Darth,
Excellent thread starter.
Here's some ideas that I have done, thought about doing, currently doing and/or might do in the future
:
- Something as simple as Collective2 is a good starter option for building an independent record.
- Start a newsletter and/or chat room service.
- Managing money for friends/family, staying below the requirements to register (requirements dictated by instrument(s) being traded).
- Get your CTA (for futures traders) to be able to mange more accounts, receive % of profits, and/or put an add-on to the commission charges.
- Start an incubator fund.
- Start a hedge fund.
Those are the options as I see it, assuming you want to work for yourself or at least be able to call the shots. You could also try to go to work for a fund or bank.
There's money to be made in doing any of the above. One argument is that all the extra headaches and paperwork is not worth it. Another argument is that those extras are easily offset by the additional income and fees you can generate. I'm a firm believer in using OPM (other people's money) from my times as a stockbroker. If you can trade with a profit consistently, using OPM can get you to your goal much quicker. And if you decide to do something more formal, it's a matter of how far you want to take it. I think some people rule these extras out b/c they have preconceived notions as to what it takes, how much money you need, etc.
I look at it in terms of futures - you can drop up to 2000 contracts on the ES at one time with little to no slippage (from what I have been told by 3 different brokers). Over time you might get to the point of trading 2000 on your own, but odds are, you can do that much quicker using OPM. With OPM and say your average client trades 20 contracts, it doesn't take that many to put you in a position to make some good money from the commission add-on and/or the incentive fee.
It's a big decision and one that you have to either do all the way or not at all.
And as for your question about the CTA route, it's not difficult to get that designation at all. And once you have it, you just need to follow the guidelines set forth and then submit performance numbers to different tracking services (of course your info must be accurate and able to be audited).
And who knows... maybe one day a fund or bank calls you to offer a buy out... Now that could definitely make your time and effort worth it.
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