Quote from HunterGatherer:
Why the fixation on India or China? Why not focus on a market with a lower business cost, stable government, business friendly laws and lots of unemployed but somewhat educated people? If warm bodies and cheap operating costs are key then Vietnam might be a good idea. Also, you might be able to start your biz by striking a deal with a prop where you can get overrides without a physical location. There have to people in these countries with their own pc and connection that haven't been exploited yet.
It's always an issue when mulling over a business idea whether or not you want to go full boar into it and put up money to open an office, pay traders a draw, and get the requisite infrastructure up and running...
But, if you do a half-assed job of opening a firm or try to just recruit remote traders, your chances of success over the long-term would be smaller if for no other reason than if the traders smell BS, they won't trade with you to begin with.
Additionally, as a competitive space gets more crowded, the more shoddy established ones are the quickest to go - despite the fact that startup costs are low. Example would be in NYC. Tons of daytraders have thier own "groups" within trading firms. Sure, they make money on commission rebates, but they aren't making near what they could make were they to open an office and establish themselves as a reputable operation. But, here in the US with incomes being so high, which leads a daytrader after about three months to quit once he realizes he isn't going to get rich daytrading, coupled with very high rents, coupled with the compeitition from established firms, the risk/reward ends up on the side of just establishing a shoddy "group" within a daytrading firm - not much risk taking on trainees if you're already trading yourself.
So, my sole pt then nets out to be that I believe India to be wide open as a function of thier captive audience, and per capita income being so low as to basically guarantee that everyone wins: The Indian can make his $20 per day while churning away hundreds of dollars in commission per day. And if you establish yourself on the high-end: Solid technology, financial stability, etc, then as the field becomes increasinly crowded and margins begin to shrink, your firm will be affected less.
Just think about how you differentiate between say, SwiftTrade and Schony.
