Dude, you really sound like a newly rich Chinese kid who got sent to a college in the US and was equipped with a bit of "play money". Maybe I am incorrect but this is my hunch. What seems to be correct, though, is that you are completely green behind the ears (=inexperienced) but you want "the best" "the most", "the cheapest", "the safest", as MANY OTHER USERS pointed out there is no broker that offers all that together. BECAUSE you seem a newbie I recommend you actually forget about your 500k in your pockets, you take 50k of it and trade it with a broker that affords you to put on trades without raping you through commissions and execution related various other charges. I still do not get what issue you have with IB nor do many other users who repeatedly asked you about your aversion re IB. Why would you want to put up your full 500k if you are seemingly inexperienced. Just because you day traded a little in China and made a bit (or a bunch?) does not mean you are an experienced trader nor does it mean you will be consistently profitable. I come across people like you all the time, people of the "I want to make a killing in the shortest period of time, so show me the broker who can allow me to meet my goals". Generally (almost always) this pipe dream ends up in tears, or at least massive frustration. I recommend again: Take 10% of your notional, and put it into an account that is safe enough but if worst comes to worst you are not dead even if the world ends and brokers go out of business. After you proved yourself you can afford to ask for prime brokers and brokers that target HNW individuals. My 2 cents, take it or leave it but your current hunt for Merrill Lynch or others that TOTALLY DO NOT FIT YOUR PROFILE makes ZERO SENSE TO ME.
Pretty good guess if you ask me. He wants advantages of a big pocket trader but cannot seem to express that in words. IB is solid for what he does so not sure why he even started this thread.
If most of you think IB is solid for my trading profile as I posted before, I will be happy to stick on it. ---------------- Copied from before Strategy running: 1. contrary strategy. If stock hot, short it. Holding a few hours to a few days 2. Two long strategy based on stock ranking. One covers small cap based on fundamental, average turnover, 2 month. One covers mid cap based on up estimates, average turnover, 2 weeks Allocation: each strategy get 1/3 fund. No leverage used. Long holding 5 stocks, Short holding 10 stocks ----------------- And I calculate my monthly trading volume recently, last month is 300K shares, and I believe it should be near the average number of shares traded per month. I do not disclosure the background of me because it is not related to the thread. But I can tell that I managed my money for many years and it grows and I am satisfied with the growth, far better put money in the bank and S&P 500
Yes ... IB is more than solid. It is a natural for where you are at. If you knew the CEO at one of the "bulge bracket" firms and you could open up there it would still be a mistake. A $500,000 account may be 20x what the average account is here at ET but it is not even a significant account at IB ... it is just another account. Imagine what it means to Goldman or Lazard even if you are connected? The time to think like a high net worth player is when you are one -- minimum $5,000,000. You do not need a prime broker, you need a broker. You never want to be the least significant customer anywhere.
This is one reason why hedge funds, trading groups and active trader use Introducing Brokers. They custody and clear at the Prime Broker, but we service the account. At ML with us as the broker on the account, our clients get the best of both. Bob
Bob, with all due respect but could you please stop bs..ing? You recommending a prime brokerage account at such size makes you one of the most irresponsible introducing brokers on the planet. I understand you want business but are you truly that desperate? Gee...
Given the shape Penson has been in for the past year do you think that they would clear Pee Wee Herman if he called them? Why make a fool of yourself repeatedly?
Bob, Would appreciate if you could refrain from PM me, lets keep the discussion for everyone to see. You wrote: prime brokers Interactive Brokers is a Prime Broker. You know nothing about his needs and either do I. You also seem to know very little about professional brokers and what we offer. I have accounts with $150K and some with millions. We make our money on executions, not a percentage of assets. I client with $500K can do more trading than one with $50M. Bob I disagree with you, a)IB's retail entity certainly does not fit the prime brokerage model. b) I made inferences about his need and if you want to participate in the discussion you would probably need to make inferences as well unless you talked privately with the OP. c) Please state ANY commission structure FOR EVERYONE TO SEE HERE (make assumptions how much a 500k account would trade) otherwise I recommend you do not try to convince the world that you can in any way beat commission schedules set forth by IB or other similar brokers that built their whole business model around discounted online trading for more than a decade. Your "I can only talk commissions when you PM me" sounds shady to say the least. d) Last but not least I think I am qualified to speak about what service you can expect from a prime broker when sending a check in the amount of 500k: A SHITTY SERVICE. The problem I have is that you do not CLEARLY state that you enable guys with a 500k account to trade with a prime broker through you only by marking up commissions (otherwise how would you feed your kids). Your argument is like "Hey do not buy a no-name brand which may provide the same or better service at much lower cost because I can hook you up with the brand name that would usually charge outrageous cost but because I pool funds I get a lower rate from them". Well that may be true but the whole story is that your "discounted rates" are most likely still 100-200% higher (if not more) than what you pay for the no-name brand. Bob, you are not the only one who has worked for quite a long time in this industry. What gets me is the dishonesty at which this game is played. State your commissions (make whatever trading assumptions you chose) and show us what you have to offer. There is no reason in the world to keep it a well-hidden secret for all but the few lucky ones that give their phone number and private email address away so that you can apply your sales techniques day in day out.