Good to hear from you, and I have always spoke highly of you and your firm whenever asked. You and I have crossed path's before, and I think that open discussion is the best way to go. If we want to get really competitive, perhaps a good game of 9 ball or straight pool All the best!!
We use both in some offices, T-1 in some, satellite in some....mostly redundant systems to help assure that we can get our trades executed.
I am considering turning pro, after trading successfully the last 2 yrs. Reason, is for the use of bullets, increased margin, taxes, etc. I checked out your site a while back, and noticed it doesn't mention if....1. Off site trading is available ie (from home)?. 2. I saw commish was penny per share, ecn fees? Software cost? Minimum balance required to open an account? Thanks for the reply.
As for friendly competition, it doesn't exist on Wall Street, either we steal your talent or you steal ours. You have strong incentives to bring people into your firm, so do I, and I don't even have to be a recruiter to do so at Worldco. Let's put it this way, I have been with Worldco for a year and I pay 1 cent per share and have a 94% payout, and I didn't put up a dime of my own money. I average 12K shares each way a day and I am no size trader. I have 5 monitors and First Alert without paying a dime monthly fee. Say I am looking for a new firm, as I am most definitely serious about trading, what can Bright offer to make me switch-over? If I am a newbie looking for a firm, what can I get from Bright that I can not get from Worldco? I am not trying to start a fight, just that you said "compare all of your options", so what can you come up with to make it even a contest? The same question for you Gene Weissman, let's be honest here, traders move between firm to firm and that's what they do, each firm has its stable of top tier's and still relies on new blood to keep the system functioning. You posted on this board to basically say "give Bright a chance", and I am going to ask you, WHY? BTW, if you guys are only looking for people with capital, then I would gladly compare Echo Trading against any one of your firms, just head over to their site and look at their rates yourself. In the end, the MOST important factor for a trader is the commission rate and payout, and based on what I heard, you guys are not competitive. I am not saying Bright won't be around for a long time, but I welcome all of the new traders out there to check out worldco. Give them a call, and compare for yourself, if you still decide that you will go with Bright after you look at our site, by all means.
Don, Does Bright still withhold 25% of all traders' profits? Last I heard, this still has not changed. Thanks, Julie
I disagree about friendly competition, but since you are insisting on this, I will warn you, you may not like it....this is all true! Our people pay a maximum of 1 cent per share, no tickets and NO pass throughs like ECN fees. We only charge a desk fee to keep out the "non-traders"...the basic rebate more than takes care of that. Many traders average about .50 cents or less per hundred shares. Putting up no money is fine, but if you are getting a full payout, why not put up a bit and "be your own man" not an employee. Our traders pay NO Social Security Taxes (saving 15% per year), are eligible for price cuts amounting to 20 percent (at a relatively low level). New traders are given the best training available from people who trade every day, not from "managers" ...and are welcome to trade in our corporate office with my brother and I. With the new rules, even retail traders need $25K, and if a trader is not willing to make a small capital committment, why should we want them to use our capital to trade with? We only want those traders who are planning on being successful, not employee types. We offer tremendous use of capital for experienced traders who need it (pair trading, M&A, openings, etc.). We give people free "haircut" for their conversions, and other benefits. Since Echo is another spin off of Bright Trading (like Van Buren and others), why go with the new firm rather than the original? I defer to our website regarding capitalization, etc. Since I have a personal affinity for the major backer of ECHO, I refrain from any negatism due to the people running the place. I have been told that even Schonfeld (whom I truly respect) has had to cut their traders capital usage by up to 75%, why?? We have grown by about 40% per year for 10 years, and have done so by being open, honest, well capitalized, and extremely fair. I could go on and on, but prefer to continue on the "higher path" and simply ask that new traders compare.
Hitman, I would agree with you that commissions are an important part of trading, but not the only factor in a traders success. If I give a trader a .01 a cent rate and they can't make money , they probably won't make money at 3/4 of a cent. Most traders who complain only about rates are marginal traders. Sure times have got tougher, but rates are not the only factor in selecting a trading firm. Is the firms hardware maintained? Do you have a Windows NT tech on site? Does the firm encourage the traders to churn commissions? Does the firm want their traders to succeed? Does the firm have any kind of training program ? Does the firm mentor traders? At our firm, we give traders competitive rates and volume discounts. We have an in house programmer , Windows NT tech and other services for professional traders. We have traders that have been with us four years and would not switch firms for lower rates or gimmicks. The reason is cause we have built a relationship with our traders who feel we give them great service at a competitive price . I know Don Bright probably feels the same way. Gene Weissman Lieber & Weissman Sec., L.L.C.
Yes, Don Bright does. We have our original trader from 1991 still trading with us. You're also right about costs for newer traders (they may not make money even if the costs were zero!). A point here that kind of bugs me (not even related to you, Gene, but I just thought of it)... I have had experienced traders bring me their sheets where they compared costs to find out that they could have saved $10,000 - $20,000 per month in fees, and have gone back to their firm, and were told..."ok, we'll cut your pricing as of right now" ... well, if you think about, what happened to the $120,000 - $240,000 per year that was already spent? It's kind of like.."ok, we overcharged you, but will now match someone else, but thanks for extra bucks!" We have, and I am sure you have, tried to pass along lower costs when the opportunity arises. Let's try to keep this board on the "higher path"...and I will stay on whenever I can. Good Luck! Don
I have a question. How do most prop. trading firms capitalize themselves? I like to know because if the reason to join your firm is the ability to trade more capital than say my current firm, you want to know the funds are always their to trade. You made reference to Schonfeld cutting traders by up to 75% , why would a firm like that have reason to cut and if it happens to that firm, shouldn't all traders be concerned about their firms capitalization? Top tier traders number one concern is the amount of trading capital available to them, I'M interested in your views or comments on this.
Hitman...WHO CARES!!!?? If you wanna stay with "your" firm go right ahead. Knock yourself out. But quit start a PI$$ING contest with everyone!! How much they payin you to recruit these days, Hitman??