Have you guys seen this? I trade at ECHO http://www.echotradeonline.com/ they passed a memo around today that read the same as they now put up on the web. They just lowered the capital contribution for a new guy to $10,000. And you get 5 to 1 leverage, instead of the new 4 to 1 for all the other firms (and at the other firms it takes a min. of $25K to get the 4 to 1). "The minimum capital contribution for a trading member is currently $10,000 for 5 to 1 leverage, $25,000 for 10 to 1 leverage, $50,000 for 20-to-1 leverage and greater (depending on experience and hedging strategy)." The rest of the memo talked about how they are very comfortable with their risk controls and have the most advanced software, blah blah...so they could do this. What do you guys think about this? I don't know how I feel since I had to put up a lot more to join Echo, but I do have the advantage of using as much as 30 to 1 at times, so I guess it's ok for the guys like me still. -Jim
Jim, I trade at Echo also (I trade remote). You left out the most important part of the memo (at least for me). "ALL REMOTE TRADERS WHO JOIN ECHOTRADE BY SEPTEMBER 1st, 2001, PAY NO SOFTWARE CHARGES UNTIL 2002!" I called and asked, this also applies for current traders, we will pay no software charges until next January. I asked them what prompted them, they said they have been getting a lot of calls from guys who are worried about the new daytrading rules which will basically shut down daytraders with less than $25K, and they wanted to help find a solution for these guys. Bravo, Echotrade! Courtney
Best news I've heard in weeks. Any thoughts if IB could/would do this? I realize they're not a prop firm but it would be nice to avoid the hassle of transferring. truthfultrader
Series 7 yes, other tests no. There seems to be a lot of fear out there of the Series 7, I don't know why. It's one of those tests that - if you read the book, you will pass. It's not rocket science, it just asks you what a bond is, what an option is, covers stuff that is good to know anyways. The examco stuff http://www.examco.com/ stuff is the best, many guys have crammed with their sample tests and passed in a week. I studied for just under a week and a half and passed easily. -Jim
I don't understand. How can echo require you to only have a minimum account balance of 10k when the SEC will soon require a balance of 25k?
They are a professional firm. They are subject to different margin requirements than most firms. Here are some other threads that have gone into it in detail. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=1446 http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=1740 I was trying to find some of Gene Weissman's old posts, he usually discusses these sort of things very well. -Jim
I don't understand. How can echo require you to only have a minimum account balance of 10k when the SEC will soon require a balance of 25k? ------------------- 10K minimum to join ECHOTrade as a prop trader. For all non-prop traders, you still a minimum of 25K cash to be a pattern day trader. MGB
If you can't be a pattern day trader, then be a swing trader. Perhaps follow the trading signals from http://www.beachsidetraders.com Just a suggestion. There must be a solution somewhere and somehow. MGB
This sounds good to me. I'm currently trading with a little under 25k(but growing and I'm with Interactive brokers. I still have my Series7 license active so do you guys recommend I switch to Echo? I'll make sure I have 25k in the account by next month but should I switch anyway??? I'd really appreciate the advice