Submitted by Dr. Keppler

Why Prop Traders Excel Where Most Individuals Traders Fail!

Learning to trade is a most challenging endeavor and there are certainly many different roads that individual traders travel to become successful.   In my experience I have found that the journey is always quite different from one individual to the other.  A few traders, who are extremely patient and persistent decide to become self taught.   They watch every webinar or video that they can find and read every book that they can get their hands on.  These self dedicated traders often persevere through many losses and over a number of years to develop the required knowledge base and skill for profitable trading.

A small number of other traders are fortunate enough to have an experienced family member or a close friend that is willing to guide, teach and coach them through their learning journey.  Then there are of course many other traders who realize the importance and value of a trading education and they choose to invest a significant amount of their valuable time, effort and money attending trading schools, conferences and educational sessions.

Interestingly enough, very few of these traders grow to become the most profitable in the business.  The most successful traders in the business and the most profitable traders come from the small select group of individuals who are hired and selected to become proprietary traders.   Proprietary or “prop” traders actually learn to trade and develop their trading skills completely risk free.  They trade using their firm’s capital and their firms absorb all of their trading losses throughout their trading career.

These traders usually learn faster and quickly develop the required skill set to trade proficiently.  As they gain more and more experience they eventually grow to become the best and most successful of traders in the business.   The primary reason behind their phenomenal success is the fact that they do not trade with their own capital. 

Trading with the firm’s capital gives them an incredible advantage over other self funded traders. They are able to focus all of their skills and attention on mastering the art and skill of trading rather than worrying about losing their hard earned capital.  They are able to trade without any of the fears and anxiety that accompany the burden and possibility of losing their life savings. This mental advantage should not be underestimated or taken lightly.

Regrettably, few traders truly appreciate the psychological challenges that are involved in trading with their own personal capital.  Individual traders are often unable to let their winners run and cut the losers short; their emotions force them to exit a winning trade early capturing only a small profit while they continue to watch the profits soar after their exit.   Fear of losing also frequently keeps traders hesitating on the sidelines unable to pull the trigger to capture the opportunities that they identify.

These challenges are especially magnified for individual traders who seek to trade for a living and generate income. Sometimes, the emotional burden is so stressful and overwhelming that many otherwise skilled traders decide to completely abandon trading all together.
As a matter of fact the primary reason for the failure of so many beginners and new traders is the heavy losses that are incurred during the learning process.  Many individual traders simply cannot afford the financial and psychological impact of these losses.

In recognition of this crucial fact Strategic Trading has decided to offer traders a twelve month “Prop Trading” apprenticeship program.  This unique program allows beginners and experienced traders alike, an opportunity to learn in the same manner that a professional prop trader would.   They are able to trade with the firm’s capital and any losses that they incur are completely absorbed by the firm. Imagine being able to learn and trade completely risk free.

Each new student is provided with a funded trading account and the firm absorbs all of their losses.   As each student advances in the program they gain access to greater and greater levels of trading capital.  This allows them to continue to increase their position size and their potential earnings.  Moreover, students enrolled in the program are able to retain up to 90% of their trading profits. 

In addition to the capital funding that the program provides, the firm must protect their capital investment by providing each student with the best education and resources possible to ensure their success and consistent profitability.  The program provides extensive learning support and an on-going education second to none.   The program includes live classroom sessions, self-paced instructional lessons,   proprietary indicators, proprietary back tested strategies, an extensive resource library of instructional videos as well as educational reading materials.  Moreover, students are granted access to a daily live instructional trading room that is managed by professional and master traders.   Students watch and learn from these experienced professional traders as they call and execute their trades.  All trading room trades and results are posted on a daily basis.  Each student is provided with regular detailed performance reports to help them evaluate their progress and learn from their mistakes.

Since students will be trading with the firm’s capital; the firm has a vested interest in the success and consistent profitability of each and every student.   Student progress is closely monitored and every effort is made to ensure that the student can become consistently profitable.   The more profitable a student becomes the more income they can generate for the firm.

It’s truly incredible to watch the remarkable improvement in a student’s performance once they are guided by professionals and are no longer held hostage by the fear of losing.  If you would like more information about our prop trader apprenticeship program please click here.