Quote from Jreality:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that when a futures broker "segregates" the customer funds, there isn't actually an individual bank account per customer that the funds go into. It seems to me that all the money for all the customers gets put in one giant bank account by the clearing agent, and the clearing agent's internal accounting is what keeps track of the balances in each individual trading account. Is this correct? I'm just trying to understand the way things work.
If the above is correct, then who is to say that a big trader with many, many, millions of dollars at risk, levered up to the hilt, couldn't ultimately blow out his/her huge account and cause all the "little" traders to lose their money? In other words, suppose a huge trader were levered up to the hilt and nearing a margin call. Next, suppose, a flash crash were to occur and the broker's computers were not able to automatically close out the huge trader's positions, causing the huge trader to have a big NEGATIVE account balance. Couldn't that cause all the other traders with the same clearing agent to lose money due to the big trader blowing up? If not, then what would would prevent that from ever happening?
Quote from Peternam:
Looking at the account agreement , the following brokers will do
www.ctsfutures.com
www.crosslandllc.com (www.deepdiscountfutures.com , a guanranteed IB)
Any more ?
Quote from maxplanck:
[Thread: Which are the best capitalized brokers that do not hypothecate, and which offer a way to trade that is free of hypothecation through the entire order execution and delivery process (execution, clearing, etc)?]
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3384600#post3384600
Quote from Jreality:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that when a futures broker "segregates" the customer funds, there isn't actually an individual bank account per customer that the funds go into. It seems to me that all the money for all the customers gets put in one giant bank account by the clearing agent, and the clearing agent's internal accounting is what keeps track of the balances in each individual trading account. Is this correct? I'm just trying to understand the way things work.
If the above is correct, then who is to say that a big trader with many, many, millions of dollars at risk, levered up to the hilt, couldn't ultimately blow out his/her huge account and cause all the "little" traders to lose their money? In other words, suppose a huge trader were levered up to the hilt and nearing a margin call. Next, suppose, a flash crash were to occur and the broker's computers were not able to automatically close out the huge trader's positions, causing the huge trader to have a big NEGATIVE account balance. Couldn't that cause all the other traders with the same clearing agent to lose money due to the big trader blowing up? If not, then what would would prevent that from ever happening?