Funded Traders - Pros n Cons

Sorry mate but you've got it completely wrong. Almost... Yes there are some that work the way you put it. However the prop firms I have listed do not. The only money you put in is the Qualification Trial fee, or fees if you fail & keep trying. After that it is the prop firms that provide ALL the funding. Check them out PROPERLY for yourself.

hi all. I've sat down and applied for several positions today so let's see what comes back and get to the bottom of the best ones and the worst. I've attached a history statement from my live account showing 42% profit over 6 weeks with never more than 1% loss on a single trade and never more than 2% on a single day. Let's see what they respond. I'll keep you posted.

for those haters thinking why do you need funding with results like that? My equity is large enough to sustain a full time income so in looking for funding to provide enough scope to mak it a primary income.

How's about showing us your LIVE p&l statement?

With track records like that, you should run your own hedge fund. It would be LOT more profitable and efficient for you than going with a funded prop trading firm.

There is an attached file for you johnvr I am not a liar or a make believe I am simply trying to make a secondary income a primary one. As you can see from the account the profit would not support anybody but given funds you can do the simple multiplications.

In an update with the firms I have been passed with both MES Capital which is a free trial and TopstepTrader which is a paid demo. I am unsure about MES but it is free and I am going to participate for simply clearing it up for everyone on here how legit it is.

Can I also clear the air that I work for no financial companies and hold no views on the up and coming reviews. The only things that I know about the companies I have applied for is what I've read on here and other forums. I hope this will help any other traders out there like myself who are trying to make it but find it increasing difficult to get that opportunity.


I'd love my own hedge fund forexia but I do feel that for now I would be more comfortable with a prop firm and I am also intrigued to find out which are the legitimate firms and like I've already said I hope it helps others in the future.

WHY.?????

How about showing us yours.??

WHY.??? Why do people who don't have a clue what they're talking about bother posting rubbish.???

Good post mate
I can vouch for MES. They don't communicate too well but don't hesitate to pay out when requesting a withdrawal.

Just EXACTLY what I thought. Funded prop trading is NOT what they seem. Anybody who wants to try funded prop trading firm should read this:
http://www.tradingschools.org/review...capital-group/

I am NOT denying the author's slight partiality towards TopStepTrader program which is a rival funded prop trading firm to MES but the article DOES bring to light some important questions and points that all potential traders who want to sign up with those prop trading firms should think about before they part with their money. Are those funded prop trading firms really legitimately interested and are willing to be invested in your success or are they just trading education schools or even introducing brokers in disguise? How much money do you REALLY have access to when it comes to trading?

And this is from a personal experience, funded prop trading firms, legitimate ones that involve education or not, used to have profit sharing %'s at 20 - 25% NEVER as high as 50% like those prop trading firms? 50%!! Is it really worth it, after paying all those transactions fees and course fees, even when you make money, you have to fork over HALF of what you make to those people??!! And just so you know, when you trade on your own, transactions NEVER amount to several hundred dollars a month. Sierra Charts, and you can look it up on their website, only charges $18 per month for their platform fee and if you trade with a STM broker, they only charge a spread and NO commissions and even if you trade with an ECN broker, the commissions would not amount to this high in a month. So that means those prop trading firm, after so called funding you are already taking a cut in the fees and they still get to take 50% of your profit and that's AFTER charging you course fees?

My gosh! It's getting more and more creative in making money off traders nowadays.

WHY not? WHY are you so against successful traders with proven track records to run their own hedge funds? WHY do they need to sign up with those prop trading firms like MES Capital that's going to take 50% of the profit away when they can not only keep all their profit, get people's investment for free and even charge people management fees ? Does not make sense.

That's why I say if a trader is successful, they don't need to go to a funded prop trading firm for trading capital. They should just run a hedge fund to raise capital.

