1. Atlas is a 3rd party. - My grandmother is a 3rd party - doesn't make her an expert and neither is this guy 2. I don't see any sponsors or banners on Atlas site which is good - does anyone even go to this site? If they did he could sell advertising. 3. The guy is a trader who lost money to MF Global Uh, when is losing money at MF Global a good thing - how on earth does this make him an expert 4. He is a fund manager, knows finance My personal acccount is larger than what he manages - fund manager is a relative term.
If you are looking for financial security, Advantage Futures is the right futures broker to look at. They are extremely transparent and their financials can be seen on their website: http://advantagefutures.com/
I am not quick at all. I am a customer of a FCM at the bottom too. I withdrew half my money the day I read the Atlas Ratings. I wanted to act first... Then I started to look at their ratings and different criterias and compared it to the CFTC numbers and the usual ratios people are using to judge the security of your funds at one FCM. I realized I had overreacted. And moreover, even according to Atlas Ratings, the list now is totally different than last week as the new datas from CFTC have been released...
Atlas Ratings created their own formula unapproved by the Regulators. There is no formula to determine "Fraud" in advance. It is also possible that the President of the #1 Ranked Clearing Firm on the Atlas list is hiding out in Bora Bora right now with 50% of the Customer Segregated Funds & who is to know ?? The Regulators have to create new policies & procedures to help prevent this from happening again... http://www.google.com/search?q=bora...wHSuLTzCA&sqi=2&ved=0CH8QsAQ&biw=1680&bih=959
The futures business is built on integrity, relationships and trust. Velocity futures could be next in my opinion. Senior managers have been less than honest with me about certain aspects of their business. If a firm cant be trusted to be honest with the small things, they will not be trusted with the big things.
Atlas did open my eyes, Zchartist. Atlas was pretty damn accurate on PFG. I think its a good place to start. We need more rankings like Atlas. Nice bora bora images though.
Canadian brokers are unable to accept U.S. clients because doing so is forbidden by the CFTC. A few Canadian brokers (e.g. Friedberg) do accept U.S. clients via a U.S. subsidiary but then you are in the U.S. regulatory framework and are not eligible for Canadian insurance.