Okay. I'm trying one last time to get some discussion and posts going on this thread. If no one has any comments this time, I'll leave it alone. As an Echo trader, I find this to be big news. I'm not sure what it means yet, but it says something is going on at the firm. Anyone have any thoughts? At this point, pure speculation would even be welcome. C. Robinson, any comments? Bro59, Uptik? tdoc
well i would have posted sooner, but to be honest i really don't know anything other than what is there at face value. after getting beat up on another echo thread i tend to be very careful about what i post. i can share my personal opinion but that is all it is....an opinion. IMHO i think Jeff being the CEO is a very good thing. I've worked with he and Rob now for close to 2 1/2 years and i just can't imagine ever working with any other firm. i have had differences of opinions(business related) where they were right and i was ultimately wrong. they always seem to be just ahead of the pack when it comes to direction of the industry. are they perfect...nope. are they humble YES!!!!!!!!!!!!! do they treat their traders well and with respect...absolutely. sometimes i think they are too nice to traders that don't deserve it, but that is just the type of guys they are. does this address your questions...probably not. i am not privy to any inside information about the change. and just for the record, Vito is an EXCELLENT trader in my opinion. He is one of the most consistent traders in the business....his methodolgy is very sound....and bottomline he is one smart guy. so there you have it..............i really did not want to post this because it comes across as SPIN, HYPE, PROMOTING, BLAH, BLAH BLAH. but it is the only answer i have at this time and i didn't want to avoid your request.
All I can say is that when Jeff was more involved it seemed like there were less software problems and lower fees. That's not to say Vito was a cause or that Jeff can fix the problems. The software issues can be just an effect from the firm's growth. I think we'll all have to wait and see what happens in the months to come. I talk to a few traders in different offices who say that there have been fewer technical problems lately. Unfortunately there will never be a perfect execution platform. Especially for remote traders. Even when placing a trade with my dinosaur of a discount broker I had a bit of a glitch recently. I hit send, nothing happened for a few minutes and eventually I had to call to see what happened. So I guess we just have to deal with the occassional hassle of technology. On the brighter side of things, it started to snow yesterday. Nothing stuck..but just the sight of the flakes got me excited enough to take the snowboard out of the garage and wipe the dust off.
Thanks for the posts. It sounds like there haven't been any major changes, and for the most part that's good. I know the company was very well-respected when Jeff was the CEO, (and still respected by many with Vito at the helm). As long as the focus remains the individual trader, software development, and reliability, ECHO should be fine. tdoc
I am guessing, and that is all it is, a guess, that vito probably had too much on his plate... Not that he did anything wrong, but running the company, trading, and teaching his training labs ALL AT ONCE is a lot to handle..