Know when you are turning PRO

[littletwig]

Quote from Anekdoten:

Well anyone taking this business seriously would use multiple brokers. Personally I use three, two on a daily basis.

Good point though

Anek

Point taken, thanks Anek.

Why does Tradestation require a separate account for futures/forex/eq-options? IB customers can trade from one account.

Which brokers do you use?

 

[QuantPlus]

Quote from alex.samant:

isn't it pretty weird that when a post about turning "pro" actually degenerated into a nonsense discussion...?

It started with your trite, nonsensical post.

I would define a Pro Trader...
As someone who consistently makes as much money as an engineer or accountant... > 60-70K/year...
Because that is your Opportunity Cost.

Anyone making $10-20K or in that range...
Is not a professional...
But what sociologists term a "subsistence level gambler".

 

[Anekdoten]

Quote from littletwig:

Point taken, thanks Anek.

Why does Tradestation require a separate account for futures/forex/eq-options? IB customers can trade from one account.

Which brokers do you use?

Tradestation and IB for trading, UBS for investments.

Anek

 

[maxpi]

Quote from austinp:

<i>"Ya IB is pretty solid, I've had a few hicups with Tradestation though."</i>

Since 2005 I've used Mirus broker, Dorman clearing and Ninja - Zen-Fire combo.

Never once have I lost connectivity where it was on their end. A few times I had the platform lag or freeze when tech issues were on my end.

Any time I need the trade desk, one or two rings has a live person with my account info (and every single client) on screen in front of them. Trade desk = risk management has every active account visible in real time at a glance. No need to ever put me on hold, etc... it's all right there.

If electronic platform goes down, I can be offset on the floor as needed. Really, there is little that can happen in the markets or inside my office that cannot be hedged or closed within minutes, no lag or hassle with poor customer service.

I hear about issues other traders have thru brokers with poor desk help (or none at all) and things like that. Cannot imagine trading with inferior service, no reason to in this day & age.

Disclaimer: no affiliation or renumeration with Mirus of any kind.

That makes more sense than the dual broker thing. IB has had their outages recently with posters here on ET saying they did not know if they had a position or not. If you can't find out what the position is you can't offset it with another broker. The telephone service becomes paramount at that point and if it is nonresponsive well......... you are thrown on the sacrificial fire of averages... sometimes it could work out for you and sometimes it could be against. The problem with that is the black swan event, one big event against your account could make up for all the commission you saved with a cheapie outfit... one solution to that is to have option insurance in place to protect against just the black swan and depend on averages to balance out the smaller stuff. The two good choices I see are 1) cheapie broker with no meaningful telephone help and pay for options or 2) have a great brokerage and pay the commish... I would feel/sleep better with the great broker and actually, a person could have a great broker AND the out of the money options positions come to think of it.

 

[version77]

Quote from austinp:



version, we've exchanged pleasant emails in the past where you self-admit you enjoy combative conversation here.

Well, that's a nice lie. Do you have any others?

 

[Bearbelly]

You know when your turning pro when taxes become a problem.

 

[version77]

Quote from austinp:



I'll stick with one solid broker and make the very, very infrequent phone call when needed. I've never had an outage (none) yet (knocking on veneer wood) in nearly three years, which is something the IB guys may not be able to say.

Okay, here is where Austin mentions IB, yet in his post above he
says he knows nothing about IB or has any opinion on them.

Right...

Nearly 3 years he says since he has had an outage.

Murpy's law says the next one is right around the corner...

Take it from the PRO, you only need ONE broker. And btw... it
has to be Mirus...lol... cause they be sooooo.... good... uh huh...

 

[austinp]

<i>"Well, that's a nice lie. Do you have any others?"</i>

'Hi
Glad you got my message. Hope you figure out who... Best trading wishes to you also... D(withheld) (version77)

**

Well, I have this (edited) email in my "Sent Box" from one year ago, Nov 2006.

If that ain't you and someone was pretending to be you from here at ET, no problem then with me proceeding to post full name and email address right here.

Is there?

 

[version77]

Quote from austinp:

<i>"Well, that's a nice lie. Do you have any others?"</i>

'Hi
Glad you got my message. Hope you figure out who... Best trading wishes to you also... D(withheld) (version77)

**

Well, I have this (edited) email in my "Sent Box" from one year ago, Nov 2006.

If that ain't you and someone was pretending to be you from here at ET, no problem then with me proceeding to post full name and email address right here.

Is there?

You can post what you think I wrote here but don't post my name
and my email address here you stupid asshole.

What a shithead. If you post my real name and email address I
will get Baron to kick you out of ET forever... you stupid punk...

 

[version77]

By the way Austin Passamonte, why don't you use your REAL NAME
anywhere on the net?

You post my real name here I will come looking for you so we
can have a nice talk... punk..