Anybody have experience with JBOs for Options

Discussion in 'Options' started by RedEyeFly, Feb 9, 2010.

  1. Looking to find out if anybody has has experience using a Joint Brokerage account through either Goldman, Merrill, or some other big house in order to trade index options.

    I'm thinking of moving my trading away from my retail broker and over to a set up with one of these guys coupled with technology from or someone similar to Microhedge.

    The reason I'm considering this is three fold (1) Better Fills/Execution (2) Better Technology (3) Lower Commissions.

    Anyone here have any experience with this, any ideas?

    Thanks,
    Red
     
  2. tomk96

    tomk96

    a jbo is not a joint brokerage account. it's a joint back office. my group has been talking to one. i don't know how many exist. what sort of trading do you do? it may or may not remotely interest them.

    are you trading vol? carrying large positions? daytrading? do you have a significant amount of capital to put up? a history of P&L?
     
  3. I think what I'm seeking is information regarding people's experiences using joint brokerage accounts. Moving to this setup was suggested to me by a friend who was a MM.

    I'm mostly trading vol through a delta hedged position book. The position is a typical multi month inventory, negative gamma, positive theta. Capital allotted is less than 1M, and performance actually only dates to this year as I recently started trading in this fashion as opposed to more directionally when I thought the market was prone to faster swings. (this particular month aside :)

    What's got me interested is that while I can negotiate my retail fees down to .6-.7/contract, I would like to see some improved execution, and software which will allow me to weight vol and offer better risk and order management.

    All in all, I just wanted to throw it out there to gauge the response it got on the board, figuring that the number of responses and its popularity would speak for itself. (unless its rare in this community of course.) Any input or suggestions would be appreciated.
     
  4. tomk96

    tomk96

    do you need a cross-margin account? are you trading futs vs cash settled index options? i assume no as a customer. will you need access to capital or are you ok with what you have? if you don't need capital you can probably just go to goldman and use redi plus along with something like microhedge.
     
  5. do you need a cross-margin account? are you trading futs vs cash settled index options? i assume no as a customer. will you need access to capital or are you ok with what you have? if you don't need capital you can probably just go to goldman and use redi plus along with something like microhedge.

    Do not need cross margin. I do occasionally use some futures if markets move more than a few percent after hours or if I have an acute risk somewhere in the position, otherwise just about everything else I like to use into my greek set. So no, futures are not a principal activity as they would be for a scalper, but I want them available in case of need. With my experience, I want to run with my own capital for about a year and then include more of my own or potentially get a couple of backers if doing so appears overtly advantageous for business.

    Goldman is what I'm currently investigating, along with microhedge. Who do you trade with and in what capacity? Thanks for the advice.
     
  6. tomk96

    tomk96

    we are in the process of moving our group to another firm. we trade all the major index products. i'm not super familiar with people in your situation, but it sounds that if you go to goldman with your own capital, you won't have a problem. i think there may be other people like yourself there who may be willing to give you capital if you needed it eventually. that's my impression from talking to some people. they could probably expose you to some better software beside microhedge too. i'm not really sure what might suit you best.
     
  7. OK, Again thank you.