Speaking of silicon valley, their probably is a business idea there for someone that wants to work with emerging software companies. You set up one of these trader farms and you use software from and up and coming provider. The trader won't care and the software provider gets their product out in the marketplace and develops their brand.
depends what trading software platform. there are different tiers, and goldman sachs and blackrocks out there are all proprietary, couldn't come even close to approaching the kind of computing power they have to make a dent on their hft programs. it'd take the equivalent of 100+ traders with $10M all-in, all day, trying to cut in on their positions to make any kind of dent, this is high speed, serious database crunching stuff, all in real time. and yeah, i already thought of it...
OK, so I decided to test out Patak on it's Combine starting next week. I figure if I can make their $150/day average and break $13K, I'll consider switching out to futures. All the big money is shifting to futures anyway and will probably continue until the Fed makes up it's mind on interest rates. I'll keep y'all posted here with my daily results. I'm sure you're dying to see how I do. LOL. http://www.finalternatives.com/node/13723 Hedge Funds Burned By July Outflows Sep 3 2010 | 12:36pm ET Hedge funds continued to hemorrhage assets despite strong performance in July, according to a new report. Investors yanked $2.9 billion from hedge funds in July, TrimTabs Investment Research and BarclayHedge said. The outflowâthe industryâs second-straight monthly setbackâof 0.2% of total hedge fund assets left industry assets at their lowest level since November at $1.53 trillion. âHedge funds posted a positive return in July, but they did not regain the ground they lost in May and June,â BarclayHedgeâs Sol Waksman said. Things look even grimmer for funds of hedge funds, despite a proportionally smaller outflow, according to TrimTabsâ Vincent Deluard. âFunds of funds are in a bad way,â he said. âThey posted only five inflows in the past 25 months.â One of those months was not July, when investors pulled $670 million from funds of funds, or 0.1% of total assets. Things were not bad across the board, however. Commodity trading advisors alone took in $3.9 billion in July, the strategyâs fifth-straight inflow.
I still think they're making some cash off this "game", but relative to their trading profits of the futures firm (Jesus, wheat alone is a home run), I can't see how it's a scam. But then I see the bimbo model walk on to the screen like some virtuaporn site... Yeah, I'm looking at this sideways. I'll post my results in a journal every Friday.
I tested the software out, was up about $2500 at the end of the day trading just the the S&P contract, and decided not to do their "test" or pay their fee. They refused, said I had to pay the fee and do 4 weeks, so I told them to fuck off. Last week they sent me three more emails under three different names of staff members, one that said a "scout" would contact me directly to fill one of 12 open trader positions they current had open, so I replied and they responded again pushing me to go back into the test. It's a scam, no doubt about it, I just needed to confirm it for myself and indirectly anyone that searches for Patak on this site and Google. Caveat lector.
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: @pataktradingpartners.com Date: 24 September 2010 16:33 Subject: follow up To: Hello, Thank your for your previous interest in the Commodities Futures Trader position at Patak Trading Partners, LLC. We would like to let you know that we currently have 12 trader positions available. If you are still interested in this position we would like to hear from you. We would be happy to answer any questions about the position and put you in contact with our trading scouts. Best, Jennifer Patak Trading Partners, LLC. Chicago Board of Trade Trading Floor 141 W. Jackson Blvd. Chicago, IL 60604 Office: 312.252.9753 Fax: 312.341.7666
I doubt this is a real person, and if it is, I can't imagine going through life with a last name like that. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: <melissa@pataktradingpartners.com> Date: 28 September 2010 10:34 Subject: follow up To: Hi, My name is Melissa Footlick and I am the Recruitment Manager for Patak Trading Partners, and I will be addressing any future questions you have about the Commodities Futures Trader position from now on. The following information should help answer some questions you may have about the position and interview process. In order to be hired as a trader, you must successfully complete our 4-week trader Combine program. All candidates who complete the Combine and meet the required criteria will be hired. We would like to move forward with the interview process and invite you to our Combine trading program to see how you trade in an active live market. The Combine program is currently being used among a handful of 'pilot' universities nationwide and is useful in assessing potential new traders. This division of Patak Trading Partners was created this year for the purpose of evaluating new recruits and gaining a feel for each recruit's trading style. The program serves in place of an interview in our scouting process. Performance in the Combine is the most important factor in whether or not we will move forward with a potential trader. A recruit may participate in the Combine multiple times. Patak Trading Partners will review each Combine separately. Poor performance on an initial Combine will not affect a review of a later Combine. The Combine has been proven to serve as a useful learning tool, and on average a recruit's performance will improve dramatically over time. Successful completion is defined as showing our scouts you are a consistent, profitable, and disciplined trader by finishing the 4-week program with a daily trading average greater than $300 per day. Recruits who successfully complete the Combine will be hired on as a live Commodity Futures Trader. Once hired we provide you with a live futures trading account with the same trading parameters as your Combine. After a month of remote trading we will extend an invitation to trade from our desk on the trading floor of the Chicago Board of Trade, pending performance. Our scout team would like to evaluate and monitor your performance as you trade in the Combine. Please click the link below which will direct you to sign up for the 4-week Combine. Enter Patak Trading Partners as your recruiting firm when you choose to enter. Doing this allows the Combine fee from our pre-selected recruits to be a deposit, which will be returned after successful completion of the Combine objective. The deposit allows us to separate the gamblers looking to get lucky on each month's Combine from the serious trader who can complete the objective. If you do choose to continue with Patak Trading Partners please review the link below. Brian Welsh is our firm's scout and will be monitoring your performance as you go through the Combine. We are excited to see how you trade in a live market. If you choose not to continue with the tryout, I do thank you for showing interest in our firm. If you have any questions that you would like to discuss with us, we would be happy to schedule a call with you next week. We are available to speak with you between 10 am and 4 pm CST. All the best, Melissa Footlick Combine: http://www.topsteptrader.com/enter_combine.html ; Also, we want to point out that trading can be emotionally strenuous, and therefore it can be difficult to get selected as a live trader. You will gain a large amount of market experience by participating in our Tryout or entering the Combine. Many recruits have used this market experience as a resume builder going forward in their career. -- Melissa Footlick Patak Trading Partners, LLC. Chicago Board of Trade Trading Floor 141 W. Jackson Blvd. Chicago, IL 60604 Office: 312.252.9753 Direct: 312.212.0516 Fax: 312.341.7666 http://www.pataktradingpartners.com http://www.topsteptrader.com
CQNC, I don't quite follow why you went from thinking it couldn't be a scam to fully believing it is a scam. correct me if i'm wrong. their criteria in selecting a trader is if one completes a 4 week tryout on a sim. you only tested out the software for one day and didn't enter their 4 week tryout. so that means that they're a scam? i'd appreciate a little more explanation b/c on their website it says one has to complete a 4 week tryout regardless of your trading background/expertise. TIA.