Aaron, if I could please ask you about how you structured your business?! I tried to look you / your company up on both the NFA and the NASD / SEC websites, but could not find anything under "Schindler". How does one get around registration (legally, of course!!!), but still advertise and / or have more than $400K under management? Thanks for your help.
Hi Manu, Not sure how you missed me or Schindler Trading in the NFA database. Just go to the NFA website (www.nfa.futures.org), select "Broker/Firm Information (BASIC)" from the menu at the top, and search on "Schindler" for either firm name or individual last name, and you'll see me. Here's a link directly to my record: http://www.nfa.futures.org/basicnet/Details.aspx?entityid=0310098&rn=N You have to register with the CFTC and be an NFA member to "hold yourself out to the public as a CTA", i.e. advertise with the www.SchindlerTrading.com website like I do.
It used to be $200k when I started my fund, but now it is up to $400k: http://www.nfa.futures.org/registration/cpo.asp
Aaron, FYI, your web site is down. What is the difference between COMMODITY TRADING ADVISOR and COMMODITY POOL OPERATOR? I see that you registered for both. Thanks.
Has that changed recently? I registered as a CPO because I started with $250K. I could have sworn $200K was the cut off. I see your link and see you are correct. I guess I missed something when I read over the rules and regs.
Thanks for the heads up about our website. I'll check into it. Here're the CTA and CPO definitions from the NFA: A CTA basically either publishes trading signals with something like a newletter or chatroom, or else has power of attorney to actuallly make trades in a client's account for them. A CTA never takes posession of your money -- if a CTA trades your account _you_ will still be the owner of that account. A CPO collects investor funds and pools them together into a single brokerage account owned by the pool (and then the pool is, in turn, owned by the investors). The pool is typically a limited partnership. A futures pool is more commonly called a "managed futures fund" and some people include managed futures funds as a category of hedge funds. An advantage to investing in a pool/fund is that they usually have lower minimums and you can't lose more than your initial investment. On the other hand, an advantage to having a CTA trade your separate account is the safety of maintaining custody of your assets -- you have to initiate or sign off on any withdrawals. Schindler Trading manages both separately managed accounts and a fund, so we are registered as both a CTA and CPO.
Aaron, thanks for being so forthcoming and helpful...the true spirit of ET!!! I don't know either how I could have missed you (found you this time), as I did the same search last night and nothing came up...perhaps the website was partially down.