Good question about NASDAQ trading. When traders know all the rules about the different market places, they tend to trade listed stocks. Our traders make a big chunk of their money doing opening only trades (which are impossible on the NAZ, since there is no opening...and no single market)and trading off of the imbalances and indications (which you cannot have on a fragmented market), so they simply choose to trade the listed markets. MM's have time to view orders and cancel their bids or offers, etc. (Not a plug, but...you will see an article describing the differences coming soon in either Active Trader or TASC). What I can offer you is only the facts that I know to be true. Our traders must put up $40,000 if they want to trade the NAZ, and when they lose $10,000, we cut them off the NAZ....and we have cut off everyone except for a handful of arbitrage traders and ex Market Makers. It's not that I am against the NAZ, it is that I am FOR the traders making money. In all seriousness, there is a lot to all of this, too much to bore you with on the board. I hope this helps.
Thanks for the common sense comments about those of us who try very hard to make this industry thrive and grow. I have corresponded with Gene and others from time to time via various boards, and feel much better about being open and honest when I know who I am corresponding with. We have nothing to hide (or hype for that matter). Regarding IB, they are the only retail firm that I have ever turned people on to (since they are run by Timber Hill, a firm who I respect). BTW, excuse me if I am not "threading" correctly here....I am using the email link to come back to the board. Keep up the good work!
"hat off" to Don Bright. I think it's great that a founder of the largest pro firm spends time on this board. Don obviously has an agenda at some level, but that is well understood and imho doesn't invalidate what he has to say. I would hope that if anyone is a partner/employee at one of the (pro-)firms and posts here, would be open about his relationship just like Don Bright, Gene Weissman, R Tharp and Def.
Thanks for the kind words. My agenda, if you will, is really just to see what is going on with other traders, and to perhaps correct or clarify any thing that may have been said about our firm or our traders. Glad to see that there is communication without judgement going on. I really think that the more education and communication between those involved in this field of endeavor, the better. Thanks again!
Don, Good to see you posting here. Looking forward to some reading some very informative posts. Leland
Welcome Don! Good to have a trader of your stature posting here. Sincerely hope you continue to post without reservation. Many of us here would like that. Adios for now
Where did you get the idea that Bright is the largest firm there is? I thought that title belongs to Schonfeld. Worldco has close to 600 traders nowadays and a lot of them never even heard of Bright. Can you tell me what is the advantage of Bright over Echo or Worldco for that matter? I noticed that you didn't talk about those two firms at all in your post, and you also cleverly dodged the question on satelite feed for First Alert. What's up with that?
You may not agree with everything Don Bright says, but he tells it like it is and is a fine trader. I think one point is well made. If you are representing a commericial interest or firm, it should be disclosed on the board. I never use as assumed name and either does Don Bright in any posts. Gene Weissman Lieber & Weissman Sec., L.L.C.
I am glad to respond, not "react" to any question, and here you go: There are several ways to measure "largest" and we have been given that title due to the number of trading floors, "money in play", and number of active traders (which changes monthly with all firms). All of this changes from time to time. 2000 was the best year ever for our traders, and 2001 is on track to beat that. In keeping with the sanctity of the site (no overt marketing), I will simply ask anyone who wants an answer to your question "why Bright" to go to our website. My "cleverly dodged" question about satellite versus T-1 feed for F/A was not meant as such. We use Redi Plus for execution and data feeds, and we have F/A (or Track Data) as an information and filtering source. We have experimented with all the latest technology and try to stay on top of it. I have had several traders switch off of F/A today in fact, since we now offer a much more complete package on Redi. Some of this is individual choice and some factors include location, number of traders, trader preference, etc. I would like to keep the sparring to a minimum, and yet will always be open and available to discuss all aspects of our firm, openly and honestly. With all the happenings in the World today, I think friendly competition between trading firms is a much better way to go. Bright Trading is here, and will be here for a long time to come. P.S. I like your signature line!