ok hopefully my reply goes through. I sent a reply but it would just hang. I guess it would send email and than nothing.
First check out this thread here.
http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=819
I started it about LLC firms awhile back. It's how I learned of Echo. Traders here I think have realized I am very happy with them even becoming a manager for a new office soon in San Diego.
LLC's aren't SPIC insured. This is very true. There was a firm about 2 years ago Harbour Securities that went under due to some of the trading practices of that firm. One trader was trying to control a stock. He would buy it at 20. It would go down to 17 so he would buy 100,000 shares and than again and again and again trying to keep the price up. I think he was long something like 800,000 shares at 7. It was obvious he was buying into some serious selling. Meanwhile he was short a few thousand shares of RMBS for a few days during the bull market run which he held for days and days thinking it would come back. (I think we all remember what RMBS did)
No LLC would ever let a trader take something like that on now. Daytrading.net was a division of Harbor. They split off from them because some of the traders didn't like what they saw the LLC doing. I have yet for them to reply to any emails I sent them. No LLC will let what happened to Harbor happen. Echo's managers have 80% of their networth in the company. I've watched as Jeff installs $3600 dual Point to Point T-1's in the Arizona office. That is 2 of them, with different providers coming out of different points in the office in case a construction worker takes out a line the other should be intact. A firm planning on leaving wouldn't be investing in that type of expense for their traders. Echo takes it personally if the trader can't trade due to the connection. Yes it's a lot more expensive to have this. If Echo were to go under the managers would follow by losing a huge portion of their networth. This is why LLC's have strict risk control. They limit your # of shares per stock, # of open positions, # of longs and # of shorts, and limit the amount that they will allow you to hold overnight. This is to protect the firm. There is also risk insurnance for the firm. This is for the firm though and not the trader. If you open an account with Echo the forms aren't few. It's a friggin book. I'm not kidding something like 500 pages. It's all about the risk controls that the firm places on their traders to protect themselves. NASD has also taken a part to protect the members. They heavily regulate LLC trading firms. That is one of the reasons why traders at LLC's require a Series 7 license. A trader who has a criminal record for a felony or fraud wouldn't be allowed to trade at the firm. You should see the pile of paperwork the NASD requires them to file monthly and quarterly. Echo has so many risk controls in place it would take 80% of their traders to want to break the firm to pull them under. 10 traders couldn't do it if they tried. I don't consider my money at risk with Echo this way.
Read that thread and reply back here. I am happy to tell you more about Echotrade.
The website for anyone's information is.
http://www.echotradeonline.com
Robert Tharp
my message board for anyone interested is
http://communities.msn.com/rtharpsland