http://www.etgtrade.com/videopage/main.html very impressive!! anyone know whether this is available outside their embrace?
"very impressive"????? not if you had to sit through them....these tapes at best are "dated"....with the advent of decimals, these tapes are useless!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When ETG was in it's first year I happened to be in NYC (1993) on a contract in NJ. I always aspired to go back to the floor and trade the NYFE (in the WTC) - after running into Kanter they "talked me out of it" by the usual way. "Floor trading is dead, electronic is the future" yada yada yada..., I used to pay $1500/month (hey, Manhattan IS expensive) we used to have a split 70-30 (30 going to the house) 25k down, trade 75k if I remember, actually for daytrade we could trade as big as we wanted. Later he started going after college kids and offer 100% funding but profit would go 70% to the house. :eek: :eek: Needless to say all are leaving and he has no luck getting anyone in there, they sign a three year contract and pays a meager salary. Actually he does have some applicants but they all want to bail after a while. He is 'afraid" of knowledge and exposing his crew to what's out there and exposing the competition. (like worldco he is not all that open, albeit he is honest and made some traders make good money in the early days. He must offer 50-50 now but I guess he may be losing money ????????
Is there any way to break that three year indentured servitude? Legally I mean. If I leave early, they can't have the police hunt me down can they?
I interviewed with them back in April and they had just restructured their package. They no longer offer a salary in favor of a higher payout.
Sorry, I am not a lawyer....it all depends on how much equity you have left, how is your relationship (with Kanter) and how much time you have on the contract. With the equity you can always draw on it...or try to turn around or just trade very small and hang in there.
hi. i'm brand new here, so hope this is appropriate. i just left etg, after having a falling out with one of their principals. first of all, they give a better payout, but no longer any salary to new hires. as for the contracts, i wouldn't worry too much about them being enforced. as somebody else said, they want to teach you their way to trade. although their tapes pay lip service to many different approaches, the etg way involves quick scalping and never taking any risk. i personally think this is wrong, but not necessarily terrible. i think the people there are honest and respectable people, and run the firm in avery professional manner. if you are an independent trader with your own money, and looking for a good place to clear, this is a decent firm. also, if you are brand new and know nothing and are interested in learning how to get started, this is also a decent place. i personally did not get too much out of their training, but i am at a different level than most. but if you are an established trader looking for a good prop deal, i think there are better places to go.
This is my first post, Hence my handle "Newatthis". I too have traded at ETG, but I am no longer there. I am now a customer at another small BD that clears SLK. I notice that the most active post at this discussion is a person who left ETG over 6 years ago. Seems odd. I left because I had made enough money to finance my own trades, was man enough to take my own risk and found a firm that could give me a lower rate than ETG. ETG always told me that they compete on service and professionalism. That they are good at. They will never be the lowest cost or the highest payout. Management will never make a deal with a trader that shifts too much of the risk from trader to firm. They will always try to make the risk shared so that the trader makes good economic decisions. They actively avoid the cowboy trader who wants to take no risk. The training tapes are in places dated. The principles they teach are and always will be sound. If you are just looking for a clearing firm they are not the place. They also changed the payout 5% higher, but now the trader pays for his own machinery. They claim a good trader would be much better off with the additional payout versus paying for machines. That theory doesn't take into account the commission money they made.
what's odd about that ??? I feel that irrespective of the details of my business I was royally screwed over !!! So I tell people how is ETG. The tapes you referring to are a joke by the way ! If you learned everything about trading from that you will be rudely awaken. My best benefit there was some of the camaraderie and having watched Kanter trade and comment his thought process - it was a class act. After he quit, I had no reason to stick around. Since than I have traded privately andwhile I am not totally against Prop firms - I still call them "juice" firms because they don't give a shit. I know one guy there who is still trading and never made more money than any professional would make in a major metro area.(60k+) As long as he does not lose much and creates volume - they won't bother him. Perfect place for bored trust fund types who want to be called trades and work on "wall street"
Hi all. Please be more specific about what the costs are to trade at ETG if you bring no capital. "Machine" costs? What is the percentage payout for newbies? Do you have to make X amount of money for them before you get any percentage? Do they hold any in reserve? Do they offer a better percentage if you come with a Series 7 already? If you totally suck at trading, at what point do they fire you? What limits do they put on your trading when you first start? Do they offer any benefits at all, i.e. health? Are you explicitly told not to trade NASD stocks? I'd appreciate any feedback on this as I may be interviewing with them in the near future. Thanks!