Regulator seeks to ban Swift Trade cofounder Peter Beck from securities business Dec 7, 2007 TORONTO - The Ontario Securities Commission alleges that Swift Trade majority owner Peter Beck has misled the regulator about his and his family' involvement with a Cyprus company that investigators say is Swift Trade's biggest customer. --------------------------------- Swift Trade Securities accused of fraudulent trading scheme CBC News Swift Trade Securities â which gained fame as Canada's first day-trading brokerage firm â is facing allegations that it engaged in a fraudulent trading scheme involving fictitious "wash" transactions. The complaint was filed by the NASD â the National Association of Securities Dealers. The NASD complaint also names Swift Trade president Peter Beck. --------------------------------- Swift Trade chief Peter Beck faces OSC hearing over alleged misstatement Gary Norris And David Paddon, The Canadian Press TORONTO - The Ontario Securities Commission is moving against former day-trading guru Peter Beck, alleging he misled OSC staff during an investigation into his Swift Trade Inc. equity trading platform.
As someone with a family who recently quit my well-paying job to trade fulltime, I can understand the OP's situation. In my case I had been trading successfully parttime long enough to know I could be successful doing this fulltime. I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into it. I'm not sure the OP does though -- it sounds like he's just excited about the independent lifestyle, but doesn't have a clue as to all the stress and work ahead of him. So while I think it's very unlikely he will enjoy and/or succeed as a trader longterm, I would still recommend he take some time off to give it a chance. I suspect within a few months he'll realize this is not the right career for him and go back to doing what he was doing.
Independent from work I meant of course... but if his wife is left supporting him while he loses money trading, he may soon find himself independent in other ways.
I respect your viewpoint. You mention his determination. I feel that he is captive to the environment he read about. My view is that he could have mentioned a lot more in terms of tangible influences. A lot of top B schools use pragmatic case studies and no stone is left unturned. I do not see determination. His desire did not manifest in his portfolios. Why no position trading in them? "Feeling" markets just isn't there. Aptitude is not an important thing to me. Trading and the market's operation is a crude thing at best. I looked at children of wealthy people in very priviledged situations for ten years (Greenwich, Switzerland and Philly); making money in markets is an automatic for the whole spectrum. They could operate a full S&P service in the classroom daily with no coaching after the intial ramp up. Today the PC makes averything totally possible although several platforms feeds are still required. This guy would have the aptitude just like everyone else. So what closed the door after this person made the effort that he did for 7 years. Nothing rubbed off at all and he acquired beliefs that are insurmountable to overcome by trying. A sixth former who is trading, is there at the crack of dawn, not after hours and after work. When the bundle of WSJ's hit the parking area, they were sliced and diced before anything else every day. Motivation to read and have a library is a mild non inspiring non hands on non event oriented milk toasty thing. On the other hand these kids charted daily and had a wall of annual reports arranged alphabetically and all the "news" was clipped and chroned for the FA part of making money. Back plotting was an automatic and rapid charting exercise and everyone knew who had what caharts since they did it cooperatively. I know this guy has a PC and resourses available up the yin yang, but he is passive. So why no mention of plans to learn and a business plan canned and revised about 10 times? He only knows in terms of his family plan but not in terms of his "potential job". nada and he is Bschool oriented. This is a very low pressure zone like a vacuum. He built something over 7 years and it closed the door, in my opinion Bighog is going to retire in 375 days (18 months). He only has about 8 doublings of capital left, based on his stated relative performances. Others suggest this guy proceed. This guy, on the otherhand, only has a few years (5 to 8) reserves to begin like bighog did; flushing 200 to 300K down the drain. Now at 37, in 10 years from now, he will be a dilletante at best and have no end in sight like bighog does. Bighog is going to pick up and hit the developing nations beaches; this guy is socially established on the other hand and will want to retain a lifestyle. I think the door is closed on that.
Thats the advantage of being at a prop firm like Swift. The most he can lose is the deposit he put down. Lets say 5 grand. If he trades with his own money, his own account, then he could blow through 100k or more EASY. Prop trading isnt for everyone, a 5000 dollar lesson is a lot easier then a 100,000 dollar lesson.
I think he must learn to trade first and only when he is 100% sure in his methods, he may leave the job and start trading as a career.
He should approach a stock trading boutique run by one of o'neil's proteges.I hear they guarantee 60%/Year regardless of market climate.
Agree completely. Disagree completely. While some may say this is just semantics - I don't. I hear many people say "they're going to give it a try". With this approach, they guarantee failure. From what I've seen & experienced, you must commit yourself to success. Whatever arbitrary limits that you set will be impediments to that success (ie: "I'll be completely dedicated but not on weekends"). After you reach your target results & demonstrate a level of skill / success in the mkt, then you can back off on the throttle. Until then, success will always remain just beyond your reach... (...insidiously so)... Agree. It would be wise to have some clue about what trading actually entails. Trade on sim (or w/ throwaway money) until consistently successful - then start scaling up. Typically there are 2 learning curves to climb: - one involves learning the mkts, price action, TA, etc - the 2nd involves learning facets of yourself when money is on the line. This 2nd curve is normally overlooked by most but is probably the primary cause of most failures (or at least of those who respect the mkts & do the work necessary to learn about them). OTOH, once you're well over the 'hump', money will flow in your direction and you'll wonder why / how you had so much trouble reaching this level - as now it seems so easy .... (if you read ET, you know the vast majority do not get here...) Good luck with your choice. R
You posted my picture without my permission. Now everybody knows what I look like. I am going to emigrate to the mountains of Chile, hope they have internet connection there