Equities/Options vs Futures

I have Summer internship offers from Seven Points Capital which trades equities and options and Positive Equity which trades futures. Both prop trading firms and both internships are remote but I'm graduating next year so I would hope to convert the internship I choose into a full-time offer.

Do any traders have opinions on either of these firms individually or possibly more broadly whether it's better to be trading equities/options or futures over the next 5 to 10 years? Are there more opportunities/upside in options/equities vs futures?

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From my own personal experience and hearing from other market makers and bank traders that I've have worked with, cash equities suck and it's highly manipulated and you literally have no edge as a day trader. I trade rates for a bank, prior, I traded for a hedge fund focusing on natgas derivatives and let me tell you... go with futures. Futures and options are for the big boys. If you trade options with seven points capital, you're going to be trading the delta. No way you'll be trading outright vol or vol strategies, well maybe CSOs and shit but them being a day trading equities shop, if I were you, I'd think twice whether or not if you this is really for you. I'd say it's more for experienced folks. I highly don't recommend because you really have no edge or strategy BUT if they're willing to put up their own money, which I think they do, then fuck it, go for it and learn as you go and try to thread the waters. But let me tell you, don't expect them to teach you their edge, they will teach you the basics but you need to work your fucking ass off and read ALOT of books, I mean ALOT. To be in this business you need a mix of experience and knowledge and SHOULD NOT trade blindly based on lines and triangles (which I've posted numerous times about B.S. bias technical analysis on this forum). When I first got into trading, I joined a day trading shop 9 years ago and man, I spent literally 18 hours a day, defining my edge, stressing, crying and asking myself why the fuck I chose this business and here I am, still alive.

FYI. You can ask any experienced traders and they will tell you they have read absurd amount books, as have I. Stuff that wasn't even relevant to me like construct the swap curve or trading the TED, math shit like principal component analysis, etc, etc. Shit, when I was day trading equities and I was reading "The Bond Book" because I wanted to learn about bonds and I wasn't even trading it but here I am, in the rates business after 9 years.

 

Hey thanks for responding.

Yes they put up the money. At Seven Points I will essentially be an assistant trader helping an experienced trader research strategies, shadowing him while he trades and trading a paper account myself. But after college, it seems like if I want to go into trading then options market making or S&T at an IB is the way to go?

I interned at a large options market maker and it seems like with proprietary software and good training your chances of success are higher then day trading futures or equities? Not sure if this is accurate.

Any reading list that you would recommend?

Was there any book that really helped give you a good grasp on how to find and define your edge? I get that it takes a lot of screen time regardless but can you point to any resource that gave you a good framework on how to do it?

I was also kind of skeptical about day trading equities but it seems like there are still companies that decent success taking beginning traders and making them good equity traders. e.g SMB Capital

 

i'm also working for a prop firm remote alongside a start-up paid. Is it possible for you to do both?

 

The equities place said they wanted full commitment and explicitly said I could not do both.

It would probably be possible given that they are both remote but it would be quite deceptive to do that I think.

 

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