Tower Hill Trading Agreements

Discussion in 'Prop Firms' started by traderCND, Jul 27, 2012.

  1. I inquired about Tower Hill and they sent me their Agreements. First, you must fly out and spend 2 weeks on their trading floor (your expense). Then you start with odd lots. But check this out:

    -Payout at 80%, payable 60 days after the end of the month

    -25% of all payout amounts will be withheld as unvested, and will vest after a period of 18 months, subject to:

    The provisions of the Trader Agreement
    Trader’s maintenance of a Risk-Adjusted Minimum amount of unvested pay. The Risk-Adjusted
    Minimum will be calculated as the greater of $35,000 or 3x Trader’s greatest negative net P&L
    (as calculated according to the above rate schedule) during any consecutive 3-day period over
    the prior 12 months.
    A maximum drawdown of 33% of the highest unvested balance during any quarter.

    But here is the best part:

    Any vested amounts shall be paid to Trader during the calendar quarter following the vest date. Notwithstanding
    the above, Tower Hill, in its sole discretion, may determine to withhold payment of any vested amounts if such
    payment would have a material adverse impact on the financial condition of Tower Hill or would otherwise not be in
    Tower Hill’s best business or economic interest.


    Are they serious???

    Also:

    In recognition of the training provided by Tower Hill to Trader, during the term of this Agreement and for a period of one year after this Agreement has been terminated for any reason, Trader shall not actively trade equity securities or any other related financial instrument for the proprietary account of any person or entity other than Tower Hill, nor shall Trader actively trade any account if such account has been funded or leverage has been supplied or
    made available, in whole or in part, by any person or entity other than Trader.

    Trader acknowledges that Tower Hill has provided, and will continue to provide, substantial and valuable training, education, and related costs to Trader including, but not limited to, training in and access to the Confidential Information. Trader further acknowledges that such activities are of considerable value to Trader, the value
    of which cannot be readily quantified. As a result, Trader acknowledges that in the event that Trader breaches Section 3,
    Section 4 or Section 5 of this Agreement Trader shall be liable to and shall reimburse Tower Hill for the following amounts, which are acknowledged to be in the nature of liquidated damages and not a penalty. Trader shall reimburse Tower Hill the amount of:

    a. $30,000 in the event that the breach occurs within one year from the date Trader commenced trading for Tower Hill;
    b. $20,000 in the event that the breach occurs between the first and second anniversaries after the date Trader
    commenced trading for Tower Hill;
    c. $10,000 in the event that the breach occurs between the second and third anniversaries after the date Trader
    commenced trading for Tower Hill

    Bottom line: They will pay you 55% in 60 days of what you can make on your odd-lot trading. Then in 18 months if they feel like it they will pay you the other 25%. And if you decide to leave you can't trade anywhere else for a year...or else you owe them $30,000!! Seriously, I am not making this up...PM me and I will email you the Agreements.
     
  2. From my understanding this company provides its own capital to someone that it will mentor who has graduated from a top university and plays sports.

    If you have your own money you can just trade futures or stocks. Obviously if they train you and spend money on you, they don't want you to then leave and trade for someone else so this agreement protects them.
     
  3. TheBlackHand

    TheBlackHand Guest

    It's a joke.

    1. You cant enforce any agreement that stops an ex-employee or contractor from working for someone else.

    2. Any mentorship program is usually over hyped. Success comes down to an individuals dedication and ability, not the skill or 'magic system' of a mentor at some shill/prop firm.

    Overall, this is a typical agreement of a poor prop house. They are simply exploiting gullible youngsters and their desire to be a trader - and the youngster end up taking a poor emotional trade as a result.

    No good trader would ever take this particular trade EVER.

    As for 'good university and good at sports' remark, well if you fell in to that category, then I think the contracts of Citadel or Getco etc would be more appealing somehow.
     
  4. buzzie77

    buzzie77

    The company is on the up and up been with them for a while, all contracts read differently, so far can't complain.
     
  5. From my understanding, you start out at trading 5-10 shs, good luck making money doing that, thats why its no capital up front.
     
  6. Bump
     
  7. dealmaker

    dealmaker


    Aren't you being unreasonable? Unless you are part of the 1% of the top 1% you are not going to be making a living the 1st year of trading anyway, so what does it matter how many shares they let you trade?
     
  8. Good luck learning how to manage a trade when your max size is 5-10shs
     
  9. GOOG1492

    GOOG1492

    What is the difference managing a trade with 10 shares versus 1000 shares?

    If you assume in your head 1 share = 100 shares, there's no difference.
     
  10. Agreed
     
    #10     Apr 2, 2013