.....maverick74...thats exactly what I thought when I read that too....this week alone I've gotten resume's from three former, (and one soon to be) Shoney traders..... rttrader1 -
OK, well I had some friends that worked there and they said 80% of the traders there are gone. It just seems like the same process Worldco went through.
lets see, schonfeld is "no where near going under"...hummm from 1100 traders to under 30 at the most.....LOL..... Lets see,,,,all the traders that were partners are pretty much gone....HUMM, Most of the Successful traders are no longer with schonfeld....HUMMM yep...you correct....schonfeld is not close to going under at all. Schonfeld is now trying retail accounts out from what i understand...so that may be true that Schonfeld has re-invented itself....from prop to retail. But i must say....Schonfeld was honorable in paying out the defered comp.....to every single trader who had one coming to them, no matter the size of the ck. Schonfeld did not pull the shit WORLDCO did. So, if its true that Schonfeld is making a come back...At least you know Steven Keeps his word...and in this business your word is everything.
very true that your word is everything, and the ownership at Worldco ultimatley didn't have this integrity. But it is not the case at all that Schonfeld has only about 30 traders. They have hundreds. And no, I'm not a Schonfeld trader. Just trying to keep the facts str8.
I can't really figure out the schonfeld thing either. They seem to have made some bad decisions with heartland and broadway. I can't figure out what they really got from those firms. As far as providing an opportunity for ex-Worldco traders I think that is great that they would step in this environment and be willing to take on all those people. Although some rave about their training at the firm, they were like everyone else and failed in a big way to change trading strategies with the times. They too took a beating for many months, closed offices, and fired traders. However maybe the remaining traders did ok with the market rally but I have not really heard. What is totally uncalled for is the fact that Worldco was recruiting for new traders with ads in the paper all the way up until the end. It sucks for anyone to lose money in the company but what if you were this new trader recruited from a newspaper ad to trade there. You put your money in the firm a week ago and all set to go only to find out a week later your money will not be refunded too you. Now that is shady.
It would seem that as more and more prop firms are offering remote trading opportunities for licensed traders and requiring smaller initial deposits for remote traders than just a few years ago, firms such as Worldco which focused their business around large and expensive offices might be at a disadvantage. I know that Worldco did offer remote trading opportunites, but it did not seem to be a major focus for them. It would seem that by eliminating the cost of leasing computers and office space, a firm could offer much better commission rates and reach traders over a larger geographical area. This would allow them to reach persons in parts of the country away from major cities and even recruit traders who may need to work a salaried job, or maybe work on an advanced degree, at least part of the day initially...as they develop their trading skills. Also during periods when the market offered fewer good opportunites and traders volume dropped significantly, firms with fewer expenses would be a lot more likley to weather the storm. I have recently seen examples of firms like Assent which obviously has many offices, promoting some good remote trading opportunities. Is a greater push in this direction what the future for this industry entails? Of course there are advantages to trading from an office, such as learning from successful traders, but are these advantages worth the extra cost to the firm, especially at places where mentoring and cooperation between traders is not the norm?
If there were good traders left at Worldco and Hartland, and Broadway.....why wouldn't Shoney give them a home? It must be a little demoralizing for the traders being canned on a continuing basis, but hey....this is a tough business. I hear they are not doing much of any training anymore, what is there to train for? The veterans who can eak out a living trading this choppy upwards biased market don't want others crowding them out of trades. Any Shoney traders here who can confirm what is going on?
worldco traders are being offered jobs at schoenfeld which is solidly capitalized. deal is not as good as worldco but worldco payouts were ridiculously high. no bd could make money at those rates.
This is the key point: Go into most so-called "prop" offices and what you get is a chair and some (perhaps) good equipment, and leverage. There is very little interest in training or mentoring amongst the other participants. Most established people have figured this out - if there is no sharing of information because there is no incentive then all you really are being offered is leverage and if you have the funds this is not of interest. For new traders a real job as a real trader trading the firms money and being supplied with a lot of training and mentoring is what is required - just like at any other job. WHen the company puts an investment of time and money into a new recruit it then has much more interest in your success. It appears to me that many of these prop/daytrading firms pitch to new or newer traders: when they are put into a near vaccuum their odds at success are not maximized.
You make a huge point. I'll bet that the top pro/prop firms have already been implementing this strategy. The trading firm(s) that will be the ultimate survivors in this challenging business (in addition to maintaining competitive commissions, trading platforms, etc.) will be the ones that best accentuate the benefits of trading at selected offices around the world as well as cultivating their expanding base of remote traders.