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I did see props that did apply this approach, but I also spoke to a recruiters who do look for track records.
The focus was on "how did you get there?" so the empahsis is on approach and risk, as oppose to just looking at bottom line numbers. The approval/deniel is also based on method, for example one recruiter told me that they never take traders who are short vol, like short option traders, etc. No doubt that regardless of approach, they all have guidelines developed over years for positive expectany from their members.
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I think I have read something similar from the book Outliers of Malcolm Gladwell. I am wondering if the 10,000 hours is just the average number in every subject for everyone, no matter if the person can adapt/learn things fast. (Well obviously I am making the over-confidence mistake myself. ) Albeit I think hard working can never go wrong, and there is always a new horizon to chase.
WIth the prop firms too the thing is they don't pay you for too long. They ditch you after a few months if you don't catch on... They want ultra competitive people with brains who figure it out..
I still think it takes a good couple of years on the screens to really smooth out the equity curve. I wouldn't say 10,000 hours, but maybe 1000. Most prop traders earn just above minimum wage.. Only the guns with heaps of screen time and obsession earn the big coin..
Also, and I mean at least 1 thousand hours using at least some solid theory/ strategy.. Back in the day I read all the T.A and F.A books around and it really got me nowhere (that is my experience.) It obviously still recommended that you stay abreast of this information so you know what others have on their minds. But to put it simply I think you need to be analysing exchange data (a.k.a profile, order flow, footprints) along with the news and the obvious levels. This would be the "bread and butter" of a proprietary trader.
But if you are looking to swing big with 10k hours using oscillators then you are not going to make it, no matter how well you can read that line and apply money management. You need to ensure you have a couple of thousand hours with something that actually gives you an "edge."
Also trading for capital gains and trading for income is different. It is pretty straight forward to earn 20% trading with a reasonable amount of education and experience. This is when money management and discipline is very important. But if you want to start swinging a 20 lot for 5-6 hours a day with a higher levels of commission on your then I would hope you have at least 2-3k hours of solid practice in the aforementioned.
But thats just me. The depth and diversity of trading strategies has always been something that has astounded me.
Everyone may be different. But the amount of profitable traders I know is quite small compared to the total pool, and they have all gone a course similar to this.
In summary, I think 10k hours to figure it out, 1-2k if you get mentored.
I think it depends on what you are looking at and what you are steered to look at early on. As a retail trader, if you come across trading somehow and then start to research online there are so many articles and forums all geared to teach TA, which for the majority doesn't work out. I guess this is because TA is an easy thing to teach and show visually, and also to learn (as in it's easy to learn about an MA crossover and think, yea I understand how to use that now, which makes you feel good about yourself and eager to go back for more).
It's far harder to portray order flow analysis, especially because learning it is time consuming and being good at it requires experience which cannot be given through reading an online article.
This to me is the difference between your average retail trader and the prop shop. The retail trader wants the easy route, whereas the prop shop trader is forced to get that experience early on. So it could well take five years (or never if they don't catch on) for the former and 3 months for the latter. So it all depends how long someone spends looking at the wrong thing.
I think it was John Grady of nobsdaytrading who said he was in a prop firm for a while not getting anywhere while looking at charts, he then saw another trader looking at just the DOM when it clicked and either the following month or the month after he was profitable.