{"id":39345,"date":"2014-11-13T16:00:24","date_gmt":"2014-11-13T21:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/?p=39345"},"modified":"2014-11-14T13:11:28","modified_gmt":"2014-11-14T18:11:28","slug":"how-to-become-a-prop-trader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/how-to-become-a-prop-trader","title":{"rendered":"How to Become a Prop Trader"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>Mr. Bellafiore,<\/p>\n<p>I will keep this as short as possible, as I know you are extremely busy. To ask my question, I must give you some background information about myself. I just finished your book, One Good Trade and I am truly inspired. I graduated from school in May. I did not graduate from an Ivy League school, or with a 4.0. I did not know I wanted to be in finance let alone be a trader until Junior year. I did have an interview at (redacted) Trading earlier this year but turned it down because, at the time, I did not have the funds required for a deposit. I made the best of my situation \u00a0and found a way to land an analyst position at (redacted). My long hours and company policies regulate my intraday trading severely. I am committing myself to my goal of being a prop trader in the future, but for now I am well aware that I am just not ready. I&#8217;m not asking for pity, nor a job. I&#8217;m simply asking, if you were me, how would you practice your trading skills (i.e. reading the tape) and what steps would you take to work towards landing a job at a prop trading desk? I refuse to live my entire life wondering if I could have made it as a trader.<\/p>\n<p>I know this is a short story, but I would really appreciate your input.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>@MikeBellafiore<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is a great opportunity to aggregate former posts on this topic and definitely answer the question above for this SMB Reader.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/what-can-i-do-to-make-myself-attractive-to-a-prop-trading-firm\">What Can I Do to Make Myself Attractive to a Prop Trading Firm?<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-opportunity-for-a-prop-trader\">The Opportunity for a Prop Trader<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-path-to-trading-pro\">Don&#8217;t Quit Your Day Job to Turn Pro Trader Yet<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/how-do-i-find-a-firm-to-back-my-trading\">How Do I Find a Firm to Back My Trading?<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/should-you-quit-your-job-to-trade\">Should You Quit Your Job to Trade?<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/i-hate-my-job\">I Hate My Job<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/a-successful-trader-who-made-a-late-career-change-2\">A Successful Trader Who Made a Late Career Change<\/a><\/p>\n<p>And lastly one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Q0H8XI4W8ZE\">most popular presentations<\/a> on this topic at Indiana U.<\/p>\n<p>I hope these past blogs help.<\/p>\n<p>Mike Bellafiore is the Co-Founder of SMB Capital and SMBU, which provides trading education in stocks, options, forex and futures. Bella is the author of<em> One Good Trade<\/em> and <em>The PlayBook<\/em>. He welcomes your trading questions at mbellafiore@smbcap.com.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tf130.infusionsoft.com\/app\/form\/c1e8576cd7fc66f146beca3bebabc2c5\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-39307\" src=\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/10daybanner.png\" alt=\"10daybanner\" width=\"586\" height=\"290\" srcset=\"\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/10daybanner.png 586w, \/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/10daybanner-300x148.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 586px) 100vw, 586px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>*no relevant positions<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mr. Bellafiore, I will keep this as short as possible, as I know you are extremely busy. To ask my question, I must give you some background information about myself. I just finished your book, One Good Trade and I am truly inspired. I graduated from school in May. I did not graduate from an Ivy League school, or with &#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/how-to-become-a-prop-trader\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1251,144],"class_list":["post-39345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-comments-2","tag-prop","tag-trader","no-post-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Become a Prop Trader | SMB Training<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/how-to-become-a-prop-trader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Become a Prop Trader | SMB Training\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mr. Bellafiore, I will keep this as short as possible, as I know you are extremely busy. To ask my question, I must give you some background information about myself. I just finished your book, One Good Trade and I am truly inspired. I graduated from school in May. I did not graduate from an Ivy League school, or with ... Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/how-to-become-a-prop-trader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SMB Training Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/smbcap\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-11-13T21:00:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-11-14T18:11:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/10daybanner.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bella\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@smbcapital\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@smbcapital\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bella\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta 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