What retail are sold and believe is paradoxical to the reality of how it works. https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/topsteptrader.305660/page-5#post-4398091
I started last year with 40k in my capital account, and my 2016 K-1 showed just over $95k profit, so I guess I made just over 200%. Doesn't feel like that much because I look at my trading based on monthly gains and losses.
Shouldn't your % of profit be measured according to what your total leverage is? I.e., if you put in 40k, but are given 10:1 leverage you are actually dealing with a 400k account. If you then make 95k on 400k you are doing 22.5% profit.
I guess, but really its the returns on your capital account (real money) that counts. It gets to be an issue if you are filling out a due diligence form where they want to see you daily returns. You have to use the nominal account size, and this can be hard to figure, especially if you leverage increases with your account size. But for an individual, you just need enough leverage to be able to trade your program, and no more. And cash is king, so its really about return on your deposit.
No, 100%: 10 x 10% = 100%. If you are prop trading with leverage, conservation of capital is everything. I get paranoid if I go down 3% in a month.
I've had this discussion a few times. IMO your prop return should be based on average bp used. There's not any easy way to calculate this, so the user just has to estimate. So on the $40k account, if he's using $200k/day average then you are around 50% return.