[Forex] - Trader Scouting and Prop Firms Overview and Comparison

FTMO Trader Scouting
Hi Jack nice summary, i was wondering whether i could post information about the the funding program i am with.. not advertising it just might be of some interest to some people cheers
Can you PM me specifics and a history of your company?
 
If a company has a proven and efficient trading system, elaborated through thousands of backtesting hours and years of brainstorming and team work, I am quite sure that 5K or 10K dollars to invest in each candidate would be breadcums for them. I would not trust a firm that is asking me 2K dollars to teach me something I am supposed to use to earn tens of millions per year.

Also, I think this logic might seem intuitive upfront, but when you consider that the failure rate in the industry is near 95% over a 3-5 year period, the math doesn't work out.

If an institutional firm is working a structural edge (that is, not just a strategy but a market function where they are paid a premium for their service.. ie, a market maker who's capturing spread and has lower fees, or a commodities desk at a merchant bank brokering futures to cash transactions.. etc..) then they can afford to pay out a base salary and (invest) in their traders as their success rate per person is quite high (really just a matter of competence and not screwing up..)

However, here we're talking about traders deriving their edge from strategies they come up with in the open market without a structural advantage as its base. For this, the failure rate is high, and the risk is huge for firms to hire everyone and their dog with a base salary.

So really, it's an entirely different business.

Also, you're not paying to work.. all these scouting programs are very clear on what you're buying when you sign up (it's not a job.)
 
Last edited:
I had to remove your other posts as they aren't contributing to the point of this thread (which is a comparison of trader scouting programs and info on the prop industry in general.)

In the first post of this thread, the differences between a traditional prop (what you are describing) and what these scouting firms are is clearly laid out... including what their business model means for the trader when it comes to conflicts of interest.

The model you are describing ultra competitive to get into these days thanks to an overqualified labor pool and decline of discretionary traders to make way for more algo traders and quants in the industry.

Scouting programs have a niche case where they fit pretty well in the current business landscape. They aren't perfect... and the companies running them are making healthy profits from the evaluation fees (though, you could look at The 5%ers as an example of where your max DD is basically your evaluation fee on a live account, so we are starting to see the scouting firm industry margins get tighter..)... but they are still a valid way to trade.

Hi.

I have been lately thinking about this and have changed my opinion on that.

Now I think that prop firms are a good opportunity for anyone to get funding at very low cost (if compared to a personal loan).

I just wanted to mention that I changed my opinion and, therefore, that my last post on this thread is for me wrong because the prop firms are really a very interesting and convenient option for people that want to get funds at very low cost to trade.

Cheers.
 
Quite a complex topic. In order to understand it, you need to take some time to read the articles. I think scouting firms are an excellent solution for companies that want to engage in trading as a similar activity.
 
FTMO Trader Scouting
Back
Top