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This is a very typical arrangement. Not unusual at all. This doesn't make the soldier immune to punishment. It just means that they will not be tried and sentenced in foreign courts. They are subject only to the US military justice system. That is almost always a specified condition...

I like Ron Paul, but if he wins Iowa, he hands Mitt the nomination. RP beating Newt in Iowa would be a late Christmas present to Romney. Also, while there are many great things about RP, I think he would be much more potent as Secretary of Treasury, and from there wage a war against the FED...

Absolutely DO NOT become an investment adviser! If I remember correctly he trades futures, and the fee structure of an investment adviser is not what he is looking for. He would probably be looking to form a CTA or CPO. Good thing about a CPO is that you are right about finding 10 people...

OP, Firstly, most of what Heech has said is pretty spot on. I've been where you are, so I'll offer up my 2 cents. FACT: You'll probably eventually find a crazy gun-slinger willing to seed you $100K on a completely unproven discretionary futures trading program, BUT the time required...

AFAIK, those numbers are high. For funds that size it is actually more around 10-20% over anything more than a year or two. If you have a verified source that shows large fund returns in the 20-60% range then please provide a reference. According to Barron's top 100, there were only 6 funds...

I would be talking more in the realm of $25MM AUM domestic and about $20MM off-shore, but we'll see how things play out.

I think we could probably come up with a weighted scale that would indicate the inherent risks with the bigger institutions, but as was mentioned previously, until regulations change, it still comes down to faith that your FCM is holding your capital in the correct places.

Well according to IB, funds in US segregated accounts are limited to domestic debt instruments. Not that I think that US bonds are perfect, but just that I think that there would be a much more drawn out collapse of the US debt market. Any thoughts on Newedge. I've gotten some pressure...

Yes, absolutely amazing call Swan... I too had considered this thread to be pointless theoretical discussion until now. This has made me do a bit more investigation into Interactive Brokers, just to double check things. Just in case anyone was wondering, here are some highlights...

Any legitimate Fund Manager or CTA will not be able to provide numbers on performance expectations on a public forum. You must be vetted as a potential client and given a proper disclosure document.

This is true as a generalization, but not on an individual basis. This business is just like all others out there. You charge what you can in order to maximize profits over the long term. If a fund is performing like a mutual fund, which happens to be about 90% of them, then clients are going...

There is no problem in doing this from a legal standpoint, it just won't satisfy larger clients. For them, it isn't a matter of pretending to work at a fund, but rather that many won't even consider investing in a pooled fund with only proprietary performance. They want to see real money...

Yes, audits are something that can be done any time, and aren't even necessary. There are two reasons to get them. 1) You'll be making claims about returns, and some clients will want to see proof that a third party has confirmed those numbers. 2) Regardless of how well you've prepared...

OK... understand that you just made everything much harder on yourself. You'll fall under SEC regulation for pooled funds. There are very stiff requirements there. Not only are you going to need a track record to attract investors, but you'll be required to provide a 5 year history of all...

Really depends on what structure you will be operating under in the future, and what types of securities you trade. We'll need more info if you want a good answer to your question. --Systematic or Discretionary? --Automated or not? --Equities, Forex, Commodities, etc..? --Pooled Fund or...

Also must consider the relationship of the CTA with the FCM. If it is a small time CTA trading through Interactive Brokers he is pretty much at the mercy of the electronic trading platform for trade execution. If the CTA has >$100MM he is probably with a top tier FCM like Goldman...

Well, I didn't think they were insanely high commissions, but they are higher than yours. About $4.00 RT. Some trades have an admittedly small profit target. My strategy can perform perfectly well with an average profit of about $100/contract. ($100 profit - $4 commiss) less the applicable...

LOL... Before coming on board, almost every client asks, "So, how exactly do you do it?" My answer: "Well, first, the program has both a systematic and discretionary element to it.... blah.....blah.....blah.... for 5 more minutes." Heech's answer: "Beat the market into submission...

I'm just trying to figure out how you overcome the commissions. At my trade rate I lose about 5-7% of profits to commiss. And I have about a 9:1 win:loss rate. You are either almost always right, or your profit targets are higher than mine. Or you're in Forex?!?

Whoah!!! 12,000/month. Yes, that would be maddening to manage. You can make it simpler though, and I don't think that $5MM+ is obscene. I get at least 10X the number of potential clients with a CTA than I would've with a CPO. But we are in different worlds. If I get 500rt/month I'm...