trade at a high level**) than the very simple, straightforward and cost effective answer would be choosing whichever well established online prop firm best fits his needs.

If he needs to hold positions overnight and rely on time and other factors to turn a profit not necessarily related to day trading skill, than he is going to need to get creative and pound the pavement networking and building relationships by surrounding himself with other people that trade, are in the financial markets or have risk capital they are looking to apply somewhere. Has to make himself stand out by doing something like trading live in front of people, having a really good pitch or explaining in a unique way what separates him from everyone else. It is do able but of course you may have to aggressively network for a year before an opportunity arises.

Otherwise he is left with his current option. Continue to trade his own money and build results. If he still isn't where he wants to be or wants to grow more than the more results he builds the greater his odds are of going a more traditional route.

I think you've summed it up there, in the 2nd paragraph. Yes, I do need to hold positions overnight and rely on time and other factors to turn a profit not necessarily related to day trading skill. You're probably right that I'd need to "pound the pavement networking and building relationships". It'd be naive to think otherwise.

But rationally, I would've thought there'd be some avenues for LT decent results to be awarded funds. And the fact(?) that there isn't, is very telling about the financial industry. Trading is not really the meritocracy we like to believe it is. Reward for merit is only within limited networks.


< the greater his odds are of going a more traditional route >

What's an example of a more "traditional route"? What is the "traditional route" into trading?
 
Nothing wrong with wanting what you want ......... but the lender is the one who calls the shots.

Because the lender is the one taking the risk.
 
Start a partnership with family and friends, your own hedge fund.

Nice idea, unfortunately, I have few wealthy friends, and the ones I have, are either very conservative or have a kind of superiority complex towards their finances and / or me. I showed one my results and he just got angry with me, or me showing off, or like it was a challenge to him.
 
Ty, Yes, I think that's a really major understated issue. I almost feel fortunate not to trade OPM in light of this. Volume quickly becomes an issue. There's also, for me, an extra weight or responsibility trading OPM, perhaps like driving someone else's car, I don't feel OK about taking risks that are valid but that fall outside normal business limits.
I like Marty Schwarts’s story in Pit Bull. He started trading with other people’s money and learned how managing clients is another full time job. First he had to charm them to trade on their dime, then he had to comfort them through drawdowns. His playbook is to come up with the initial cash and trade the hell out of it. Then when the account gets too big to scale he pulls out of it for the finer things in life. Great book if you haven’t read it.
 
"Yes, I'm genuine and can provide funded past results, your comments on FO make a lot of sense. I'm based in Auckland, New Zealand. Do you really have to be in the same location as a FO backer and rub shoulders with them?"

Yes, you'll have to start with their geography. Risk management and some level of compliance are going to want you in a common location. Generally, nobody hires numbers unless you're coming off of a proven desk.
Backers are much more challenging to connect with but can be much more rewarding for the right trader. It's not for everyone.

You should also consider limiting your social media exposure.
 
I like Marty Schwarts’s story in Pit Bull. He started trading with other people’s money and learned how managing clients is another full time job. First he had to charm them to trade on their dime, then he had to comfort them through drawdowns. His playbook is to come up with the initial cash and trade the hell out of it. Then when the account gets too big to scale he pulls out of it for the finer things in life. Great book if you haven’t read it.

Thank you for the lead to a good read! I'll get it, seems relevant. I think, for me at least, it would be a full-time job to manage people, and I'd rather thrash my own account.

There's another underrated aspect. I feel maxxed out just trading my own coin. I paper trade as well on a platform that publishes and authenticates results but even that's too much bother at times. I doubt I have the excess energy for it all. I like to keep it small light and simple.

And I can barely keep my own records OK. Things that some people think should be no bother are a hassle for me. I have limitations. And I grew up in an earlier era. I now don't adapt well to other platforms and tech.
 
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