I didn't realize this thread was in the brokerage firms section. I simply ran a search for CECO and saw Brandon's post to which I replied. I'm sorry to be OT. Tony
Tony, Post anytime.........freedom of speech makes America great! Gene Weissman Lieber & Weissman Sec., L.L.C. gweissman@stocktrade.net
Manrico Scremin said: Perhaps the representatives of professional firms could give us some data on income distributions for their firms. E.g., what percentage of their traders year to date have made: - less than $0. - $0 to $10,000 - $10,000 to $25,000 - $25,000 to $50,000 - $50,000 to $100,000 - over $100,000. This would answer most questions regarding "if anybody is making any real $$$". If this information is confidential then perhaps we could get turnover statistics. I.e., what percentage of traders leave each year. That would be an indicator of the failure rate. (We can assume that the vast majority of traders leaving are because of failures.) The answer is "yes", we have traders making $$ $ but less than in 1998-2000 . I can't give statistics on individuals , but we do have a solid group that makes a good living or we would not be in business. The same can be said for other prop firms. The traders who make a good living in this market are very talented and we hope others will reach their level of success. The trading environment is tough, but hopefully things will improve. Gene Weissman Lieber & Weissman Sec., L.L.C. gweissman@stocktrade.net
Gene, We're not asking for individual income information. But surely you should be able to provide 12 month income stats by the categories requested. This would help answer the question originally raised by this thread.
I'm not surprised at the lack of response. Let me float another idea the firms might find more acceptable: 1. Professional firms send the information about actual numbers of traders in each category along with turnover statistics to Baron who swears to keep that information secret. 2. Baron adds the results together and publishes only the totals of all firms. Alternatively he publishes the results by firm but calls them "Company A", "Company B", etc. That way we get the information we're interested in without getting into a big debate as to which firm has a better track record.
Manrico Scremin said: I'm not surprised at the lack of response. Let me float another idea the firms might find more acceptable: 1. Professional firms send the information about actual numbers of traders in each category along with turnover statistics to Baron who swears to keep that information secret. 2. Baron adds the results together and publishes only the totals of all firms. Alternatively he publishes the results by firm but calls them "Company A", "Company B", etc. That way we get the information we're interested in without getting into a big debate as to which firm has a better track record. We are a private company and we don't make any claims or give out information about traders. Which firm has a better "track" record is really hard to compare and statistics can be made to prove anything. Regulators & the NASD frown on making claims about success rates of individual traders or firms, and for this reason we never comment on traders or firm P & L. As an example , we had a trader who was written up in a book who turned 15K into 1.75 million in one year(true story). We never advertise this fact or comment on any of the traders we have. We have a core of very good traders who are making money, even in these tough market conditions . Lieber & Weissman Sec., L.L.C has never commented on any traders , our firm P & L or success rates of traders. I'm sure Manrico Scremin would not want to post his W-2, income or trading P & L since this is confidential information and posting this information would not really prove anything. Gene Weissman Lieber & Weissman Sec., L.L.C. gweissman@stocktrade.net