you guys are panicking for no reason. Bright may not have an alternative, but be realistic. This is Business. There is international competition and other countries that will allow damn near any type of business activity as long as taxes are paid. ANYONE can go to another country and open a retail account, get some accounting software and a trading platform via the API and start a prop firm. If the entity is located overseas, even US residents can be employed without all the regulatory BS. All the dumb traders can keep crying about they want the SEC to enforce paying them a salary but it is NEVER going to happen. A lot of the prop business has already moved overseas to international companies that are not under the jurisdiction of US regulators. People need to get this through their head. Other countries offer business owners competitive rates. Anyone can go to a UK firm, open a BD with a UK clearing firm and accept US customers without any licensing or regulations. The more likely scenario is we get a republican senate in 2012 and there will be deregulation. It's an election year folks, there is going to be A LOT of emphasis on regulation this election cycle (Dodd-Frank, ObamaCare, NDAA). You will always be able to access 20:1, 30:1, 40:1, as long as someone else is willing to sign the dotted line to take the risk.
W2 won't happen either. There's way too much political pull behind the lower tax rates on net capital gains. Republicans are even talking about 0%. Do you honestly think they will give 0% taxes to retail account holders and the prop firms will just die? LOL. It's never going to be your fat ugly stupid big brother government that is going to force a firm to take more risk on you. Prove your abilities yourself and they will. The momentum is building for Ron Paul's views and that's across sectors. The idea that government regulation can protect people from business has been proven false and the ideological mindset is changing for the better. We'll likely get serious civil unrest if more job-killing regulations go into play. The ideas of a return to Civil Liberties and Economic Freedom is spreading like wildfire across these lands. I've been hearing the 80/20 split non-sense for years. I don't care personally. I will get 100%. The only different is I will take my business overseas where the IRS and the Regulators can kiss my arse and have fun regulating themselves out of a job. EvO has spoken the truth. Let the bashing begin.
Hey Maverick74 I have been waiting for your response. How about some feedback ? You have discussed this rumor several times in the past 2 years . all for good reason What is different now then before with a actual rule being implemented by the sec ?
There are a couple things that people are overlooking. First is IP. Most traders I know that are employed (W2) at a prop firm (even some 1099 consultants) everything they do is the property of the firm, not their own. When they leave they may take some servers & equipment with them - but the hard drives are certainly pulled and stay with the firm. The second is that of infrastructure. Over the years the prop model has changed to focus on a small floor of younger/newer traders with a bunch of remote guys and perhaps a few small groups in small offices, etc. but the old days of giant desks are long gone. Employing traders means a lot more than someone just telling them what time to show up every morning. Its a huge change and if any of the employees end up being licensed in any capacity it will really hurt a firm's ability to let them trade remote. I think the pushback that Don is getting is more related to the employer/employee relationship than the money.