FCT / First Continental

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Arcadian

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Hi all,

Does anyone have recent experience of this company, good, bad or indifferent? What does the prop side do, what are they like to work for etc ?
 
They area fter your money. They try getting people to spend time trading a demo at there london offices and make you pay for it.
 
all this about there apprenticship is ********. They try and tell you that the cost is comparable to an MBA. But if you work hard for an mba you'll get something out of it. if you work hard at trading theres no gurantee you'll get anything out of it. I think there are better oppurtunities out there
 
I went there earlier today for an 'interview.' To be honest, the whole thing looked dodgy. It really did seem like they were simply after the money (£5k) and most of their information is contradictory. Their website says one thing, they send you a brochure which says another and when I went there I deliberately asked them about these things and just got a load of bogus responses. Even the working environment itself was rubbish - very dark and dingy. They like to boast about being located in the city, but their offices are total crap.

I would stay away!
 
I have been approached by them twice for their "apprenticeship" scheme. I dont know about their graduate training but I got the impression the apprentice scheme is one big hoax.

It cost 5 grand plus VAT (since when did you pay VAT to open up a trading account?) to get on their course, they say the 5k is for your trading account if you are successful on their course, but if you fail the course you pay the cost of training which is about 3K.

I asked what the success rate is and they said 50% success/failure, so basically you stand a 50% chance of losing 3k.

I think its terrible they exploit people because i think its a great idea to offer traders that may be overlooked in the traditional graduate training scheme an opportunity to learn about trading and get in at an office, i'm not aware of any other firm that do this. Sadly FCT fail to see that as a prop firm you will make far more money putting well trained/enthusiastic bums on seats than scamming a few grand off genuine people wanting to be successful traders.

Tom
 
having been at FCT for 4 months i can say that it is a good firm and they will back you if you are good. For those who are worried that they wont be backed ...well the simple fact is if you are good you get backed if not then you wont. Its business sense you are not going to back a trader who loses you money.
 
r4jen said:
having been at FCT for 4 months i can say that it is a good firm and they will back you if you are good. For those who are worried that they wont be backed ...well the simple fact is if you are good you get backed if not then you wont. Its business sense you are not going to back a trader who loses you money.
Click to expand...

Hi r4jen? Are you still at FCT? I heard all the guys that started in late 2005 who paid the £5000 have all been kicked out now? Just thought it funny that they're advertising on eFinancialCareers again. Suppose FCT have got to earn a living some how !! :rolleyes:
 
I was also supposed to start at FCT. I asked them why the VAT was being charged when its being held in my own account. They said they had to charge this as it was law (alarm bells or what). FCT have another building over the way from where the interviews are held, i guess this was where the main Props were trading from as the building i was interviewed in could seat about 35-40 and there were only 6 people in there.( probably decoy traders).
Anyway after 6 calls from them saying they were going to withdraw the course i declined.

Maybe worth going just for a luck at the cute secretary though.......

Best of Luck
 
I attended an interview there and there was no talk of apprenticeship but purely a grad scheme where you shadow a trader and once you are up to it they back you. I was impressed with the guys there as they were frank and straightforward.
 
If you aint gotta lay any money out and your gonna get free training then just go for it. They trade a lot of interest rate spreads so at least if you dont get taken on you will at least have some experience of the markets and you may get in with another Prop Shop.

Have they still got the cute secretary!

Best of Luck
 
Ed, she wasnt there when i was if they have! That was late enough in the evening however. I am of the same opinion as you. I can afford a year to give it a go and am positive that trading is for me regardless of what form it takes.

Where are you trading from?

Regards
 
Im not currently trading at the moment. Done a little spreadbetting and broke even. I looked at working for a prop firm but i could only survive the early months if i was willing to use money ive saved for my trading account. I work in Mortgage broking so am not tied 9 to 5 in an office. Im just putting together a trading plan and doing some backtesting before starting to trade small. Im gonna trade the mini dow as the hours mean i can be home early afternoon and trade the markets the rest of the day, also its extremely liquid so should be no problem with fills etc. You done any trading or are you just starting out
 
Hi Ed, no just starting out thinking about doing it for a living, done a bit of spreadbetting and investing. I'm fairly sure its for me I just need to make sure i don't end up getting shafted and that I realise what a gamble getting into it is.
 
Apparently they had a guy who had worked on the bombay stock exchange in their last intake. The poor sod used his life savings (£7,000) to come all the way from India to the UK with the promise of being a trader. FCT arranged a work visa and found him some absolute dive of a bed-sit to live in. Any way, FCT took his £5,000 and let him loose on the euribor. On the simulator he showed some real promise so they encouraged him to go live and scale up the size asap.

The poor bugger lost £3,000 when he went live so FCT kicked him out and had him deported!!

F*#king hilarious and true :cheesy:
 
FCT - Sharks

Hey BMW maybe you should take on board what PualoP has posted before you dive in head first mate. Just remember that even if they do take you on and train you, you're still gonna have to make sure you can be very good to clear the desk fee's and commissions they are gonna charge you.

Make sure you dont pay anything up front.....................
 
If you're still really keen on trading there are still a few firms that dont require you to put up your own money (probably a good idea in my opinion). I think these firms are recruiting at the moment so it's worth a punt:

MET Traders
Futex
SaxonFinancial

Propably more but can't think of them off the top of my head. If you really feel the need to put up your own money(?) then I suggest you go to the more reputable firms that have a track record of producing consistenly profitable traders, although, this is still no guarantee of success. Even at a decent firm where there has been alot of investment in trader training your odds of success are about 25/20%. The firms below charge but they've been around for a long time so they have a ruff idea of what they're doing haha:

Marex (£1500)
Schneider (£2500)
Goldenberg Hehymer (£5000)
 
PualoP said:
Apparently they had a guy who had worked on the bombay stock exchange in their last intake. The poor sod used his life savings (£7,000) to come all the way from India to the UK with the promise of being a trader. FCT arranged a work visa and found him some absolute dive of a bed-sit to live in. Any way, FCT took his £5,000 and let him loose on the euribor. On the simulator he showed some real promise so they encouraged him to go live and scale up the size asap.

The poor bugger lost £3,000 when he went live so FCT kicked him out and had him deported!!

F*#king hilarious and true :cheesy:
Click to expand...

LMAO - talk about a bum deal! :LOL: :cheesy: I wonder if he got his old job back, or if he's busking on the streets of Delhi now!?
 
Thanks for the replies guys, I was very precise about the fact that I was not putting any money up and they said that this was not the case. They wanted to hire some grads to expand the office. I have heard lots of bad stuff about their programme where you pay up front etc.

Will have to wait and see what the contract says but they were adament and the deal sounded like some of the better ones with a small salary and then off you go with theior capital once they are satisified you are capable or out the door if you arent able for it.
 
If you don't fancy outlay try BullBearings virtual trading platform. We are currently developing a new site for launch this summer which will have the option to register as a student/graduate and upload your CV, then enter the competitions and go from there. Our aim is to identify real talent and contact you directly and manage you through the process of either getting into an IB or Prop House. What do you think, and no, there is no capital outlay from you, just good old fashined virtual trading. Trade as if it's for real and you may get spotted. Our team has on average 15 years in the FM industry and are good at spotting good trades, portfolios and positions generally. Any feedback welcome!
 
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