I've traded through Man for quite a while now. Trading Platforms Man offers a bunch of different ones (TT, Pats and some other ones). I use Pats and don't remember going down once in the last year or two. It has been very stable. I imagine other platforms are similar, but I don't have experience with them. Customer Service There is a 24 hour help desk and they are very good if I am stuck in a trade or something similar. It is little things like not receiving statements on time that frustrate me, but I've learned to deal with it. Commissions I trade quite a bit so I get good rates. I am paying less than IB rates. I have backup accounts elsewhere, but overall I like Man the most.
Thanks for your feedback. May I ask which exchanges/markets you're trading? And, do you use J-Trader or some 3rd party front-end (Ninja, Trademaven etc)? Also, how you deal with the fact that some exchanges don't support native stops (e.g. eCBOT)? so your stops for YM eminiDOW would be held on your PC (unless PATS has changed things during the last year or so). PS: I've also traded via Man PATS, but it was back in 2002 and it used to go down quite often. From your feedback it seems it's much better now.
If you're looking for the financial stability of Man or RCG, but want good technology and an FCM that really understands traders, you should check out Advantage Futures. In my opinion this place is the best kept secret on the street. They are a clearing member of 4 exchanges I think and are very well capitalized. Their margins aren't the best out there, but I don't know any successful traders that are really using full margin anyways.
btw Advantages promised that after some times you´re your client...they can lowered margins but the starting point is not too much good.
The thing you must do with these larger FCM is to find a desk that is a separate profit center within the Man umbrella or other large firms. We trade through their Global Trading desk and have access to 5 to 6 brokers on the desk 24/7. Plus the normal Electronic platforms that all FCM have access to. The broker relationships do not change. The numbers we call only go direct to that desk. They do all our options on futures and also do our cash index option with there equity index division. So the ability to bundle the order flow from the futures side and the equity options side has allow us to bring our execution cost down 50% AS WE ARE NOT SPLIT BETWEEN TWO FIRMS NOW. This model of bundling volume of asset classes will only continue to grow and will allow any individual to realize the cost savings. Now you still have to generate profitable trade ideas, but since that goes into the performance of the funds we advising on, so it does mean something. TC
There are many profit centers within Man. Our group trades through the Global Trade desk and we have more support and service than any FCM I have done business with. TT 7.0 is availible and they cover our floor needs well. They do allocation for us at the end of day and all the paperwork for our CTA and CPO customers. In a big firm, there are many differnt subgroups, you just need to find the right desk. Can any one advise me the contact information of "Global Trade desk" in Man in Chicago? I like to explore this opportunity. Thanks.