That is just plain criminal. That is the sort of deal guys were getting in 97 and 98. Most of the blame has to fall on the guys who actually accept those deals. If they did their homework and shopped around, stuff like that wouldn't happen.
Hmm ok. Just about everything you stated is a bunch of BS or only pertains to your group which might be a hint. My location has had problems for months but none of them pertained to Assent being hit by bullets being taken away. There are some office specific problems which are not a direct reflection of Assent. All firms got hit hard so lets stop naming them. Assent never cut tech, at least not in NYC or LA/SD. Hammer has been doing the same, actually better because I remember in the summer the problems were almost significant. I have no clue about your problems about MOCs because just recently I sent MOC at almost after close and got a fill. It's really funny you mentioned Generic. There are some seriously slimy scumbags in positions of power at that firm, one of which was practically kicked out of Assent recently. I hope you are not connected to them for your own sake. I do not mean to come off as condencending but I find it to be a bit unfair and rude to make posts like about a firm based on your individual experience. Especially when your situation is very out of the ordinary and it is very possible you did not even bother to look at the other options within the firm. I have had quite a few problems within Assent in the last several months but all of them were taken care of simply by talking to the correct people.
Well, I cannot speak for prop trading, but if you are a black box firm, I would be careful. The problem with Assent is that since the Sungard merger, the asylum has been run by the inmates. This pertains to the tech support section. It is weak and they rarely honestly care about the customers. They make you feel like they are doing you a favor. This is what I have heard, so make your own judgements. If they work for you, great. I hope the best. They like most firms, have strengths and weaknesses.
That is hard to answer because every trader is different and every firm is different. You're right some people won't divulge that info because they feel it's private or quite frankly it's none of anyone elses business. Which is fair and totally understandable. But if you want to go back and use the example I gave earlier about paying 1 penny a share A YEAR AGO!!!!! Which by the way I have realized since than that it is too high, but in any event Lets use it as an example @20 k a day on a penny a share thats $200 in commish, now if you made 20 cents in total on a total of 20k thats $2000, right. Now if I told you you could make $2000 and it would cost you $200 wouldn't you take that deal. I would. Every Day and twice on Sunday. Some people in this forum obviously will have a differnt opinion than what I just wrote and thats fine And again a penny is high, try and get lower it's out there. Bottom line is just trade and be profitable, and try and not concern yourself so much about that. The people that really need to worry about that are high volume traders and at 20 k you're not. But those peole have different rates all together. Did you know that you could actually make money trading for volume and never make a cent on any trade!!
check out the rates on Master Trader from Pristine...... what an interesting coincidence in who's higher....
Hehe yeah trade for rebates. Amazing the possibilities. I know that when bullets firms came out and scalping shorts was a goldmine, commissions were outrageous comparing to today. Before penny spreads and dead volatility. Now commssions are becoming important, especially for scalpers. I think it's just coming down to average trades and the % of the costs such as commissions.
Hammer trading platform is lean and fast. The only drawback is that it goes down too much IMO and for hours. On average it goes down once a week. Their charting package now is eSignal I believe. eSignal is not like the Hammer. It is too clunky and bloated. It is like MetaStock. AT Financial is like the Hammer and it's the best charting package I ever used but I heard it's going to be discontinued. "They just wanted you to churn and churn and churn, thats not the way I trade." Hmm...now that I think about the above comment and my days at Assent, I think the above poster is right. Their motto was "churn and burn baby!"