i am going to be meeting with the people at e*trade pro, to discuss trading prop in their nyc office. i have read a number of threads on this firm, however, they all seem to be about a year old. does anyone have any recent experiences, or advice on what they might be looking for or what i should be asking? any feedback is always appreciated.
i trade using etrade pro's lightspeed platform but thru an affilated prop firm and not with them directly. ask them how much your per trade fees will be, if they have a desk fee, data fees, ecn rebates, how much/if you have to put up a capital contribution and how much that is. ask if you get a base salary, ask what is the profit split payout. What your buying power will be. How much you can lose before they consider letting you go. If they have a probation period. If you can trade both Nasdaq and NYSE, if you can hold overnight. unless you get a salary, and I'm talking at least $2000/mo, and you have to wear a collared shirt and tie to work everyday, then approach this "job" more like starting your own business. You will need to interview them just as much as they interview you. If they are a prop firm looking at you as a customer to generate commiss revenue, then you have to look at them as a business associate that can give you a good item at a fair price...just like any supplier.
Those are all good questions, you might also ask to see Lightspeed in operation although it's a pretty nice package. As far as deals go, if you're putting up money there really is no "set" deal, everything is negotiable to some extent. What the clearing cost are can aslo depend on your personal style, are you a "creator" or a "taker"? They'll let you set it up so that you can get rebates or just have an "all in" price (+sec fees).
I'm at e*trade. You might not like the NYC offices because of how crowded they are. There's about 400 traders at their midtown spot, and eventually they're all going down to the merc to join the traders down there. I'm not into all that rah-rah yelling, and cursing at the screen every tick. I went there once, and haven't been back. Now I trade a retail account out of the Ramsey, NJ branch. It's a great office. It's relaxed, everyone's friendly and very knowledgable, cool branch manager, lots of elbow room, new computers, stable platform, and only about 15 daily traders, and another 10 or 15 remote guys that come in every now and then. As far as Lightspeed, I believe it's second to none. It's lightning fast, stable, and fully customizable. If you don't feel like going in one day, it works just as well at home through Nortel's VPN connection. The commissions are negotiable. He's gonna try to have you name what commission you'd be comfortable paying. Lowball him, and tell him you're considering other brokers. You should get about .0035-.004, maybe lower. If you have any other Q's, feel free to ask. edit: Forgot to add a glaring negative. You can't place your own option trades. You have to call the manager, and have him call the tradedesk process the trade. Everyone pretty much just uses their internet-based broker for their option plays.
sec or tradescape? who did e trade buy out ? what traders are at merc ? in nyc ? merc is only futures guys unless they have rented out space there ?
Tradescape bought out Momentum, then E*Trade bought out Tradescape, and kept the most profitable offices. We're renting out space down at the merc right now, and are in the process of setting up more space for the E57th street trader's arrival this summer. I moved to Jersey so I wouldn't get caught up in all that. That's too many guys. They're gonna practically be sitting on top of each other depending on how much space they secure.
Quote........."As far as Lightspeed, I believe it's second to none." Could not agree with you more, and I have worked on a few different platforms.