I have a couple of friends working at Swifttrade and Title Trading - they just started and they seemed kind of sketchy to me, they claim they get some money to start and are not responsible for their losses, again this doesn’t make a ton of sense to me… Does any one know of these places, and are they really a good place to get your feet wet if you would like to end up as a trader? Thanks
I worked at TT for a while, now working at an investment dealer. TT is better than Swifttrade (Swifttrade require you make a few thousand a month before you see any of it whereas TT you must break $240 before you make anything b/c of system fees of $120 and you make 50% of your profits at first; if you make more you can demand a higher %) Where I worked, I was the only profitable trader out of 15 in my 4 months working there. and my most profitable was $1900 in a month. The thing that holds you back is that they limit your buying power for the first little while. If you go to actually make some money I suggest being a scalper as its the only feasible way of being consistently profitable. Didn’t make much money and when I found a junior analyst job I had to pounce on it, but I think I’ll get back to trading eventually, not day, looking more at a real job. My ideal scenario is getting laid off in 7 years and living of unemployment insurance and day trading in my own account for a while and taking in 100% of the profits. Its good for a start as they teach you the ropes but you will get frustrated with the balance limits. I was frustrated with a $400,000 bank roll and everyone else there was still at $50,000. But, if you have lots of cash to live on and are looking to get into the business, go for it, its fun. Make sure you have enough live on for at least 6 months. I was one of the fastest learners and in my last days I was making about $200/day but there was a 2 month lag before getting paid so a salary of $42,000 at that point looked really nice and thus why I took my current job.
Thanks for your comments Just also curious, does this really help get your foot in the door, does it look good on the resume? also are you really not responsible for your losses?
I don’t know about Title Trading, but I know of people who worked at Swift Trade. They hire everyone there, you don’t even need to have a degree. It’s more of an arcade there, where they push you to make 600 trades a day. Will it get your feet in the door to become a trader at a serious financial institution? That depends on your track record. If you make a $hitload of $$$, any trading firm would be willing to listen to what you have to offer. I know 2 people who started at Swift, made 10K a month there, then got hired as futures traders by my former firm. They now make close to 100K a month. it all comes down to performance in the trading industry. There is no grey area. Your P&L will show if you’re good at it or not. The best advise I can give you is to go there, develop a track record (be consistent, be in the black), then send your CV to other trading firms in a year or 2. But, just to remind you, there is 1 in 15 or 20 that make it. Trading isn’t easy.
We’ve interviewed people from Swift. One was impressive and was hired. Not sure about making 10K per month or 100K per month trading e-minis. Take that with a grain of salt. What future firm are you refering to?
Refco (now CFT Financials). he wasn’t trading e-minis. More like 50-100 lot clip sizes in the Bund. The other was clipping 100 contracts in the Eurostoxx.
Title doesn’t push you as much as Swifttrade but sometimes a push is good. My old boss was a little more aggressive than most at TT. But yeah, I totally agree with ‘former trader’, its all about performance. if you have 3 years experience of making 10K/year, they probably won’t give 2 shites about you. if you’re really interested in trading, do it, whether you do well or not doesn’t matter, you’ll enjoy it and know if you 1) have what it takes, and 2) actually enjoy it.