Hold Brothers

[calibertrader]

Originally posted by fattyasids


are they really expanding? i heard they gave up some space in their jersey city office?

The space they had was too big, and was a waste of money. The new space allows them room for expansion. Plus the building has alot of vacancies, so in case they start to grow quickly again, it won't be a problem to rent more space as needed.

 

[nitro]

Originally posted by calibertrader


Greybox is awesome. For NYSE traders it has probably the quickest executions I have ever experienced, and I've worked for two other firms. The software itself is extremely stable. The only problems we have is when one of the DOT providers goes down, and there's nothing anyone can do. It's like when Island goes down, no one can use Island, and no one in the firm can fix it until Island fixes it.. But even that isn't really a problem because we just re-route to one of the other two DOT providers. Since I've been there, I haven't had any trading downtime due to software issues.

Heh,

What the heck is a "Greybox" ?? I want one!

I learn something new everyday.

nitro

 

[calibertrader]

Originally posted by nitro

Out of curiosity, would that cost be strictly the cost of running a T1/T3 into the exchange? Or are there additional costs?

It seems to me to be a no brainer either way for a firm to run that line. A [fractional] T3 PTP connection is about 7-10K a month. I would imagine that would be made by a firm in a day or two max.

nitro

There are other costs involved. You either have to be a NYSE member, own a seat, or you have to , don't know the exact term, lease a seat, which I believe runs somewhere in the several hundred thousand range.

There in the process of either leasing a line from another clearing firm, or leasing a seat. They are in the negotiating stages.

 

[calibertrader]

Originally posted by nitro

Heh,

What the heck is a "Greybox" ?? I want one!

I learn something new everyday.

nitro

It's the execution software we use at Hold. Funny name, LOL. Sounds more like a sports car.

 

[nitro]

Caliber,

Thx for the explanations.

nitro

 

[calibertrader]

Originally posted by mbg
i heard they just closed their Morristown, NJ office

so much for expansion

Like most other trading firms, they found the recruiting for offices in the suburbs, wasn't easy, and they're consolidating everything within the vicinity of major cities, where recruiting is alot easier.

 

[calibertrader]

Originally posted by BankerBlueChips
Check your facts and ask people who work there. The people that signed two year agreements in 97-01 was when the market was great. Also they were TRUE employees.... no risk and no upfront capital with a draw. Yep, almost like a real job.

Those days are gone..... just about everywhere you put up capital there is no agreement to sign. I think that if you are new and relying solely on their capital and your risk is zero..... they have every right to make you sign an agreement. I don't know a firm that sponsors traders in this manner (No risk-No capital) that would ever give you a deal without a non-compete.

As far as top traders.... What do you consider a top trader in this market should avg net for himself daily??? I think when you answer this question..... go there and look at the top traders (IN PERSON !!!!) and see if it is a reality and if it is possible to make that number. I 'll bet you'll find that the traders who have remained at Hold (albeit way down from the peak), adjusted to the market and are making some big time $.

Don't listen to disgruntled Ex-Hold traders(justified or not), cause you're not going to get an unbiased answer.

Banker

Well said mister BlueCHIP!!!

 

[Omartrading]

It's the execution software we use at Hold. Funny name, LOL. Sounds more like a sports car.


You mean like Gregg's Ferrari he got from overcharging traders???


Well, the word on the street was Tradescape.com tried to buy or merge with Hold Bro before the idiots at Etrade decided to buy them out. TS and Hold tried to pull off that MKXT scam together and look where it got them.

I thing I do have to say is that the jersey city office is very nice, but nice and empty.

my 2 cents.


Omar

 

[calibertrader]

Originally posted by Kaizen
What is the deal with self clearing. Andover does it, Hold does it, but it seem like the biggest firms still don't.

Do the firms that self-clear really pass along any of the savings to their traders? It seems to me that commissions are pretty much the same about everywhere at the largest firms. ETG supposedly is lowering their commission when they move from SLK to Instinet clearing? How is that possible with SLK being the largest clearing firm. I think they are the largest anyway.
Not positive about that.

SLK is one of the most expensive clearing firms on the street. Instinet is alot cheaper, that's why there finally able to lower their traders commissions.

 

[calibertrader]

Originally posted by Omartrading
It's the execution software we use at Hold. Funny name, LOL. Sounds more like a sports car.


You mean like Gregg's Ferrari he got from overcharging traders???


Well, the word on the street was Tradescape.com tried to buy or merge with Hold Bro before the idiots at Etrade decided to buy them out. TS and Hold tried to pull off that MKXT scam together and look where it got them.

I thing I do have to say is that the jersey city office is very nice, but nice and empty.

my 2 cents.


Omar

Look at most firms in those days, they all charged absorbent commissions, but no one cared at the time because stocks were moving points at a time. Unfortunately for Hold, they didn't adjust the commission rates down when stocks stopped moving in points. When I started in this business, I was paying close to 2 cents with tickets, and over close 7 cents for bullets.

I sat next some great traders at Worldco who were paying over a penny a share, and 7 cents for bullets, and they were doing well over 100K a day, and 20K in bullets. But even they didn't complain until the market got tougher.