et al,
When considering Prop. Shops, it behooves you to examine how they earn their money.
Most do not look to earn the bulk of their money via profitable trades, although some do, but rather from taking a risk free commission on order flow.
The leverage that they provide has a definite cost. The cost of capital will be the cost to the firm + X%. This also mandates high turnover, as you will find it hard to exceed this cost of capital on swing trades, unless you are in volatile stocks.
This has definite implications for trading strategies that they allow you to use. For example carrying an overnight position is a big no-no with many. The ones that do, will require that you hedge it, this incurs a cost, although, if short you are credited interest on the short capital, which generally is a wash.
The number of shares they expect you to swing in the US is high. I know traders that will trade 3M+ shares a day, that's $30K in commission/day. Finding that liquidity, with enough movement to provide profit can be stressful to say the least.
With this leverage comes the inability to tolerate any drawdown on a position. This means that you need to be highly skilled, as your stops are going to be VERY TIGHT.
Tight stops, vitually guarantee that novices will be fleeced initially at least, and with leveraged losses, 100K in risk capital doesn't last long.
All that being said, some, provide training. Some charge you for this, others provide it and look at it as an investment, particularly those firms that rely more on profitability, than commission for driving revenue.
Of course, you just have to hope that the strategies taught, sit comfortably with your individual psychology, many strategies, unsurprisingly, are hyperactive, with lots of leverage, go figure.
I would recommend learning to trade first, then, approach a Prop. firm, at least you'll have an idea of some of the pitfalls before being launched into the pit.
jog on
duc