I have never trusted IB. Probably just coincidence but I have not been able to short a few stocks lately which is unusual for them. Also the other day they didn't have DIA to short which is pretty unbelievable. John
thats very light. basically on an avg full-cost-basis 250K is 1 headcount, be it IT, compliance etc. what this says is: guys, you needed these resources in place since way back so we cld all have spared o.s. the time, nothing gained in delaying the hires... and btw if your looking at beefing up your compliance team and stay in the clear with the NFA etc going fwd, ahem, here's my card )))))))
I think you misunderstood the saying... Old traders respect the market and risk while bold traders trade like gunslingers and eventually blow out before they ever have a chance to become old traders...hence no old bold traders...only wise ones...lol It's not about how much they make but the risk they take... Now this IB seems like a non event, maybe someone from IB will chime in... Nick
No, I understood the statement and it's meaning. It's an old market aphorism. But I'm wondering to myself just how old you are, or stock777, such that you know the truth of this old saying. But one thing I can assure you of, I'm definitely old enough to have an opinion about this statement. I think it's bull sh*t. The truth is, there's a time to be bold,and a time not to be. I think an experienced trader knows the difference....and certainly an "old trader" may have the experience...perhaps as you put it, the wisdom to know when to be bold, and when not to be. OldTrader
Well, maybe its bs and maybe it aint. And maybe there are a few that took on big risk and lived to tell the tail. Much bigger crowd in the poor house. With a never ending supply of sucker money out there, even the gunslingers can have nine lives.
FROM THE GENERAL COUNSEL OF INTERACTIVE BROKERS: This is to respond to the erroneous reports, apparently disseminated by one of our competitors, that the National Futures Association (NFA) has filed an action against Interactive Brokers that somehow calls into question the soundness of the firm. This is nonsense. Here are the facts: 1. NFA has been conducting an inquiry regarding a former Interactive Brokers customer called Kevin Steele. Mr. Steele opened an ordinary individual IB account and, without IBâs knowledge, used it to operate an unregistered commodity pool. Mr. Steele lost several million dollars and his customers in turn complained to the NFA. Mr. Steele made numerous misrepresentations to IB about his account. Mr. Steele also misled his investors about trading losses that his commodity pool was suffering. 2. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued Mr. Steele in May of 2005. In its Complaint against Steele, the CFTC said that Steele âmade false statements to the Futures Commission Merchant [Interactive Brokers] that maintained his commodity trading accounts in an effort to lull the FCMâs suspicionsâ¦â Based on an inquiry from one of Mr. Steeleâs investors, IB did become suspicious and was the first to notify the CFTC of Mr. Steeleâs unlawful activities. 3. IB had no knowledge of Mr. Steeleâs activities prior to the inquiry from one of his investors. IB had no relationship with Mr. Steele. He was not in the IB financial advisor program. He was simply one of many thousands of IB individual account holders. IB has fully cooperated with the CFTC and with the NFA in its inquiry. 4. On June 2, 2006, NFA filed a complaint against Interactive Brokers. The complaint alleges that IB violated an NFA rule that prevents a futures commission merchant (FCM) from doing business with an unregistered commodity pool operator. The complaint also alleges several violations of NFA books and records rules arising from a routine NFA audit. 5. IB has cooperated fully with the NFA on this matter and expects to reach an appropriate resolution of this matter pursuant to NFA procedures. The NFA Complaint does not in any way call into question IBâs financial integrity or soundness. IB is and will continue to be a member in good standing of NFA (IBâs General Counsel is a member of NFAâs FCM Advisory Committee and the Futures Industry Association Law and Compliance Committee). The IB Group of companies has over $2.4 billion in capital and an Investment Grade rating from Standard and Poorâs. 6. In todayâs strict regulatory environment, brokerage firms routinely deal with many regulatory inquiries, on topics like Reg SHO, Day Trading rules, etc. Firms, such as IB who bring new technology and methods of doing business must observe rules created nearly a century ago that may no longer be meaningful and that sometimes cause difficulties. Our goal is to operate in accordance with regulations while at the same time offering our customers state-of-the-art trading systems at extremely low cost. We will always keep our customers informed of how we are doing. David M. Battan Vice President and General Counsel Interactive Brokers LLC
Thanks David. I am also impressed by the detail in the NFA complaint of IB's efforts at contacting and querying the rogue trader (throughout the process) about the suspect patterns of behavior.
I'm flattered you wanted my opinion. I just read the posting by IB's attorney, which denies the rumors surrounding the NFA complaint against IB. I believe IB's assurances and I see no reason to doubt them. I see the NFA complaint as the equivalent of a speeding ticket, intended to alert IB to the need to place higher priority on certain compliance areas. Reputable major futures brokers, like Merrill Lynch, have far more extensive histories, involving far worse, deliberate, intentional wrongdoing, yet without any suggestion that regulators will shut them down. IB has not been accused of any intentional wrongdoing. IB has been accused of the types of mistakes which can be expected to occur in a business making continually innovative and expansive uses of complex automation, in combination with the necessary evil of bureaucracy needed to organize their efforts. NFA complained that a fraudster misused his personal IB account to victimize his clients, and that IB should have conducted greater due diligence to detect such problems more quickly, but NFA never suggested IB knowingly allowed the fraud to continue. Technical problems with complex computer systems, and organizational problems with the bureacracies which develop them and apply them, can be very difficult and persistent, so that recordkeeping violations might not be fixed as quickly or as predictably as IB and NFA would have liked. The NFA has given IB a wake-up call, to place higher priority on addressing these problems, but this does not suggest any lack of honesty or integrity on IB's part, or any financial weakness, or any threat to IB customers or to IB's continued existence.