Does anyone know if it's still possible to open an individual account to trade equities, futures and options with Spear, Leeds & Kellogg, now that the firm is part of Goldman Sachs? I understand that a private trader could open an account there with $250,000 to use SLK's clearing services back in 2004.
I understand your point about watning to go to GS for secutiry and REDI. However, there are other firms out there that has the same features u might be looking for. Assent is owned by Sungard and thier Anvil is better than REDI. In addition if you are really that big, put no more than 500k in your account which is SIPC protected.
Assent is a good firm, but they only do equities, not futures, don't they? The best opportunities often occur when rumors fly around about firms going under. Remember Citicorp in 1990? Should there ever be a slew of FCM failures (heaven forbid), a company's capital base and sound risk management would probably be worth a lot more. Who knows how big a hit SIPC can take in a worst-case scenario? Just don't want to worry about fund safety when blood is flowing in the streets and one should be busy making the most of opportunities available...
If Refco can go under anybody can. It would be highly unlikely that the govt will let SIPC fail. Heck even futures accounts which are not insured technically, have a pretty ok track record as far as not having the customers fail in event of bad management by the brokers. The exchanges usually step in since they don't want the bad rep. There were 2-3 big FCM failures past 5 years and in most cases the customers were made whole. I don't know about Refco though. Don't major on the minor, I think SIPC insurance is the least of your problems. Good luck
This is a list of retail firms that, last I checked, clear through SLK/Goldman. I know Shoreline and Ultra use Redi Plus, not sure about the others. I don't know if they have futures trading. Carlin Equities Grace Financial Group Lime Brokerage RedSky Securities Shoreline Trading Ultra Trader There should be links on the brokers section at this website, or at daytradingstocks.com.
GATrader Your points are sensible, and I agree with them. Serious irregularities are alleged in the Refco case. See under "Protective Shell" in: http://www.futuresindustry.org/fimagazi-1929.asp?a=1093 Toonces Thanks a lot! I'll check them out.