Back in the day, riskware was shared between Hamilton, Ottawa, Calgary, Kelowna and Victoria as part of the 'United Exchange'. (I think vancouver could see victoria but we couldnt see them) I think it was late 2004 (mnx explained it once) when the first miln trades started. In May 2005 when i started, we would all crowd around riskware at the end of the day to see how much sikhan (ottawa guy) made. I remember at least a few times seeing 5 digit days. Hamilton was already off the riskware at this point. I remember watching riskware intraday and seeing people get in and out of big share lots instantly and their blotters just going up up up. A few times guys in our branch would make over a g doing it. One trader from our branch was in ottawa during either may or june (cant remember) and he made the top 10 of all of swifttrade with 18k, i think sikhan made 72k and was the first master trader! How laughable 18k is to make the top 10 now, times have changed. Then in sept after i graduated i started doing it too. Fagging 1 penny stacked up on shit like PFE, DPH, MU, SCH pounding out 500k shares a day for 1000 bucks. In those days orders would buy the bid and sell the offer, never be algorithmic, and generally have a lot to move. It was free money at its finest. Since then the game has gotten infinitly harder from what ive heard, and guys i know that still make big dough dont really have to use miln that much. I think it saves their asses from taking massive hammers from time to time, but they have other ways of moving shares. In general though I think it was good for the canadian prop industry as a whole. It opened doors for many people, including me, and really raised the bar, challenging what was possible. So the key to swift success? Just the competitive drive and desire to make money that made everyone apply in the first place
We have got smarter in the way we execute our orders, i remember when i first started and i would get a larger block order to fill, it was so easy for us traders to get out of the order at a decent price and make a few pennies, it was easy money too us also but then shit was happening we werent getting filled as often and had to almost chase the stock to try to fill the order cause you guys had found us, it was a real bitch. the guy who was in charge of my desk would complain every morning about it. Like I said congrats to those who milked it for what its worth and apparently still do, but it goes hand in hand i guess you complained about the market makers and we'd complain about you, and all is right in the world of trading once again.
Lehman Brothers, I'm trading options now (natural gas), but I was in equities when I started, looking to start my own market making firm when i have a few dollars or when my visa runs out.
I hear Haifa branch in Israel is doing the best now...making SERIOUS cash what i don't understand is why their traders dont move to Swift locations in Canada where they would make more money??
What I dont understand is why are the other prop firms looking at this and not doing something about it? I like swift and all, but I really think that they need competition in the international arena... for the traders' sake.
Ouch is right !! In Canada they are getting 65% at Swift on the top end of a bonus plan they have....the good traders that is I don't know how two different pay models could exist like that within one firm ?? Bottom line is if a trader is getting 12% but pulling serious bucks out of the market....why not just move and get 65% ?
Where's he going to move to? Swift is paying what the market will bear. If a competing firm set up in the same city offering 30% payout, Swift would match them pretty quick. All Peter Beck has to do is give a guy a chance to make more than the average wage and they'll keep showing up.
I don't understand your point.... if traders are making say 100k/month and getting 12% of it at a Swift location in Israel.....why wouldn't they move to a Swift location in Canada and get 65% ? in one month alone that's a difference of 53k to their bottom line