Our pairs traders can keep up to 30 times their equity overnight (hedged of course). Some haircut charges apply after 6 to one, which is free, between 6-10 time your equity is 2% per year, so at 10 times equity, you pay less than 1% per year in those fees. We have several automated options available as well. Write to the API, FIX access, GSAT, etc. Don
I don't think Bright is letting anyone keep 100% of their profits anymore. In fact that might be gone all together from the prop scene.
When I looked into this with Bright, it was mid-2012. At that time, it was 20:1 intraday, 10:1 overnight and 100% of profits. Apparently, the overnight margins have increased. Maybe Don will comment on the profit split as well.
Bright lets you keep 80% of your money. The other 20% is rebated back to you a year later in commission rebates. You better be COMPLETELY hedged to go anything over 5 or 6 to 1.
I would say "reasonably" hedged, within reason (did I just repeat myself, geez, really getting old, you get the idea). As you search around, you'll find that the firms who allowed "unreasonable" leverage, with "less than serious" traders, well, are not around any longer. Not trying to cause any grief here, just checking in after losing my SuperBowl bet, LOL. Don
Hey everyone I have given more thought to what leverage and software I would require to run my market neutral strategies. Leverage - I would be looking for 20:1 overnights. I would be 'hedged' at all times and have maximum 5% capital allocated to 1 stock. The plan would be to run 10 simultaneous pairs allocating 5% of the buying power to each position. I would make every effort to avoid black swan scenarios however they will be expected over the long run. These scenarios are not so much black swans but where price gaps and I am not able to conduct an automatic risk close out. i.e. I am long stock A short stock B and stock B goes to 0 or if stock A doubles and stock B doesn't move. In both scenarios I would lose 5% of my BP. Of course the ultimate doomsday event would be if I were short stock B and it rose say 300% whilst stock A didn't move, in this case I would lose more than 5% of my BP. To handle the possibility of this I would not be looking to make an initial capital contribution more than a sensible amount of my liquid personal net worth. I would also not look to withdraw any profits in year 1 so my capital contribution rolls up so I have a buffer for when the black swan does arrive (which it will). I would be looking to make 2% pm on my full buying power (fully allocated) so I essentially I would need to achieve 5% growth and hold this on account to survive a 5% loss event. Software - I have taken a look at IRIS software and I like the functionality. I would definitely require entries and exits to be automated based on Sigma rules but I guess I could do this with alerts rather than full automation. I will probably be making execution decision once or twice per day. Cost of borrows and execution - I need to look into these more. Iris list the following prop firms who they integrate with for execution http://www.t3trading.com/ http://www.globalproptraders.com/#!sample-layout/c2by http://www.quasartrader.com/ http://www.lightspeed.com/ http://www.qrfin.com/trpl.php?p=2 http://www.globaltradingplus.com/en I dont think any of the above will suit my requirements. Bright Trading seem to have pair traders and know about that niche. I will be contacting them shortly to get more info but if anyone has any experience of trading pairs through bright I would be very interested in talking to them. What execution platform do they use, I know they used to use redeye for directional position but I am guessing this does not have the functionality to handle pairs, maybe I am wrong. So my wish list for a firm for my strategy would be: 20:1 overnight leverage accept foreign traders (UK based) 95%+ pay out $3 per 1000 or less commission integrate with IRIS or another platform suitable for trading portfolios of pairs. all help appreciated. GTTY
I've actually said this exact thing many times on here. The irony is, I think Don might have a Delorean.
Yeah in terms of prop it looks like Bright are my only chance for overnight pairs, I am waiting for Bright to get back to me. T3 have told me they are not taking on non-US traders at this time. I have found other prop firms who will let me trade on 20:1 intraday but only 2:1 overnight. Another option I found is opening a portfolio margin account with quant river financial offering 6.6:1 overnights. The trouble is I have to put in $100k minimum and I don't have that sort of cash in my pocket unless I sell some of my investment property which I may end up doing. I am ready willing and able to pass a series 7, will just jet over to NYC/Chicago/Vegas if I need to be on US soil to take it.