You said: "$25 grand to blow"...come on....when they waste that in 3 months by paying ridiculous fees charged by your own admission in the "bait and switch" tactic that you acknowledged. Some become good traders, some do not...but at least our people don't waste $5000-$10,000 per month in greedy, excess fees charged by their firm. And yes, I am sure we have met at some time or another, but like so many, you choose to believe what you feel is true, rather than the facts sometimes. If you added up the money, you have probably $250,000 put up in fees and "holds" with your firm....why not ask them for it?
Note about "Self-Clearing" for those who read this. When a firm chooses to self clear, they have a gigantic overhead or monthly fixed cost to cover. They need to keep high "numbers" to attempt to cover these high, fixed costs. When you have the tremendous "economies of scale'" of being with a group of high profile, profitable companies (SLK, Goldman) working together, we can keep our VARIABLE costs low, so we don't have to get desperate trying to pay all those bills or paying long term leases. We could have self cleared years ago, but we prefer to keep our costs low, and not have to get into a "gas war" just trying to keep the doors open.
Again, just a different business model. And, I will show our financials to prospective traders so they can see for themselves what they're getting into, and our 10 year record shows a growth rate of approx 40%...
Self clearing sounds good, but when we explored it way back in 1982, and researched the JBO (Joint Back Office) arrangement, etc. , we found it better for all involved to be part of strong and growing business.
I am not going to expend too much energy on this right now ...I want to be at my best for the new traders coming to school tomorrow.
We can exchange "barbs" or we can discuss facts some time if you like. I am trying to keep it civil. Good Luck, and thanks for participating, it should help make new people do their homework about trading firms and the people involved...and that's a "good thing."....(and that was not a barb, just good information, IMO).
