ADMIS - the safest FCM out there?

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bpj

Looking at the financial data for all FCMs provided by CFCT it looks like ADM Investor Services is one of the biggest.
In addition to that, they are owned by ADM, an established, large organisation with a lot of real, tangible assets which could be an important factor in case of insolvency, as opposed to other FCMs who operate purely in the financial sector.
I also reckon most of their clients are hedgers, hence unlikely to pose any substantial risk of blowing up the whole company and taking other clients with them, adding stability to the general picture.

All in all, it seems this is the safest FCM to entrust with one's money currently. I would appreciate your comments/suggestions that perhaps will allow me to look at it from a different angle
 
minmike said:
I belive the minimum is multuple millions to have an account there.
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I don't do business with them anymore. Wedbush futures covers our needs, but at my last firm, we had a few accounts there. No way to tell in advance what FCM will be the safest. Big is not always better, but IMO I would avoid the very small. Not for me.
 
No way to tell in advance but if you know that some cater more for high-risk-appetite day-traders, have little capital, have been in business less than 20-25 years and are not part of a bigger group of companies then it is better to avoid them.
 
No way to tell in advance but if you know that some cater more for high-risk-appetite day-traders, have little capital, have been in business less than 20-25 years and are not part of a bigger group of companies then it is better to avoid them.
 
bpj said:
No way to tell in advance but if you know that some cater more for high-risk-appetite day-traders, have little capital, have been in business less than 20-25 years and are not part of a bigger group of companies then it is better to avoid them.
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You should do what makes you comfortable.
 
bpj said:
Looking at the financial data for all FCMs provided by CFCT it looks like ADM Investor Services is one of the biggest.
In addition to that, they are owned by ADM, an established, large organisation with a lot of real, tangible assets which could be an important factor in case of insolvency, as opposed to other FCMs who operate purely in the financial sector.
I also reckon most of their clients are hedgers, hence unlikely to pose any substantial risk of blowing up the whole company and taking other clients with them, adding stability to the general picture.

All in all, it seems this is the safest FCM to entrust with one's money currently. I would appreciate your comments/suggestions that perhaps will allow me to look at it from a different angle
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There was MF Global, spin off from Man, the commodities house. Well, we know how this went ...

ADM is a commodities processing business and in this line of work, plenty of consolidation has occurred in the past decade or two, so is this a guarantee in principle? No. The parent group may decide to say exit (hypothetically speaking) say the sugar milling biz just as easily as the brokerage biz. No guarantee. This is not a reflection on ADM but the industry in general.
The question should be, is ADM acquiring/growing its commercial hedgers' brokerage biz.
 
I looked at CFTC data as of Dec 2016 and the most recent one as of Jul 2019. Excess net capital of ADMIS has gone up from $125M to $131M, whereas assets in segregation declined, albeit to a small extent ($4.75B down to $4.44B).
Compared to some other FCMs I was considering (e.g. Advantage Futures with assets reduced nearly by half, from $550M to $280M) it looks good. Especially that the market as a whole remained pretty stable over that 3-year period (total assets down from $171B to $167B).
 
2 totally new ET accounts? Both with very similar Nick, both shilling for a company that has hardly ever been mentioned on this website? I don't believe in coincidences
 
GRULSTMRNN said:
2 totally new ET accounts? Both with very similar Nick, both shilling for a company that has hardly ever been mentioned on this website? I don't believe in coincidences
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Nice catch considering he is talking about a firm as "one of the biggest" which is 27 in the latest adjusted net capital. Here is the top 10
Futures Commission Merchant /
Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer...................Adjusted Net Capital
JP MORGAN SECURITIES LLC .................... 20,627,352,012
GOLDMAN SACHS & CO LLC ..................... 17,672,313,547
DEUTSCHE BANK SECURITIES INC ........ 14,031,041,493
MORGAN STANLEY & CO LLC ................... 12,979,042,105
BOFA SECURITIES INC .................................. 11,167,684,996
CITIGROUP GLOBAL MARKETS INC ........ 10,422,000,125
CREDIT SUISSE SECURITIES (USA) LLC ..... 9,952,413,962
WELLS FARGO SECURITIES LLC .................. 8,324,049,249
INTERACTIVE BROKERS LLC ........................ 5,399,976,435

and ADM at 27
ADM INVESTOR SERVICES INC .........................321,112,356

Without looking at each firms balance sheet, investment policy and looking for what may be off the balance sheet such as CDOs which almost wiped more than a few on the top ten out of business, you can't necessarily say larger is better but it isn't a bad place to start.
 
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