I recently attended Bright's 1 week training class they hold in Vegas. Hopefully I can provide some insight to newbies like myself. The class cost $1000 for the week. Mon- Fri. 2pm -6pm. One day you go in the morning at 6am to watch the openning.(3 hr time diff.)Includes a breakfast with the class and a dinner with the class. Size of the class is between 20-30 which inlude people from all skill levels. Usually a few Bright managers attend, as in my case(Good opportunity to talk with them to get a feel of what other offices do). Once you pay for the class, you can return as many times as you like at no charge.(but you will sit in the secondary training room down stairs and watch it on TV). The trainers. Bob Bright, owner, Don Bright, VP, and a long time friend of the Bright's , Earl Van Alstyne. Being able to spend 5 days with these three and have full access to question them and actually see how they trade for was worth the fee. While they are extremely eccentric, they have a combined 70 years experience of trading , Floor Trading!Nothing fancy, no BS Tech analysis, just hard nose trading. Curriculum: First day you go through a basic introduction of trading, terms, symbols, Bid , ask, order flow. Diff. between investing and trading. As I said, basic stuff. Day 2, Fair value and how to calculate. Then applying this to "open only" orders. This method was an eye opener to me, I was unfamiliar with this. I understand this to be only available to prof. off floor traders who trade with a "member firm". Huge advantage if true. Reviewed major market indicators and how to use them in trading. SP500 futures etc.. 3rd day, Start the day at 6 am to see how the 40+ prof. traders set up for the day and what the office setting is like during a trading day. Came back at 2 and reviewed the major market players and how they fit in to the overall marketplace.Discussed various strategies for day trading at a prof. firm. Tape reading(very important!!)Open only orders, sector plays(follow the funds), Spreads(arbitrage between merging companies(GE/HON), Paring(companies which track each other. 3 O'clock train, and of course MO. Presently, the people making big money right now are the ones trading spreads and pairs. They had 3 traders come in and talk about what they were doing. All doing over 7 figures annually of course. We then reviewed behaviors ,psychology, and discipline. Day 4, We reviewed market engines(what is driving the overall financial markets, NASDAQ, Bonds, Future, ,etc.. Their opinion the long bonds are starting to take over as the engine. Discussed office setting versus remote.Then tested us on certain set ups and scenarios. Good open dialogue/discussion. Day 5, Reviewed alot of questions and then Bob Bright shared his daily mindset and tactics for each hour of trading.Great insight. My Thoughts For someone who has been trading for only a 1-2 years and looking to make this a career change, I recommend this course. It won't give you the holy grail, but I think it will give you an insight to how equity trading is done professionally without being on the floor. For someone who is experienced, I still recommend the class , but just the last 3 days. However, you still pay the $1000. Being able to go back without limit also makes this a value. They do change their trading methods, and emphasize what is presently working in the market. 6 mos from now, spreads may be out and something new may be leading. Also a great place to be when you not in training class. Had my wife come out mid week and made it business and pleasure. For the record. This is my opinion, and I have no affiliation with Bright. I am considering joining them, but partly because no other prof. firm has an office in my city. I hope this helped, and will try and answer questions people may have.
Eugene, thanks for sharing your experience. I would appreciate it if you could elaborate a little bit on that "open only" order strategy. If "open only" refers to market on open orders those are available to anyone. It is also my understanding that in order to execute NYSE trades for their customers any broker needs to be either an exchange member or have a relationship with a member firm that effects those executions for them.
Eugene. Thanks for the info. I will be visiting my local Bright office next week to check them out on the same day that Bob Bright will be giving a free class. I managed to catch about 15 minutes of a Don Bright lecture at the recent Online Trading Expo. I see what you mean by eccentric. They seem to have a strong distaste for 'amatuer traders' who think they will succeed by trading such 'amatuer' markets as the Nasdaq and trading as customers of retail brokerages. Their negativity, mocking, and lack of respect of all things unBright and unListed left me feeling that they may be behind the times. This was confirmed when I checked their ratings on this website. Old equipment, bare offices etc... Saying this however, something about them intrigues me, so I will at least be checking them out. Perhaps it's the fact that they're a bunch of older guys who are obviously successful and therefor must be doing something right as opposed to the new kids on the block with all the bells and whistles and technical tools. They are also one of only two firms in my city. Maybe that's why I'm intrigued. Any other thoughts on Bright would be appreciated.