If a trader is not successful, it's still better if the trader just do his/her own homework and find a winning trading strategy and trade to accumulate capital (it IS doable) instead of wasting money with those "funded prop trading firm" which are really trading education schools/MM brokers in disguise. Think about it: WHY would somebody be willing to give you money, ten's of thousands of dollars all based on a even a 20-day trial period? You are supposed to demo trade profitably for at least 6 months before trading with real money and those companies are willing to part with ten's of thousands of dollars on just a 20-day trial period on people they have NO idea about? If that is indeed the case, you still shouldn't trade with them because any companies who are this imprudent with their money would not last long; they would be bankrupt soon.

Remember: There is NO free lunch in this world and NOBODY in their right mind would give you money for free for nothing in return simply because money does NOT grow on trees for anybody. IF somebody claims that he/she is willing to give you money for free, either that person is lying or there is catch behind it which requires you to fork over something in return FIRST. If it's too good to be true, 100% of the case, it REALLY is.

Hi forexia I appreciate your input. Starting a hedge fund is undoubtedly hard especially gaining funds. If I keep trading with my own funds how many years would you think it would be before a primary income is achievable? I'm thinking of using the prop firms as investors in me the same as a hedge fund. The only difference being they want a bigger cut. If I do this for 12months successfully then I will have money to back myself and then also a track record of working with 3rd party funds. This would then help to attract investors to possible set up a legit hedge fund. I'm looking at these prop firms as a short term go to, a stepping stone if you will. If I walked into an office now and asked for funding off potential investors they would simply say well we can see your effective but I want to see more track record and more evidence of you being able to handle greater funds. That's what I'd say. That in mind I've got to find a way to get to a stage where they would have confidence in me but within that route prop firms may have a role. Would you not agree?
I am just going to reiterate the fact that I don't support any sole prop firm and this is for people to see the different ones for what they are underneath the skin.
I have received an email from Top50fx this morning saying that they're next trial starts on June 1st and submission instructions will be sent out to all applicants before hand.
I have received an email back from Yesfx asking for a CV and 72 hours for them to review.
I'll keep you posted.

Seriously This!

But if trader1988 is already starting the process and willing to give them a shot, seems like we should just sit back and see how trader1988 experience is.

Hopefully trader will keep us posted on the process and how it goes.

I will keep everyone posted with all developments. Any that I try I will review completely and honestly with any evidence I get. I think it's only fair that everyone should be able to see which firms are serious about funding traders and which ones are there to take people's money. Whatever happens you will get the truth about the firms that I trial. I won't be trying all firms as that will get expensive but certainly a few hopefully. If there is any good firms we will hopefully uncover them. All opinions and experiences are good to here but let's try and keep hostility out of it as hopefully this will help many traders in the future see where to go for help and funding without getting conned

What investors are looking for in a hedge fund manager is the consistency AND sustainability of its profit. IF you can make that much % of profit in a month consistently for a sustainable amount of time, believe me, people WILL notice. It does NOT take money to make money, not large amount of money anyway. You don't need large amount of money to make money all you need is good ideas and concepts. Same as many startup companies, they don't have lots of money but they have a stellar ideas and they still get snatched up by venture capitalists. In your case, it's that 41% and the sustainability and consistency of it. If you have it, you have nothing to fear and certainly don't need some company who will take half of your profit just on the promise of giving you money and assuming that they are not going to make you pay to take their useless courses and charge you additional monthly fees?

And to answer your question just with your money alone with no additional capital from prop trading firms or hedge funds, how many years would it take for you to have your trading to achieve "primary income", i.e. to make a living solely on trading?

Answer: NOT long, just one year. Let me show you.

Assuming you are able to make 41% profit (according to your published P& L statement) consistently for 6 months, after 6 months, your initial deposit of $1000 will grow to:

1000 * (1+ 0.41)^6 = $7848.04. That's a 7848.04/1000 = 784% growth.

After a year (12 months), your money will grow to: 1000 * (1+0.41) ^12 = $61,748.92.

