Given the title, I start with a disclaimer that I personally believe that EchoTrade is a really good and reputable prop firm. I base this on comments by lescor and others whom I have no reasons not to believe. The reason I would like to hear the negatives (if any) is to get a more balanced view on the firm. If just one trader was not happy about them I would like to know why and see if the reason might be relevant to me (in case I join the firm). I start by quoting RM from 1 year ago in the Broker Rating Section: " "Dark Clouds Gather..." - Rearden Metal March 09, 2009 5:56 PM For years I felt confident and secure working with Echotrade, a firm that has now morphed into an entirely different animal: Bank of America-Merrill Lynch-Countrywide-clusterf*ck, inc. The blue skies of yesterday have been replaced by a growling mass of bad-karma clouds. Anyone else feel that storm coming? "
i am more interested in comments related to the remote trading, but anything related to Echo is of interest to me. i see a couple of people in the poll with negative ratings, somebody speak up please
I have conflicted/mixed feelings about Echo now. It's definitely not the great firm it used to be, but perhaps my negative review (quoted above) was written in hyperbolic fashion because Echo did a couple insulting things that day to really piss me off. I no longer trade with them.
i recently called echo trade and was thinking about joining, i dont have a series 7 and they require it and said they would sponser me and the cost would be around 1000 to get it. 10k to start an account with them. and their platform i was told is around 250 - 400 a month. i do like that they only require 10k to start however i have no real interest in getting a series 7. some other prop firms want you to trade from their office before allowing you to go remote. from what i was told echo doesnt require this. if anyone knows of any other firms that allow remote trading with a 10k min or smaller without a series 7 please post on here. I just dont wanna waste money on a series 7 which is something im not gonna use, I have my own trading style, it works and if im willing to walk in with 10k and risk it then i wouldnt think they should have a problem with it. I asked the guy if they had some type of forum or a way to where i can talk to some of their other traders to find out how they feel about the firm and he said there isnt anything like that they offer. these are all things ive found out over the phone, just info, i have no opinion yet to one way or the other.
Couple of facts that may help and a few observations. If you contribute capital there is a 1 year lock up. There are other firms that do not charge fees whether they are called desk or whatever. If your volume levels fall the firm will arbit raise your commissions. They do not have enough training for newbies and most never survive. They appear to be hungry for capital ---- a sign maybe. Currently not a good place to go at present.
There's no 1 year lockup at ECHO or Bright. That has been gone over on this board many times before. If you're going to make stuff up, at least make it sound believable.
per conversation with Echo, the rules state that a prop firm "can lock up funds for 12 months if needed" (or something like that). in other words, usually there is no lockup and people are able to withdraw their funds. BUT if sh*t hits the fan, a lockup can be invoked by the firm. the way i understand it: in the past traders were able to withdraw their original funds. if nothing abnormal happens this will continue to be the case. however, for example, if there is an event when everybody wants out, they should expect the funds to become locked up. the above is true for both Echo and Bright. AFAIK, neither firm has used its right to lock up the funds in the past. feel free to correct me on the above.