The east Boca office, will "merge into" the west Boca office, one office mgr. will be fired . The combined number of traders in these offices will be cut back to approx 50 from what was at one time 230 Ps. its still up in the air with the Miami office rumors say that if Schonfeld has another bad quarter more massive layoffs will come
They had from what I understand alot of very big traders in those offices. They were rumored to trade very big size and make big money. If they were doing that why are the offices closing? If they were doing that last year what changed?
That is true, they have traders who made big bucks 2 yrs ago, now their getting slammed....Schoney is real late making changes, I've heard he lost 3/4 of his cap. What is troubling is he is letting the office managers make the layoff decisions and their choices have not really made much sense. They seem to be keeping the the traders who did real well 2-3 years ago but are really getting hurt now and getting rid of the traders who are holding there own in this tougher environment
I am (as usual) late in my replies to these threads. By now another 200-300 Schoni traders have been asked to resign. Yes, I am an ex-schoni. No matter what anyone says, Schonfeld is probably the greatest place to trade as a beginer. Where else can a rookie trading 100-500 shares rub shoulders with the guys trading 100,000+ shares. Better yet, have these great traders talk to you about your trading I learned most of my trading skills from these one on one talks with great traders. They always seem to make the time to help you out. True, management was at times out of touch with the smaller trader, but they were always around to talk to. And Schonfeld himself, unbelievable. Erasing negative P&L's twice a year. ALways sticking behind and showing confidence in the traders. And where else were free lunches given to traders. Twice a year big parties for the traders and their families. Schoni made money and gave alot of it back ot the traders. I feel bad (as bad as one can feel for someone worth 100's of millions) for Schoni taking all these hits. Slow reaction to the changes in the trading caused this. I don't know all the firms out there, but I do know Schonfeld. Learning at Schoni is probably the best thing I ever did. These are skills that I know will let me trade great anywhere I go. I have my gripes with the firm, but I don't think they outweigh the positives I got from them. Opportunity in the trading industry is at Schonfeld. Where else can a doorman become their top manager earning mid 6 figures ? It's not every person that can sit next to and shoot the bull with 15-20 millionaires on a daily basis. So I guess everyone knows my opinion of Schonfeld. As far as that trader talking about gross positive versus net, this is just another example of how Schonfeld allows you make money even if you are net negative. In truth I don't really know what he was babbling about. Sounds like a frustrated trader to me. Anyway, except for Schoni traders, there isn't one place out there that would give someone a check if they were negative. the checks aren't 80-90%, but they are money that allows you to continue trading while knowing the big bucks can be right around the corner without starving to death. I tip my hat to Schonfeld for being the leader in trading firms and the company with the best and cleanest name of all trading firms. However they do it, they will be around when we will all be saying "I remember so and so firm, they were a nice place with nice guys. I wonder what they are doing now?". Oh yes, and as far as Schonfeld reneging on the payments of those kickers........I don't think so. They have never missed a payment to any traders and I don't think they ever will. The best of luck to all the guys (and girls of course) I know from Schoni, may our paths cross again.
Just one more thing. If you'll notice, there was no mention at all about Schonfeld on these boards until they started "deleting" traders. So my guess is that the disgruntled from Schonfeld have found a lot of time on their hands while they look for some new place to go to.
A great impassioned plea on behalf of Schoni. I heard he wrote a personal check this year for over 50 million to take out his partners at their cost so as not to have anyone take any losses. A standup guy. However, your point about the cleanest firm out there is offbase. Schoni had a big penalty and fine for all sorts of violations handed down by the NYSE. He had customer violations as well as other regulatory ones. There were even some suspensions of top managers -- maybe even the doorman guy? Other large established firms such as Bright with only a Colorado hassle and a few small violations and ETG with none that I could find are as clean if not cleaner.
Stockrocket, Sounds like you got canned...are they hiring any traders at present? What firms are you looking at? TB
I thought I was just write that stuff and leave it at that. What I meant by clean was not refering to SEC stuff. I don't know any firm that has never gotten any slaps. What I meant was that they are very "clean" and straight when it came to their traders. And yes, he wrote off lots of bucks so his traders would have piece of mind to trade. He is also very hands on. He even uses the same bathroom as his traders. Now that's a boss. As far as me getting canned, well, who hasn't been canned by them recently. I am not a million dollar earner, so I didn't make the cut. And yes, I am pissed about it, but so goes life. As far as where I am looking......well I got in touch with loads of places and have "spoken" to some very nice people on here that have helped. At this time I prefer not talking about where I am going. But should I choose somewhere I will share my experiences. Thanks for the concern.