I keep tabs of prop firms as well. I have about 16 prop firms on my favorites. I also just discovered Guardian Trading, LLC. that a friend was talking to me about also looks interesting. It's legitamate to worry about where your money is going. I was terrified when I went to my prop firm, I only put in 1k and got 30 to 1 leverage. Fortunate for me, I never had to put in more money. I got 30 to 1 leverage because I don't want to leave a lot of money in my account. I'd rather have it in my checking account instead of an unprotected prop firm. They get their commissions, I get my profits, that is all I want. If the prop firm blows up, I still got almost all of my money. I don't need 100k+ in B/P anyways.
I have been trading since 2000 with quite a few firms, and I can safely say I have never met a more responsible group of individuals who run a trading business. I always get paid on time (twice a month), and in fact, when I didn't ask for a check a few months back, they called me and reminded that I have "excess" capital in the account and were checking up on me that everything was ok. Relatively new? They have been around for over 2 years from what I understand, but the managing directors have been trading for years. If I need more buying power in the heat of the trading day, they don't make me sign tedious forms (like Generic does): I just either call or IM them and its done in a few seconds. Thats the type of service that I admire and am loyal to. In terms of safety, no firm is "safe." Firms that are bigger than Benchmarq have blown up before. However, what I especially like about these guys is that they are always around. If you have a question or an issue, you can always reach them. They are always accessible.
That's true, you are. And the trick when you become aware that you are is to STOP. For those who didn't notice the title of this thread is "Genesis Securities, Pros and Cons", so please stay on topic or posts will start disappearing. If you'd like to discuss Benchmarq or anyplace else then find another thread already on that subject or start a new one. Thanks.
Anyways, yeah, Genesis is a great place to work with. It is what a lot of other companies should be like *cough eSignal for example which is the complete opposite* Good luck with Genesis.
I am very satisfied with IB but their recent reduction in the number of available shortable stocks around the open has, I think, substantially reduced the profitability of a strategy that use to work quite well. As a result of this thread, I just looked at Genesis' short list. It seems to be very much larger than IB's for the U. S. market. I only looked at today's lists.
Thank you all for your replies. Seems like all have been positive so far! Has anyone had any negative experience with Genesis at all?! TIA
Oh yeah, when you don't display an indicator on a stock chart, it doesn't display the time on the x-axis. I don't use any indicators *besides moving averages*. So it's kinda annoying, but I just use eSignal charts linked with the platform.