Nice comeback? The man's lying about having a fundamental strategy that produces those returns. If you all weren't so gullible, only if he told you which stocks were in that portfolio and what proportion of them were invested in the fund could we see passed those lies. Now, doublet, which stocks did you invest in to produce your returns?
Would be nice if that were so. You are ignoring the fact that half goes to taxes, and business and living expenses eat a good portion of the rest.
The point here isn't whether his returns are real or not. The purpose of this thread is to learn what an individual trader needs in order to seed a hedge fund/start up his own firm. That is knowledge which I, and I believe most of us here, can certainly benefit from. It's not like he's bragging about his returns, unlike some other posts I've seen on ET during my short time here. I don't understand why you are trying so hard to prove he is lying, or how that is relevant to the topic at hand. And 50% returns (or whatever figure he posted) certainly isn't impossible, especially during the credit-crunch years. Luck is a factor, of course, but you also have to be a good, disciplined trader to actually realize those returns.
CPO:A CPO is an individual or organization which operates a commodity pool and solicits funds for that commodity pool. A commodity pool is an enterprise in which funds contributed by a number of persons are combined for the purpose of trading futures contracts, options on futures, or retail off-exchange forex contracts, or to invest in another commodity pool. http://www.nfa.futures.org/nfa-registration/cpo/index.HTML CTA: A CTA is an individual or organization which, for compensation or profit, advises others as to the value of or the advisability of buying or selling futures contracts, options on futures, or retail off-exchange forex contracts. http://www.nfa.futures.org/NFA-registration/cta/index.HTML
A CPO is a Commodity Pool Operator. Think of a mutual fund manager except in the futures markets. A CTA is a Commodity Trading Advisor who can either advise clients on futures positions or trade a client's account using a power of attorney form that gets filed with the broker. I don't give any advice. I trade for clients. As a CTA you never take possession of the money so there is much less paperwork involved. As a CPO you do take possession so the paperwork is seemingly endless and you're always dealing with accountants and attorneys. Running a hedge fund really took the fun out of trading for me. When I switched to the CTA setup trading became fun again except for when the clients get nervous when I take a wallop every once in a while, and I definitely do
Thanks for the replies. Based on some credible comments and messages I've received, I am incrementally less hopeful of being able to raise any institutional money in the near term. I suppose I may get lucky and find some one to invest a few mil with me despite the fact that I lack any organizational infrastructure, because my returns are very good, and because they happen to find me trustworthy. However, I am increasingly lead to believe that this scenario requires a bit of luck on my part. If any more people with some experience raising capital can add additional insight, it would be greatly appreciated.
As I've said before, if i raise a few mil, it would not be for the fees, it would be to help get my name out there. Also I don't see what a prop firm will offer me when I already get 7x leverage through IB, which ammounts to several million already on my capital of 0.73mm. I have no need for that level of buying power anyway. I hear what you say about needing a certain amount of AUM before most investors start noticing you, though.