That's a level of middle to high middle-class income depending on your definition, PROVIDED you are able to make that 41% every single month constantly. You can live very comfortably on a $60K annual income in North America and your spouse wouldn't even need to work to have ANY income if you don't have children. So just with $1000 of capital, with your profit %, you can not only make "primary income" for yourself but also for another person who totally depends on you.

Conclusion: You DEFINITELY don't need funded prop trading firms if you are just looking to make a living for yourself trading. If you want to expand your trading business to have more capital, hedge fund investors will be willing to give you their money just for that consistent and sustainability of that 41% WITHOUT taking 50% of your profit away. Either way, prop trading firms is NOT needed even for the short-term if you can make consistent money.

If you have the numbers, you have the numbers. That's your track record in itself and that's ALL you need to show that you can make money. You don't need some other firms or persons to kinda "vouch" for you that you can handle "greater funds". Profit %'s does NOT change when the amount of capital changes. If you can make 41% with $1000, you WILL be able to make 41% when it's 10,000 or 100,000 or 1,000,000. Otherwise even what the prop trading firms is giving you is still not enough to show that you have a "track record" because they are only willing to give you $15K for starters according to MES Capital website, so what if the hedge fund investor wants to give you $1,000,000, are you going to be able to handle it because you've only handled $15K before?

That's why I say, as long as you have the numbers, it will be good enough to attract investors. I will tell you there are hedge funds, mutual funds who make LOT less profit % than 41% and they have BILLIONS of dollars under management. Just go to MorningStar.com and do a search for funds with 41% return and to see how many funds come up. And you are worried if you can make 41% return, nobody will be willing to give you money? LOL No they will be DYING to give you money and will even beg you to take their money and will pay YOU to take their money to invest it for them because they will be making 41% return along with you!! That's why I say, if you REALLY are able to make consistent and sustainable profit and have a track record to prove it, it makes ABSOLUTELY NO sense going to a funded prop trading firm to raise capital.

if you want to consider working for a serious fx trading fund look at this http://www.jarrattdavis.com/100000-opportunity/. Whether it peaks your interest or not, this is the kind of performance and compensation you are looking at with large funds. Unless of course you are consistently hitting it out of the park - then just set up your own fund.

And if it makes absolutely zero sense for somebody who is able to make money to go to a funded prop trading firm to raise capital, then that leaves funded prop trading firm to be only ONE thing: they are only for the people who can't make money. But then, just as I have stated in my previous post, if you can't make money and don't have a track record that you can, WHY would anyone be willing to part their money with you for you to just throw it away for them? I mean if they are going to do that, they don't really need to give it to someone to do that, they can just buy a shredder and just feed their money through it. WHY would they want to go through such length to want to give their money away?

Answer: Because they want something in return first. This reminds of something that happened to one of my sisters when she was going through teenager years about 10+ years ago. At that time, there was all of sudden a fever about modelling thanks to the tremendous popularity of super models that were instant millionaires just by walking on a stretch of blocks with clothes on. And of course how can teenager girls resist pretty clothes and glamour? Modelling is just irresistible to them. And all of sudden, modelling agencies were springing up left and right all over the city, all over newspaper, magazines pitching opportunities and the income potential, and of course my sister went to all of them and she was told by all of them that she's got the looks, the right stuff, great sense of this and that, BUT in order to be hired by them, she has to take their courses which cost always thousands of dollars OR pay hundreds of dollars to get professional photographers to take her pictures to build a "portfolio" that they can use to present her to clients. And after talking to other parents and their friends, my parents discovered the true nature of the schemes and of course we all know those were all scams, but my sister wouldn't have it. She did EVERYTHING to force my parents to pay for her courses or get her the "portfolio", cried, begged, threatened, refused to eat, and one day she even walked out of our house and didn't come back for like 3 days. My parents were frantic. Until one day, she talked to one of her friends who REALLY got hired by a legitimate agency and was REALLY working as model with legitimate contracts. She told her she didn't have to pay A CENT to get hired; the agency liked her and paid for EVERYTHING, her course fees, professional portfolios, marketing, EVERYTHING and now she's working. She told my sister IF they REALLY want you, they WILL NOT let you pay for anything because they know you've got what it takes so just with the first contract, they will get ALL their money back and then some so the initial investment of course fees, photography fees is NOTHING for them; it's already budgeted in their cost and they want to make YOU happy cuz you will be making money for them. The ONLY way that they would make YOU pay is because they KNOW that they are NOT going to get their money back because they have NO intention of you ever making it; they are there just to make money off you and that's it. She even told my sister, next time at her interview at one of those agencies, after she's offered those courses or "portfolio's", ask them if they are willing to pay for them for her and not her because if she's that good, those agencies would be willing to invest at that much for her. My sister did at her next interview, and of course we all know the answer to that question. And of course was the end of my sister's "modelling career". Today she's working as a marketing executive making six-figure income, happily married with a wonderful husband and two beautiful kids and my parents are two happy grandparents who babysit weekly. And my sister's family and my parents have weekly family get-together and my sister visits my parents on a regular basis and help them out from time to time as they live very close.