dlincke, The way it was explained. Traders would calculate fair value for the days openning. You would then apply this to any stock you want to trade. If you want to be sure to get a trade you use a small spread, say .25 to .10. If you wanted to try and get a better trade, you put in the buy and sell(same time) at .50 or 1 or even 2 dollars. The tighter the spread, the fewer companies you try for. Some traders at Bright put in 1000 open only orders each day, some computerized. Most only do say, 10 - 100. What they are trying to gain is the left over buy or sell orders the specialist has from the previous day. They are looking for price improvement on the opening and then the expectation is the price moves up or down to the fair value number calculated. Most of the traders in the Vegas office use this method, but only about 25% of the 400 traders in Bright actually use it. They only expect to get say 3-10 fills , but they usually produce. If they turn red, they close them immediately. If the orders don't get filled, they close automatically. If you put in 1000 orders and none get filled, you don't have to worry about closing 1000 orders. Because they are a "member", (and I did see this at the end of the day on the screen,) for each equity, the specialist will send out a notification on whether he has a surplus and the amount of shares. This helps to give you a heads up. I hope I explained it well enough. If I had one complaint on the class, they are not very good in providing good case studies. Anyone from Bright or traders with experience on these, please chime in.
macal425, Thats interesting you picked up the condescending attitude. You would think they would be less open about it. Sometimes this cam through during the class. But you know what, it didn't bother me. Bottom line is, they are the largest off floor trading firm in the country. They do 3% of the NYSE daily volume, and they have been around for 5 years and have out lasted many firms like them through the worst bear market in history. I think they feel vindicated that their basic methods and experieince work. It's hard to argue with their success. They claim(and advise they report this to the sec by law) that 80% of the traders who have been there over a year are profitable. If you read some of the ratings, there is a guy named Barry, who posted a hard hitting response. I met Barry, and he spoke to our class. I did not verify his trades, but he did talk for about an hour on how he made the 2 1/2 mill he mentions in the post. Bottom line is , Bright gives you leverage, (not margin,no interest if you close out same day) but leverage. They say 10 - 1 but if your good and they have confidence in you , you can get much more.That is huge for someone starting out with little capitol.(min 25,000). Something else I noticed while there. While the Bright's may be a challenge to understand, they do want you to succeed. One person who spoke at the class who was a 7 figure man, blew out his account a year ago. Bright new he was a good trader, and let him trade. Bright took the risk. It paid off. Again, I'm not recommending them, but from my limited experience, it seems right now the pluses out way the minuses. More time to do my DD, so this could change.
vahj, I didn't get one. That's a good idea. They do video the entire training session, so it is possible. They can only say no.
Eugene, Thanks for the review on Bright. It certainly helps the prospective student get a handle on the Bright menthod(s). Actually, it sounds like a pretty damn good program and I am considering it. One question, to trade the way the Brights teach...the opening trades and all that...don't you have to pass the Series 7 exam and join the ranks of "professionals" to gain the edge that you wrote about? Do they provide any type of support or sponsoring for the student who expresses an interest in taking the exam and then trading with them? Again, many thanks for the great review! I sure appreciate it! Best regards, Jim
airspeed, they will sponsor you but you foot the bill, i.e. study materials or classes and also registration to take the test. ur looking at about $300 to $400 just to sit for the test. then an additional $500 goes to the chicago stock exchange!!!! then $1000 to sign up for the trader training class plus airfare and hotel in vegas. not exactly cheap imho. they definitely do not like nasdaq but will let anyone trade otc if they have $50,000 in their account. (that may have changed to $40,000) from what i've heard the class is good if you're new to trading....if you're a veteran then the first couple of days are not useful.(they have to go over the basics) if you are interested in spread trading the class could be helpful.
Airspeed, Bryan Roberts covered it. They will sponsor, but it's at your cost. Echo will reimburse if you stay with them more than 6 months, but they have only 2 or 3 offices open in the US. If your lucky enough to be in one of their cities, they may be a better option. A few traders went from bright to Echo, but in Chicago a couple have floated back. Regards