How much are you comfortable keeping in your prop account?

Discussion in 'Prop Firms' started by Eleanor, Oct 24, 2009.

  1. Eleanor

    Eleanor

    50K? 100K? Since intraday leverage is high, you would normally keep a relatively small percentage in the account while sweeping the rest?
     
  2. ScottSam

    ScottSam

    The bare minimum.

    2-3k
     
  3. Sounds about right
     
  4. i was told the new 'rule' is there is a 5k minimum for any new trader looking to open up an account at a prop shop... no more 2-3k... true or false?
     
  5. ScottSam

    ScottSam

    I'm pretty sure there are firms out there with less-than-5k requirements. But they might only take on experienced traders.

    Global and JC come to mind.
     
  6. i have 10 yrs experience in the market... i met with a firm and they said 'it is now industry regulation that the minimum a prop firm take in is 5k'. i had no idea anyone regulated prop firms outside of PDT laws, and i dont recall ever hearing about this minimum...
     
  7. What firm was that?
     
  8. mews

    mews

    I would imagine that a trader would obviously want to keep the minimum that they can in an account. The firm would probably want to make sure that the risk for the amount of BP they are giving out is covered. 2-3k if someone is only using 50-100k in BP and whose max losing day isnt more than a few hundred I guess seems ok, but if a firm was giving out a few hundred k plus in BP it doesnt really make sense to only have 2-3k in an account. It can also depend on whether the trader is profitable and what kind of swings they have. I think it would be hard to have a standard for everyone, the amount should be based on allocated BP and firms risk.
     
  9. Eleanor

    Eleanor

    The question was, how much are YOU comfortable keeping in your prop account, not how much the regulations or risk managers require.

    You want to keep as much as you can to give you all the bp you can use, but what I'm asking is, at what point do you start to worry about your funds' exposure to your firm as a whole.

    Especially if you start to branch out from daytrading into keeping positions overnight, you could probably still get alot more leverage at your prop firm vs retail, but again, putting all eggs in one basket is probably not good idea?

    How about answer this question: how many full time prop traders have multiple trading accounts with other retail firms?
     
  10. mews

    mews

    Many prop traders have other retail accounts. I think that the answer is still as little as you possibly can with still getting what you need. What does it matter whether someone that trades a little smaller tells you 2-3k and someone else that needs more BP for intraday or does pairs or other larger overnight strategies leaves 50-100k or more in an account.

    If your question is whether you trust your firm then only go with a regulated entity, whether its a member of finra, phlx, cbsx etc. Dont put your money into a non regulated entity if your style of trading requires you to keep a significant amount of your capital in there.
     
    #10     Nov 1, 2009