Moral of this long story: IF somebody wants you, they will PAY YOU to do something for you and NOT the other way around. Think of any "day job" companies, the company would pay for any courses that you want to take to better your job, pay for any trips that you need to take to do your job and pays YOU a salary for working so if you want to think about those funded prop trading firm as a company that "hires" you to trade for them, WHY would they make YOU to pay for courses that you need to take to better your skill, make YOU pay for trading costs that you need to incur (same as business trip expenses that those day job company employees incur) to trade for them when they are going to take a chunk (50%) of your profit and let you keep the other portion of your profit as remuneration? After all, once you are "hired" by them, you will be working for them, making money for them. So just like what my sister finally did that made her wake up, for anybody who's willing to test those prop trading firms out to "give them a shot", you should be asking the same questions to those prop trading firms:

1. Are you willing to pay for my courses? If no, if you are so confident that your courses will allow me to make positive profit, WHY wouldn't you be willing to invest in me when you are sure you will be able to make all the course fees back just with my first profit since you will be funding me with large funds to trade with and taking such a large % from my profit? The internet is flooded with trading education courses and instructions, systems, ideas, I could be studying them on my own for free to better my trading, WHAT makes your trading courses so much better that I have to pay for them? If your firm's trading courses or your affiliated trading educators' courses are so much better, WHY aren't you willing to pay for them for me? Because I will be making the money back to pay for itself.

2. If I will be so successful in trading for you, WHY wouldn't you be willing to pay for my trading costs? You are taking such a large % of my profit, surely that's enough to cover all the trading cost, WHY do I still have to cover for them? Think about it. If I don't want to work for you anymore, you will be losing 50% of my profit, would be willing to lose 50% of my profit or losing the trading costs every month? So you are not willing to cover my trading costs just to make me happy, you would rather lose 50% of my profit?

From the answers to those questions, you will clearly see, just like those fake scam "modelling agencies", whether they are truly invested in you and want you to succeed or not or whether they are just trading education schools (whether they run their school or introduce you to their training partners/affiliated schools) or introducing brokers in disguise.

Good luck!

Aahhaa Cherry picking to get your biased view across. Why did you not post his latest report on MES. http://www.tradingschools.org/review...apital-update/
Of note is the 1st paragraph. Pros: A legitimate, high level trading opportunity. Absolutely zero costs. Anyone can try out. Real trading accounts are awarded to the best and brightest. You will not be pitched into purchasing education, indicators, or worthless trading mentorship programs.

I've already stated my bias. What's your bias against firms offering to fund traders. Maybe you already tried & failed dismally. Or do you have ant actual FACTS to back up your statements. Perhaps you have another agenda.?? You seem to be full of Knowledge. How long have you been trading & how successful are you. Maybe you should post a trade explorer to show people how it's done.

Thanks for posting this mate.
Yes the compensation looks OK but this is the type of firm we all need to avoid. They want you to put your money into a trading account. In this case $2000. This is just a broker getting in on the funded trader band -wagon.