I will be at a team management meeting next week, by then I will have more answers. I am not surprised that we are finally doing some serious clean-ups, I am sure everyone who trade for a living know how tough this market is.
It seems like someone hit the panic button yesterday after our firm had our second down day this year. Keep in mind for a firm of our size, with all the expenses, a break even day would transfer into a substantial loss.
As I mentioned earlier in January, I am predicting a huge crack down on firms and traders, as nowadays it is incredibly difficult to put together huge numbers, and without those million dollar performers it will be harder and harder to attract new comers.
Letting people go is nothing new, we do this at the end of every single quarter, it was just the scope of this round was beyond me.
A friend of mine is up 35K gross down 15K net after 9 months here, he does excellent volume and his name was on the list of people getting cut, his team leader had to talk to our management to keep an excellent commission machine. I don't know who pushed the panic button as I can think of a lot other guys that are NOT as good as he is at this stage of the game.
Then again, I can see how the management is thinking that he may quit trading (he missed quite a few games this month) and a new guy not putting up as much gross but down far less net is better for the firm. Still, I would rather flat this guy so he can continue to put up big commissions than recruiting a newbie who is going to start with 100 shares, I really don't understand firm's perspective here.
That said, I also think a team's performance also has to do with trader's survival chance. In his case, there isn't a single net positive trader on his team, his very own team leader is getting called by risk management frequently. Versus my team with 4 net positive traders out of 9.
Can you tell me how much were the traders down (gross / net) and if they had a good attendence rate, I am trying to figure out the logic here.
Trade555:
I am ok for now, as I just got everything lowered not long ago.