How much for a seat per month at a prop firm?

[SCFX]

Hello all,

i went to a prop firm sometime back, just to check the environment out with a view of moving into one of these firms in the future. I was told that the cost of renting a desk was in the region of £2500 up to nearly £5000 a month. Is this this rubbish or fact?... from what i've read here so far its a load of bull!!


Cheers Charlie

 

[laptop1]

You pay about £1600pm on avrage for desk, quotes and trading platform and about £1.30 RT
if you make it to the stage where you're profitable - you'll be making money for them .. they will make money from your P&L and also your clearing. It comes out of your wage packet.

 

[Directional]

£2500 would prob be about the top end of the scale, depending on what software & services would be included: ie; bloomberg terminal, reuters, TT etc.

You should be able to pick & mix the stuff you need at a decent arcade starting from a bare desk cost of around £750

 

[SCFX]

£2500 would prob be about the top end of the scale, depending on what software & services would be included: ie; bloomberg terminal, reuters, TT etc.

You should be able to pick & mix the stuff you need at a decent arcade starting from a bare desk cost of around £750

Cheers guys, your replies are appreciated.

What might be the cost of a seat in a prop firm? Or do u not pay for seats in prop firms unlike Arcades. I've been trading for over 3 yrs now, 2 of which was in an institution so i have a track record. Also i trade fully automated algoriths via Esignal to TradeBullet and on to IB so Bloomberg and Reuters are not needed.

I was thinking of looking at firms such as Saxon Financials, Marex and MAC Futures.

Cheers Charlie

 

[Directional]

prop/arcades are pretty much one & the same. Most prop firms are arcades & vice versa.

You rent a seat, not buy - your desk fee contributes towards the ongoing cost of running the office & infrastructure + software leases.

did you have a look through the arcade directory list on this site?

ps. Mac & Marex are the same firm

 

[SCFX]

prop/arcades are pretty much one & the same. Most prop firms are arcades & vice versa.

You rent a seat, not buy - your desk fee contributes towards the ongoing cost of running the office & infrastructure + software leases.

did you have a look through the arcade directory list on this site?

ps. Mac & Marex are the same firm

yes... i have looked at the list.. there are a number i am considering... but Saxon was the one that has really jumped out at me as they actively try to help you start up your own fund... so they say! Anyway, that is still some way down the line... but you've got to look there to get there.

Cheers for your help Arb.

Charlie

 

[DemonHeadmaster]

yes, saxon financials is a good place to start off. they are not quick to cut you loose (unless of course you drop too much too soon) and with a decent trading plan, will let you setup your own team. They are not shy on funding new ideas. i was there for a couple of years myself before getting a better deal elsewhere. For a standard setup (1xCQG, 1xBloomberg, 1xTT) you'll be paying £1800 a month. I was trading commodity spreads at the time, so was on £2500 a month (4xTT, 1xCQG, 1xPlatts, 1xWebIce). Yes, it is pricey and you can get much cheaper elsewhere (eg. marex charge £2000 for roughly the same setup). hope that helps and good luck wherever you decide to trade.

 

[SCFX]

yes, saxon financials is a good place to start off. they are not quick to cut you loose (unless of course you drop too much too soon) and with a decent trading plan, will let you setup your own team. They are not shy on funding new ideas. i was there for a couple of years myself before getting a better deal elsewhere. For a standard setup (1xCQG, 1xBloomberg, 1xTT) you'll be paying £1800 a month. I was trading commodity spreads at the time, so was on £2500 a month (4xTT, 1xCQG, 1xPlatts, 1xWebIce). Yes, it is pricey and you can get much cheaper elsewhere (eg. marex charge £2000 for roughly the same setup). hope that helps and good luck wherever you decide to trade.

Thanks DemonH,

could u tell me what Saxon might expect from a trader as proof of a track record? % returned while never risking more than 2% per trade, a certain sharp ratio for risk adjusted returns, and what sized account might they give a person with 6 months of track record?

Also, must i have a bloomberg teminal? if i wish just a basic set up with my own Esignal charts plus TradeBullet and just some basic facilities so that i can design and implement new algoriths, what might they charge me for such a set up? Am i correct in saying at Saxon i would not be trading my own funds, so perhaps they might be more strict on what lenght my track record?

Sorry, lastly, what would define a trader just not being profitable to a trader just having a drawdown? 1 or 3 months without making a profit.... i guess this might also have something to do with what type of trader u are. Perhaps a less active trader working from longer time frames might be given a longer period to pull out of a drawdown, we all have them from time to time

info on any part of this would be appreciated

Cheers Charlie

 

[grantx]

Arbitrageur,

Thai brides not good enough, so why not Latvians?

Do you think you may have confused 'Riga' with 'Reger' (as in Janet), who - so a friend tells me - designs apsects of Ladies' garments.

Grant.

 

[DemonHeadmaster]

if you've traded at a prop firm before, you'll need to show them your monthly p/l sheets. they focus on the number of contracts you trade, the ticks you make a month, the spins you do and your % hit rate (ticks/spins). the account size (or contracts) you are given all depend on how many you currently trade, and your progress once you start working for the company. if your consistent then you'll be given more contracts.

bloomberg comes as standard, but you can ask for it to be removed. im not too sure about using charting software other than CQG. you'll have to speak to them about using a different package, though i have seen someone use esignal before.

if you've shown to be profitable in the past, but cant make a dime for a few months they'll want you to sit down and figure out whats gone wrong. they'll even bring in a performance coach to sit down and speak to you about your goals, ideas, etc....anything to get you back to trading well again.

hope that helps.

