The recent issue on this board about Assent seems to be how the new Sungard owners are going to deal with the company's Assent division and not about Assent going belly up. If Sungard should decide to shut down Assent, then traders get their money back and go elsewhere. So what's the big deal? Prop traders usually have a minimal deposit on their accounts anyway since Assent does not require a large deposit in order to get substantial buying power. Who knows, I might even end up being a "Bright bitch". Whooo Wheeee!!
The only problem I see is that you will need to leave your money in the account with assent for 1 year (prop). Bad for folks who just started there if things do turn south and want to move on.
true prop firms don't ask for cash. the firms you refer to such as assent are retail trading firms that found a way to bypass the 4:1 margin rule. they are not fdic insured. from what i heard from a branch office manager, they are set up as franchises and clear thru assent clearing, a seperate entity. they receive a wholesale price on branch volume which they mark up to their traders/customers, customer is required to put up 3-5k minimum and in return gets few hundred thousand in buying power. this is the selling point of this kind of business. little money up required. 50+:1 buying power.
I don't think anyone is guaranteed they will get their money back if ANY prop firm closes. Think to yourself, "what causes a business to close?" An accumulation of liabilities and not enough revenue to cover those liabilities. That being said, I sincerely hope that no trader loses his/her money! Good trading to all! Mike
Who are your friends in the "high up"? Where did you get this nonsense about sale/dump? Where are the traders that are facing another round of "uncertainty and worry"? I haven't heard a peep about the deal since the day after it was announced. Not a single trader in my office is worried enough to even ask about it. It's a non event.
We are beating a dead horse and this will be my last comment on this topic. You and I are talking about 2 different issues. If Assent should go belly up (like Worldco) because it is losing money, then traders most probably will not get their money back. The issue on this thread however is what the new owners of Sungard are going to do with Assent, which is totally different than saying Assent is closing because it is losing money. If they decide to sell off this division, then traders just have to deal with new management or leave and get their money back. If they should decide to not bother with prop trading and shut down Assent, then there's still a good chance traders get their money back since last time I checked, Assent is still a profitable operation. As Longhorns just stated, we're not worried so why should this concern non-Assent traders?
Perhaps both of you should learn a little bit more about what it truly costs to run and operate a business. I don't want to sound condescending here, but, there are fixed costs and variable costs associated with all businesses. Fixed costs could be the salaries and benefit packages of those running the firm, office space, technical people to run the day to day operations etc. These costs, are the toughest to handle when you have industry wide revenues the are decreasing as has been happening for the past 4 years. These costs are business killers. Is it really a stretch that they could be choking the assent business. I don't think so. Don't forget the fact that trader capital is now counted as a liability on the books.....A big change that requires firms to have more capital to fund the trades. Capital does have a cost!