Those ATLAS ratings are truly laughable. I bet nobody who works for that firm has ever traded a single lot. Would you really open up an account with INTEGRATED BROKERAGE SERVICES and Frank Lesh, a convicted embezzler before using Crossland, LLC out of the Chicago Board of Trade building?!? ....ANd good luck opening up an account at BOCI or "Stephens, Inc." What a joke. And IRONBEAM over Advantage?!! ADM is in the middle? They have $4 BILLION in *net* revenue; $42 BILLION in total assets and are predominantly a COMMODITIES PROCESSING COMPANY with physical, producing assets all over the world, especially here in the US.
It was/is a FREE magazine, essentially a slick marketing device to hook people into trading (with PFG of course). Cheap bathroom reading. Bodybuilding magazines do the same thing: own supplement companies and then promote their products within. M&F, Flex, MD. Is it no wonder that traders are often bodybuilders--a lot in common.
Holder should get thrown under the jail, in a special dungeon with Corzine and Madoff. Not that it will happen, though...
What does having trading experience have to do with analyzing the financial and fiscal data of various business entities? I'm a very experienced trader, yet I couldn't tell you jack about the inner workings of a given FCM. And it should be pointed out that Atlas had rated PFG in their bottom 5 before they blew up. So obviously their analysis methodology isn't too shabby.
It's a shame that Corzine didn't try. Still there is time. We live in hope. Maybe someone can help him. Get these two together for a game of russian roulette.
Dissolve all financial "regulatory" agencies: SEC, FINRA, NFA, CFTC. They just give people a false sense of security that the government is there to protect your money. They don't protect anything. Madoff, R. Allen Stanford, MF Global...all flew under the radar. Just like the police, they can only come in afterward to prosecute. People need to realize all of these investment firms are private companies answering only to their investors and managers. Some are honest, some are not. You invest or trade at your own risk, just like with any other business.