Birmingham.....

[adam191]

Hi guys,

There appears to very little (read no!) info on any arcades, or trading operations in Birmingham, which leads me to believe there are none. (Does anyone else find that surprising? Being the 2nd city and all).....

I'm currently in the process of movinginto full-time trading and i'm just wondering if there are any traders out there interested in setting up? Probably too small to have our own gateway etc, but even just office space and professional atmosphere would be nice. I trade UK Index/Equity derivatives but I don't fancy sitting at home all day. Too many distractions and too easy to lose concentration. Doesn't have to be central.

Email me if anyone's interested or has any ideas.


Thanks,


Adam

 

[Directional]

i havent heard of any arcades or props in Brum, and there's nothing listed in the Arcade directory on this site.

if there were a few interested in doing something, it might be possible to setup a subsidiary office working in conjunction with one of the arcades for clearing etc, though you'd have to talk to some of them to find out what the practicalities and costs might be.

 

[adam191]

Hi Arb,

Yea i did check out the directory and had a look around (wouldn't want to be accused of not checking before i post! That seems to be the most heinous crime on here! lol)....

Anyway thanks for your response. Do you think any of the larger companies would seriously consider it? It seems nuts to me that there's nothing in/around Birmingham. Any ideas on who to approach? (providing there are a few more interested parties)

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[Directional]

it really depends on how much volume you could cumulatively put through the arcade. Are you doing any decent size/volume?

if you could get a few guys together who were collectively doing say 50-100k+ lots per month, it would give you a stronger hand in asking a firm to do things for you.

 

[adam191]

When you say "lots".......?

 

[Directional]

lots - as in futures contracts/lots... one roundtrip = 2 sides or lots

 

[adam191]

Wow.....now i look so silly it's made me cringe! Lol......

I doubt that kind of volume will be possible for a while yet. Arb, would you mind if i asked you a couple of questions? If you've got a few mins to spare (which you probably haven't!) drop me an email! Only menial stuff like how you got into trading....yadda yadda........

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[smccreedy]

Hi

Just to get this back up on the board.

I'm based in Birmingham and currently trade full time using Interactive Brokers trading only FTSE and Dow Fut.

I too have always been confused as to how many lots I trade as never could understand if it meant each way, or if entering and closing was one lot and if how many contracts you traded matters.

For info I open and close perhaps 7 trades each day on the FTSE and similar amount on the Dow with all trades on one contract basis although I'm looking to double that in April, then 3 in May etc.

Assuming I open and close 7 times on the FTSE each day with one contract for say twenty days each month I figure I am trading 280 lots per month (on the FTSE Fut).

I also assume that if next month I enter and exit 2 contracts per trade this will double to 560 per month.

If this is incorrect please let me know.

The thing that has always got me is what is the advantage of an Arcade set up aside from the company / inspiration you might get there. From a financial basis I've always struggled to see the sense.

I'm self funded with enough margin for what I do at the moment and am paying £1.03 each way in com to IB ie £288.40 per month on FTSE plus £5 data fee.

As each trade's costs is made of 28p to LIFFE and 75p to IB I don't see how much money it is really possible to save by getting my comms reduced especially in light of a desk fee of maybe £1500 minimum.

Of course I understand I am really small time but as I get bigger my fees with IB fall anyway.

If I'm missing the point please let me know.

I am very interested in getting into a more proffesional environment but it looks to me like the cost of doing so is very high.

In short I'd love to see a prop firm in Birmingham but only if training support was the part of the package if not I'm happy trading from home for now.

I keep looking at taking the leap to London but not one source has seemed to agree on the right way to do it.

I'm not a Grad so would not get backed, have my own money but don't want to get taken for a ride paying for some 'training' course with the carrot at the end being an interview to go and trade and pay through the nose in fees for them.

Out of interest where in Brum are you?

Stephen McCreedy