for many years on these boards don has answered every note were somebody has asked about a firm like tradevision or caliper with firing guns about them not being licensed or this or that. WE ALL KNOW BRIGHT IS FINANCIALLY STRONG BUT WHO GIVES A HOOT WHEN YOU GOT A LOUSY 5K OF YOUR MONEY ON THE LINE A HIGH VOL TRADER CAN SAVE 5K A MONTH IN COMMISSIONS WITH MANY PROP FIRMS OVER BRIGHT SO IN 1 MONTH THEY'VE COVERED THERE DEPOSIT AND IF IN 12 MONTHS THE PROP GOES UNDER THEY'VE SAVED 60K OVER BRIGHT. with that 60k i can go open a retail account with a prop shop SIPC INSURED and still save 5k or more a month over bright. COMPARE YOURSELF TO HOLD,CARLIN OR ASSENT. ASSENT HAS 400 MILLION OF ASSETS AND IS OWNED BY $4 BILLION SUNGUARD. I CAN GET A RATE 1/2 OF BRIGHTS DOING HUGE VOL. i think people on this board need to unween themselves from the addiction of leverage from a bright or whoever and build up ther own money and go sipc insured retail with a prop firm. you have much better negotiating powers with your own money. again don we know bright is a great company but compare yourself to the assents or holds of the world were commissions seem to be much much lower. ALSO BOB TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH MORE MONEY BRIGHT OR ANY OTHER PROP SHOP IS MAKING WITH 3 MONTH TREASURY'S AT 5%? IF YOU HAVE $20 MILLION SITTING IN A TREASURY FOR COLLATERAL FOR YOUR FIRMS INTRADAY BUYING POWER 5% VS 1% 18 MONTHS AGO IS A COOL 800K A YEAR EXTRA PROFIT.
When the facts come out about many of these firms, and everyone starts complaining about how they got screwed out of their money, or the owners are barred for life from the industry, and all the rest, enough is said then. The collective "we" ...as in all of us in the securities business (actually any business, and the population in general), should take an interest in our industry, follow the rules, get proper licensing, align ourselves with proper firms (there are many besides besides Bright that are exchange members or regulated by the NASD or others)...this business has can bring great rewards to those who take it seriously, and to those who work hard to follow the rules...why should we risk all of this by gambling our futures with (pick one)..."non licensed doctors, non bar member lawyers, non licensed contractors, non certificated teachers (we would never let our kids be taught by teachers who weren't credentialed, would we?)... Do a search for firms who have, under some guise or another, left their traders hanging without even return of capital...what in the world have I done wrong by simply hoping that new people won't be led down these foolish paths? Sure, you can buy stuff from a roadside peddler for "cheap" too, and yet we all know what the result of that would be. I'm not specifying any particular group, and even asked that the owners contact me to chat, but you get my drift. If someone wants to drop a few grand, take a gamble with God knows who, then come to Vegas for Heaven's sakes. Or, maybe, just maybe do some due diligence, find someone who can help you on your way to becoming a trader. (Do the homework, check the balance sheets...and remember, "if something looks too good to be true, it probably is). BTW, I'm coming to Chicago to meet with some exchange officials and regulators next month....if any of you guys in Chicagoland would like to discuss where our industry is going, I'll be glad to invite you to a meeting in our office...your input is welcome and respected. I'm hoping to put together an in depth article for the magazines by Labor Day, please help All the best, Don
Don, bring your coupon as the buffet here in Chicago are just as good as the famous Vegas buffet. Enjoy Yours truly....a very unhappy Bright ex client. When is your firm going to offer an asset class that will allow your traders to make money scalping and not just churn commish on those pairs?
Don, answer this question for me if you will. Why should a proprietary trading firm be a licensed broker-dealer, if it does not provide broker-dealer services itself? Of course you'd want whoever they hire to be their broker-dealer to be properly licensed and registered, but what does it matter if the prop firm itself isn't certified in this way? Isn't it just following a different business model, the model of a capital fund that lets its members use its assets to trade? Isn't it basically a hedge fund where the members do the trading, and the firm owners make money off of commissions, fees, and cuts of the profits? Okay, that was more than one question. And I'm not trying to defend any particular firms here, just pointing out the flaw in your position. All that matters for a prop firm of this sort is that it is open with its customers and financially sound. Saying that it should be a licensed broker-dealer is as unreasonable as saying that someone who wants to day trade should have a Series 7 license.
Bighitter, I'm not going to defend Bright here. I just wanted to point out one of the flaws with this 5k at risk model. You will never trade any size at any firm with 5k. If your goal is to be a prop trader that is trading large enough size where you can make a living without taking huge risks and huge swings in your capital, then at some point you are going to have to have some capital on the line. Most firms out there that advertise 5k down is just using that as a carrot to get you in. In reality, to do any kind of serious trading, you are going to need to have some real money there. Now maybe that is coming from your profits that you leave in your account or maybe that is coming from investors. Either way, that's capital at risk. Now on to Don. If we do some simple math here, we can create a simple model on excel that will either prove Don's worth or not. All we would have to do is figure out how much a trader is over paying over a given period, say a year. Then see if that money would be more then what you would have at another prop firm with let's say, less then safe balance sheets. We would then have to assign some probabilities of a random prop firm going bust. Since not all prop firms will go bust. I believe if we create this model and run some numbers you could create a spread market between Bright trading and any given random prop firm. The basis between the two would give you an indication of the added risk you are taking by choosing a random prop firm with less then attractive balance sheets over Bright Trading. What I believe you would discover is that Bright trading would be trading at par with any random prop firm we choose given the higher commissions at Bright Trading.
I believe the advertised rate i have seen on this board is 1 cent a share up to 1000 shares, .004 over that, on a per trade basis. No desk fee on 200k shares/ month. I will be corrected if im wrong.
Most people do not understand that "trading/investing" on a full time basis is a BUSINESS!!! Flip through a Franchise Magazine some time. You will see that most franchises require one to have a hell of a lot more than $5,000. And the earnings potential is no where close to this business. Go to your bank and ask how much they would loan you with a $5000 down payment to start a business. Take a look at a McDonalds franchise deal. Big bucks required plus a lot of hard hours but most of the franchisees make a lot of money over the long term. Bright runs a successful business. He should offer no apologies to the clowns who want him to subsidize their trading while they learn. Get real guys, SteveD
we're getting off base here. people on here are talking about franchises of 100 or 200k. ok step up to the plate put your 200k in a sipc insured account and there's your 800k buying power. in the meantime you're making almost 5% on your credit balances as you're intraday trading. truth is most people only have 5-10k to put in. i've seen were bright requires what 25k? so even if you use 500k thats only 20-1. the advantage of going retail with a prop using my money is i can get a better rate than prop using someones leverage. a note on here says you got to put up big money to get big leverage. who the hells going to put 50-100k in someones prop including bright? this moneys not insured so that would be very very risky
Its amazing to me, that people who aspire to be good professional traders can be such incompetent businessmen. Context is all that matters. Find out what the context is for operating within this business and you will have all the information you need. The only question you need to answer is "what is the business model these folks are using"? Private businesses like Bright are appropriate for some, and not for others. It is simply a matter of due diligence. Get the facts, then make your decision "as if" you were competent businessmen. If this business model (proprietary trading) isn't right for you, find one that is or go into business for yourself. Is that simple enough? Good luck Steve