Don and I have been doing battles here in the prop forums for over a decade. Hard to believe it's been that long. Over the years I have given Don a hard time on a lot of issues but I've also given him his props where he deserves it. I feel I have been more then fair both with him and on the topic of prop firms and the industry in general. Most people know me to be a no bullshit type of guy. I spare no one's feelings and tell it like it is. I've been accused over the years of going after Don or having some type of grudge against him. Of course, in reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Don and I have shared some dinners together in Chicago and I have always wished him happiness and good health. Well, after all these years, I have actually just joined Bright Trading in their Chicago office. I know, I thought hell would freeze over the day this happened but the weather has actually been pretty nice in light of the recent events. LOL. I posted this for a couple of reasons. One, it will make sure I get the kind of service I expect to get from him. LOL. And two, it will provide transparency for some on here when I speak about prop firms or if I make comments about Bright, they will know I at least have a relationship with them. I will be sure to report my experience trading with Bright. I fully expect everything to go well. Most of you know I was a class B member of VTrader for the last 8 years. So I don't have a habit of jumping from firm to firm. Now that Don has my business, I'm going to make him fight to keep it.
Until lurking on the ACD thread, I always thought you were more of a futures guy. But now I know better. Best wishes. (And yes, I saw the Drudge report today. Dammit.) P/L thread posts perhaps?
Thats very interesting Mav. I never expected it to happen even in my dreams. Are you sure you are not kidding us - it is still April you know Seriously, if you have joined, I am curious why have you joined. You have been trading futures for so long, why sudden move to equity trading (I am assuming you would do equities with Bright). And you always seemed to have a lot of negative comments towards equity prop firms in general, what made you change your mind so much that you ended up joining an equity prop firm!! You also mentioned that 100% payout days are going away - equities have limited liquidity compared to futures markets, inferior tax treatment. Why would a successful futures trader move to equities world? Curious. Have A Good Time!
I'll try to address a few of these questions. The reason I left VTrader was that there was a major regulatory problem that occurred there and when I found out about it, it was quite shocking. I don't want to go into details here. It had nothing to do with me but it really reminded me that you have to be very very careful who you do business with in this industry. VTrader rolled in new management and changed the core of the firm. I'll just leave it at that. As far as my background, I have traded equities, options and futures for over 15 years. My background is more in options then anything else. But back in the day, I traded up a storm at Worldco in NY trading listed equities. I spent a great deal of time posting on a tape reading thread here on ET breaking down the ins and outs of properly reading the tape. I still trade options and I don't need JBO leverage to trade them prop so I can trade them in a retail account. Same with futures. Stocks are a different matter. Most of you know, or maybe not, I have been working on a market neutral spreading strategy with ETF's. It's simply not feasible to execute this strategy in a retail account, even at IB. So prop is necessary. I also have no interest in trading remote. So Bright fit the bill as far as having a trading office in Chicago combined with the JBO leverage to execute this strategy. Also the the right rates and other resources. Not to mention the K-1 vs 1099 for stock. As far as my comments regarding equities being dead, they pretty much are. Especially for scalpers or pure directional traders. Most of the equity firms have folded or gotten into the education business. Now to be fair, Bright was not my first choice. I talked to several other firms. One in particular who is run by a friend of mine here in the Chicago area. I got really annoyed by the lack of openness and transparency of most these firms. They kept changing their numbers on me and at the end of the day I had to ask myself a very important question. Do I trust them? I didn't. I can't do business with people I don't trust. No matter what they are offering. Remember, the snakes always offer the best deal. That's the only card they can play. At the end of the day, I've known Don for 10 years. Everything I needed they had. Will this be the best fit or the perfect fit? I don't know. But I got tired of haggling with the other firms. This might sound bad but there really are very few firms left in this space. Almost everyone has left the business. It's tough out there. I'll leave with the famous tagline from the "X-Files", trust no one!
Above line was the best Thanks a lot Mav for being so open about your position and sharing your experiences. I always learn from your posts. I wish you best of luck and great success with your market neutral ETF strategy. Have wonderful profits this year.
I have to ask, just out of curiosity. I'm sure you talked to Echo. I mention them quite a bit in my posts sometimes, but I am mainly with them because my local group is with them. I'm just wondering what your thoughts were.