Thanks DemonH,

could u tell me what Saxon might expect from a trader as proof of a track record? % returned while never risking more than 2% per trade, a certain sharp ratio for risk adjusted returns, and what sized account might they give a person with 6 months of track record?

Also, must i have a bloomberg teminal? if i wish just a basic set up with my own Esignal charts plus TradeBullet and just some basic facilities so that i can design and implement new algoriths, what might they charge me for such a set up? Am i correct in saying at Saxon i would not be trading my own funds, so perhaps they might be more strict on what lenght my track record?

Sorry, lastly, what would define a trader just not being profitable to a trader just having a drawdown? 1 or 3 months without making a profit.... i guess this might also have something to do with what type of trader u are. Perhaps a less active trader working from longer time frames might be given a longer period to pull out of a drawdown, we all have them from time to time

info on any part of this would be appreciated

Cheers Charlie

 

[SCFX]

if you've traded at a prop firm before, you'll need to show them your monthly p/l sheets. they focus on the number of contracts you trade, the ticks you make a month, the spins you do and your % hit rate (ticks/spins). the account size (or contracts) you are given all depend on how many you currently trade, and your progress once you start working for the company. if your consistent then you'll be given more contracts.

bloomberg comes as standard, but you can ask for it to be removed. im not too sure about using charting software other than CQG. you'll have to speak to them about using a different package, though i have seen someone use esignal before.

if you've shown to be profitable in the past, but cant make a dime for a few months they'll want you to sit down and figure out whats gone wrong. they'll even bring in a performance coach to sit down and speak to you about your goals, ideas, etc....anything to get you back to trading well again.

hope that helps.

Thanks DemonHead,

sounds like a good place to target. Will be my first port of call!

Thanks again,

Charlie

 

[smccreedy]

Hi all.

What interests me is what advantages trading from an arcade with my own funds or for a prop firm offer over direct access at home.

I currently trade direct access with Interactive Brokers.

I trade only the near month FTSE Fut.

I make with a track record ten to twelve points per day currently I trade only one contract.

Typically this will be made in four or five trades so my commisions are around £10 per day. I make on average £500 per week and have margin of £10,000 so can up my size if and when I feel ready.

Now I live in Birmingham and am not really that up for moving to London but am open minded if it was proven to be a good idea.

Now from this set up could someone point out the advantages of an arcade or trying to get in to a prop firm?

I guess the ones that will pop up are backing financially. To which I'd say £10k margin is more than enough to make a fair bit of money by my standards and certainly enough to lose a large amount of money if I trade too big. Of course there is chance to grow my margin organically by spending less than I make.

Social aspect will crop up. Can't argue with that I'd love to have traders around me to bounce thoughts off.

Saved commisions. I'm not sure how huge you'd have to trade before paying £2,000 a month for a seat is outweighed by savings.

In short I have enough margin to open 8 contracts and on past performance if I could keep my head would expect £4,000 a week profits from this.

IF I could acheive this why would I go to a firm? Or put another way if you were me would you look for an arcade or firm?

Any input would be great.

Thanks

Stephen McCreedy

 

[A Dashing Blade]

On those numbers I'd if it ain't broke, don't fix it!
(plus you may want to have a look at FuturesBetting.Com rather than IB)

 

[smccreedy]

Thanks DB, I just think that you always feel if you aren't doing it in London you aren't doing it. Strange idea I know and probably my youthful need for people to know I'm doing ok.

When you do what we do most people think you're just getting by in a way going to have a desk somewhere gives me something to prove I'm doing alright, might also keep me on track, just don't see the upside is all that great from moving to one but sometimes I feel it's the next step.

I guess I'll grow out of this.

Thanks for the heads up on fb, will have a look and see how it goes. The idea of tax makes me feel queesy!

I've found direct access so much easier to make money, looking back I loved the people at Cantor and it was a lot less scary than dealing with the 'real' city. But the spread and skew makes shorter term trades a lot tougher, I think anyone trading intra day and breaking even at SB firm would be wise to look at at direct access as they might find they're better than they think!

Stephen McCreedy

 

[SCFX]

Its been a while since i have posted on this thread but i was thinking that some og the guys here might help me out again..... over the last few weeks i have been researching via this site to try and find the best prop firms to trade for, this is where my knowledge is very weak..

Could any of u guys in the know give me a heads up for which firms i should aims for? I trade CME products on the whole via my own fully automated algorithms on Esignal.. My systems are generally looking for about 2 points per trade on the ES and about 1 point on the ER2 (i've included this as it might be relevant to which firm might be best to target).

I also want the lowest desk fee (don't we all) but abviously at a good firm, this could be acheived by not having Bloomberg, Rueters etc, i just don't need this stuff as its not my way of trading and so would feel a little pained if a firm insisted i have it (looks great but just not necessary!) Do the firms make money by traders having more software packages?

Arb i know u trade at Marex from reading far too many posts here (hope u happen to read this) are Marex still full or are some available seats around? Does anyone know anything about Heron trading and why they changed from Pelican West? I went to Pelican west some time back and spoke to a guy called james but i feel he was trying to milk me with high comm. and a seat fee of £2500 a month... are thy a good firm to get involved with if i can push down their seat price?

Cheers fellas,

Any advice would be appreciated.

Charlie xxx!!!