I thought I'd list a collection of quotes that traders have told me about Don Bright or his opening strategy. Also, he has a contention that traders don't call direction and I feel I'm very good at that, so I'll include quotes about that. I'll not list sources but you may find them here on Elite or on the web or in some cases they were from personal friends. Quotes are just estimates, I don't remember them exactly.
On Don Bright
A trader I respect to the utmost said this,
"If he were so profitable why would he need a pikers 25k?".
A day trader I highly respect said this,
"Don Bright is the real deal. If you just do exactly what he says."
Another
"Don Bright is one of the good guys."
On the opening only strategy
"Ask Don how many times his daughter blew out her account trying that."
"The opening only is another gimmick. I knew guys who made millions doing that who won't try it today because there isn't any money in it."
"Yes, some NY firms specialize in that."
On calling direction -- this is rather important to me because I excel in this.
A trader I respect to utmost said,
"Most of the traders (I know) at Chicago firms focus on directional trading."
Don himself has a negative view of calling direction and calls is gambling.
Maverick said,
"All the Chicago firms are doing spreads/pairs just Bright focuses on that more." I find this at odds with what my friend said about the Chicago firms, an expert on that. So, Maverick if we can get more info then that would be very nice if you can expand on that. Maverick also suggested that using a hedged directional plays were effective but not the pairs trading for mean reversion.
A quant I know said,
"I'd be surprised if there significant edge in pairs because that's been around for years. Probably have to look elsewhere.."
A professional full time systematic futures trader said,
"Pairs has a very low rates of return."
Maverick also said,
"Oh really Don, you made money trading stock or was that arbing options?
---
Collating all the information together, my best guess is that Don Bright is a very good broker -- above the rest but a broker. There doesn't seem to be a lot of confidence in their proprietary strategies. I think it is a very good question why they claim to be the floor trader model when it is not obvious what type of floor trading benefits they have, i.e order flow in the pit or whatever and why they claim to be a prop firm when they don't provide all the firm capital. They claim the floor trader model but floor trader means you get CME seat right? It has to mean something. It means you are in the pit. I don't believe Bright provides free CME seat?
The evidence seems to suggest the opening only strategy sometimes work and sometimes doesn't. It used to work better in the past -- probably has a huge tail risk associated with it. I doubt many of the best traders are making their profit from that.
One more thing that is interesting while Don says "we risk our capital" basically on you, the truth any losses come out of your pocket. So what is very interesting is that if you choose this strategy then basically you are risking your money on it when even Bright doesn't consider it valuable enough to keep exclusive to themselves. Basically you are trading a strategy that they are giving away and don't trade completely. So, in other words you take the first 25k of tail risk. Very interesting and quite at odds with what they claim.. you take the first 25k tail risk, they take the rest. This is not exactly what the promotional literature sounds as like. I also find it a good question why Bright wants the 25k if they are such great traders. It is a good question and I know Bright has talked about 10k (on here) but every time I email him about that then he explains that is only for select cases.
At any rate, if such simple methods really worked that well then I find it very odd that I spend my life time become the best at reading the market when it only it took the ability to set limits at the open. Also, it would make all the other traders who do own research like Tudor look very foolish too.
Look forward to discussion on the opening strategy, % of directional plays in prop firms, etc.
On Don Bright
A trader I respect to the utmost said this,
"If he were so profitable why would he need a pikers 25k?".
A day trader I highly respect said this,
"Don Bright is the real deal. If you just do exactly what he says."
Another
"Don Bright is one of the good guys."
On the opening only strategy
"Ask Don how many times his daughter blew out her account trying that."
"The opening only is another gimmick. I knew guys who made millions doing that who won't try it today because there isn't any money in it."
"Yes, some NY firms specialize in that."
On calling direction -- this is rather important to me because I excel in this.
A trader I respect to utmost said,
"Most of the traders (I know) at Chicago firms focus on directional trading."
Don himself has a negative view of calling direction and calls is gambling.
Maverick said,
"All the Chicago firms are doing spreads/pairs just Bright focuses on that more." I find this at odds with what my friend said about the Chicago firms, an expert on that. So, Maverick if we can get more info then that would be very nice if you can expand on that. Maverick also suggested that using a hedged directional plays were effective but not the pairs trading for mean reversion.
A quant I know said,
"I'd be surprised if there significant edge in pairs because that's been around for years. Probably have to look elsewhere.."
A professional full time systematic futures trader said,
"Pairs has a very low rates of return."
Maverick also said,
"Oh really Don, you made money trading stock or was that arbing options?
---
Collating all the information together, my best guess is that Don Bright is a very good broker -- above the rest but a broker. There doesn't seem to be a lot of confidence in their proprietary strategies. I think it is a very good question why they claim to be the floor trader model when it is not obvious what type of floor trading benefits they have, i.e order flow in the pit or whatever and why they claim to be a prop firm when they don't provide all the firm capital. They claim the floor trader model but floor trader means you get CME seat right? It has to mean something. It means you are in the pit. I don't believe Bright provides free CME seat?
The evidence seems to suggest the opening only strategy sometimes work and sometimes doesn't. It used to work better in the past -- probably has a huge tail risk associated with it. I doubt many of the best traders are making their profit from that.
One more thing that is interesting while Don says "we risk our capital" basically on you, the truth any losses come out of your pocket. So what is very interesting is that if you choose this strategy then basically you are risking your money on it when even Bright doesn't consider it valuable enough to keep exclusive to themselves. Basically you are trading a strategy that they are giving away and don't trade completely. So, in other words you take the first 25k of tail risk. Very interesting and quite at odds with what they claim.. you take the first 25k tail risk, they take the rest. This is not exactly what the promotional literature sounds as like. I also find it a good question why Bright wants the 25k if they are such great traders. It is a good question and I know Bright has talked about 10k (on here) but every time I email him about that then he explains that is only for select cases.
At any rate, if such simple methods really worked that well then I find it very odd that I spend my life time become the best at reading the market when it only it took the ability to set limits at the open. Also, it would make all the other traders who do own research like Tudor look very foolish too.
Look forward to discussion on the opening strategy, % of directional plays in prop firms, etc.