lol yes who's going to give someone 30-100 mil buying power if they're not in an office? the guys making the huge huge money trade at gs,morgan etc no doubt. but i don't think anyone running around posting on et has much to worry about
That is what your implied. And speaking of knocking one's spelling and reading, why are you using ain't in your writing ?
decimalization surely has changed everything.... good insights, interesting conclusions... there really is a story here guys...
actually this sort of thing used to be quite common, and still goes on today. they used to be called Boutique Firms, now they're called Hedge Funds. when one decides to take one's skills and do this, they usually have to partner with others to handle the front office and mid office as well as back offices, while they concentrate on running the trading desk. They quickly realize they have recreated the full investment banking model instead of their objective boutique firm. What has happened to a number of traders is they open an office so that they can get out of the house instead of being there all the time, and take their business over to their FCM or other clearing agent and become either a subsidiary of that irm or lease their clearing services accordingly. so this really isn't that far fetched....
Well, well, here I am agreeing with Mav once again...but with a couple of caveats. While it is true that most remotes average about 75% of the income of average office (rough numbers), often times it's because a great number of remote traders simply trade part time (while keeping their "day job"). That being said, our top traders are all remote at this point in time (except for my brother of course). One has never been in an office and is up nearly $2million YTD. The others have had office experience. So, overall, starting off in a successful office, with the right people is obviously the best move. At some point you'll be able to nearly duplicate the same performance. We do our best via daily communications with our traders prior to the opening to keep everyone up to speed, and we have a couple of "all day squawk" boxes for certain groups. Another comment about a trader from Goldman starting a group of their own away from GS...you must realize that most of these traders are not fully discretionary people making decisions on their own...there is a lot of teamwork and a lot of Company wide arbitrage going on here. We have a guy who spent 5 years at Lehman, made good money, and is now getting ready to start a group over here...we'll see how that goes (I'm pretty optimitistic at this point). So much depends on the individual trader/manager, as with all office situations. Another point (hard to keep with this thread, LOL). Someone said something about Firm profitability with an office vs. remotes....well, since there is an unlimited amount of remote traders, with little overhead, it equates to overall number of traders and shares of course. We have a bigger "nut" with an office in most cases. Back at you all, Don
Well mav I speak from the experiece of owning a prop office and having lived in Greenwich and worked in La Jolla. The guys with good records atract money no problem, it seeks them out. They choose to live in interesting places. One of my friends got funding for his golden colorado office by making a few road trips. You do not need to sit in La Jolla to find money. The pockets of money are in the financial cities.
For those who want a prop shop in Dallas as I stated earlier pick a date, place and time and meet on putting a plan together that makes sense to any of the major prop shops and see what comes out of it. I'm sure there are owners of existing shops that would be more than happy to provide guidance and input to make an office in Dallas successful. Their in the business to keep traders profitable so the office will survive. If it makes sense they will take you up on it. One suggested date would be the next AFTA meeting in Sept. Folks could meet before or after in the hotel lobby or bar area and discuss the initial steps. AFTA is full of brokers and manager members and some of them would probably sit in if given a heads up. Of course many of them would rather you just use there existing services but there are a handful of hedge fund managers that attend as well that are always open to discussions. I know Southwest Securities has a big presents at the meetings and on the board. I don't know if Don is coming back this year to do another presentation or not. If so and those who want to start a shop could probably get an audience with him. I found Don at the last meeting to be nothing but a professional. He spent a great deal of time answering side bar questions after the meeting and during break. I have to admit for as long as this thread has gone on people have managed to remain civil which doesn't always happen. Just my two cents worth and according to today's business section inflation now makes it only worth 1.21 cents. Good luck and good trading. Bsulli
I think a number of people are missing the fact that once a trader is profitable, and making decent money, then he may not want to go to the office any more. I don't know many people who actually enjoy their daily commute, whether it be in NYC, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, etc. The opportunity to work from home, and continue to be profitable, is very appealing to many people. Who wants to "waste" up to a couple hours a day commuting? Other traders (in an office) can be a "distraction" to some traders who want to block out the background "noise". And anyone who's ever traded in an office knows that there can be plenty of that noise.