Looking for a seat!

[Halo]

Hello T2W
I have been in the Futures industry for around 8yrs working on the desk for brokers/investment banks executing deals for Hedge Funds/Banks.

After all those long years and early mornings I'm planning to add to the grey hair collection and trade my own account. I'm primarliy interested in trading the Bund with a largely discretionary system I've been working on for a while (the 2 main concepts being intraday levels and 15 min ranges/breakouts). It seems to remain reasonably consistent -perhaps more importantly I'm keen to give it a go - and I have all the personal life things pretty much sorted in preparation of not having a (regular) income. Medium-term I'm also keen to develop more mechanised arb'/auto-spreader system strategies on indices/bonds/currencies but 1step-at-a-time eh!

If there's anyone on T2W that can point me in the right direction I'd appreciate some input.
I've got of my ar$e and mailed/called some of the arcades and getting to speak to the right person or getting anyone to return my call is a problem unfortunately....

I'm interested in facilities/desk costs (r/trips Eurex and also LIFFE/CBOT/CME) - also very interested in joint finance/leverage/split deals - am happy to put in money with the right deal. Requirements are likely: TT/Pats, CQG/e-signal.

The benefit of your knowledge or experience is appreciated - either on the thread or via PM.

Cheers

 

[Halo]

ps. I'm London/City based- although south/west Essex could also work. Ta!

 

[Directional]

theres a big list of the majority of UK arcades in the traderpedia here on T2W http://www.trade2win/traderpedia/Trading_Arcade_Index

do you have your own capital to back yourself with? if so, you wont have trouble getting a seat at any arcade and you can afford to be choosy to make sure you get the facilities you want.

Marex might be a good place to start, with competitive desk fee and commissions but most importantly an excellent IT and office setup. Typical desk £1250 including trading PC, screens, CQG, Reuters, TV etc. Extra costs would be your trading platform of choice, Marex now have TT back in there, though you can also use Refco Pro if you wish.

Commissions on Eurex start at E0.37 per lot and get cheaper with vol, same for CME 0.68c a side, LIFFE 0.40p, CBOT 0.41c including echange fee's.

these figures were accurate up till christmas but do your own homework in case of any changes.
hope this helps

 

[Halo]

Thanks Arb'er - have started plowing through the dozen or so that fit the bill for location etc. Just a matter of getting the fees together for comparison and making some sort of value judgement on the differences. Cheers for the reply!

 

[mattbrittain]

Hello All,

this is my first post so bear with me.

My situation is this - I am a self employed Fund Manager who looks after segregated accounts, as well as a fund which is due to be launched soon. Alongside this I day trade currencies.

Currently I am working from home but would like to move back to the City, sitting alongside other traders to sharpen my trading skills/benefit from idea exchange particularly with the fund in mind which will obviously be very visible.

One avenue I have explored is applying for 'graduate' training programs with many of the arcades - I am waiting on replies. Potentially I may just try to lease a seat and trade my own funds/clients' money.

Alternatively I would be very happy just working alongside other traders/fund managers to learn as much as I can. I believe Curvalue in Canary Wharf rent office space.

If anybody has any bright ideas then please reply. I will probably start a new thread if this post goes unnoticed.

Good trading everybody.

 

[Directional]

I'd have thought the self funded route would be more appropriate for you since you can already trade.

The grad schemes will be setup to teach a particular approach and the contract and training terms might be restrictive for what you want to do in the future with your fund.

Any reason why you were leaning towards curvalue? have you been through the directory of arcades on this site?

 

[FUTEX]

Primarily because you specifically wish to trade Bunds I would suggest you try and get an interview with my boss. His name is Paolo Rossi and he is an influencial bund trader since around 1990. However we only have capabilities in London, Woking and Weybridge (none near Essex). I hope this is of some help to you.

 

[mattbrittain]

Hi Arbitageur - thanks for a speedy response.

In terms of my own trading I have been following the ACD method taught by Mark Fisher. I had pretty much arrived at the framework before I read the book, so it put some more flesh on the bones. Intuitively I feel comfortable with it - however because there are some elements which are discretionary (a good thing) - I am not 100% convinced I have the aggregate R:R for such an approach yet. It is difficult to backtest due to this.

With Schneider or other, I know they would teach a spread trading strategy with a known R:R. Therefore, I have some personal funds and would prefer to spread trade perhaps with a greater handle on payoff expectancies. I want to push the odds in my favour as much as possible and an arcade provides the insitutional mentoring/technology which would help. Up til now all learning has been self directed.

I would ultimately like to run a global macro type hedge fund, and perhaps one strategy within it would be a spread trading approach or other - this could provide another source of non correlated returns . At the moment, I am primarily from a retail background so some institutional training / experience will only help to improve my credentials. I have been running (with a partner in crime) the 'Absolute Return Portfolio' for over 20 months now, which is a global mandate, no benchmark portfolio. Factsheets and performance are tracked each month - i would be happy to forward you the latest factsheet if you provided an email address.

I mentioned Curvalue purely because I noted on their website they have desk space for hire. The attraction for me is to work alongside other traders and perhaps benefit from any training they have. Tried to work a GLG contact to no avail, and am waiting on a contact who is now at Marex in Gilbraltar.

I have just spied your photo - where are you trading? I feel I have just thrown a lot of information at you, without any quid pro quo. Perhaps you could give me some background on Arbitrageur? What are your plans?

Many thanks,

 

[mattbrittain]

Primarily because you specifically wish to trade Bunds I would suggest you try and get an interview with my boss. His name is Paolo Rossi and he is an influencial bund trader since around 1990. However we only have capabilities in London, Woking and Weybridge (none near Essex). I hope this is of some help to you.

Futex - again thanks for your response.

I have just written a (succinct!) response to Arbritrageur which outlines my situation further. I am absolutely committed to trading it is my passion. The intention was always to build a fund management business with recurring revenue streams which was the insurance policy should I not trade consistently profitably. It now has enough momentum in distribution to look after itself.

Secondly, it provides potential seeding/ a source of funds which could be used at some point to seed a fund.

Location is no problem for me at all - would it be best to email Paolo directly on a particular address?

Many thanks

 

[Bund-Punter]

Matt,

I was under the impression that you did join STA (Schneider), what happened?

 

[stebas]

Hello all,

I have been trading futures for more than 2 yrs, mainly FX futures and E-minis. I'm using my own established methods that allow me to aim at consistent results.

I have decided to make the move from home trading to a structured facility, like an arcade or a prop-shop. I'm looking for a part-backed solution: while I can start with some 20k of my own funds, I want to have the possibility to get more financing, at least within six months of trading within the firm.

Any suggestion on what kind of firm to contact and how to approach them? Is it hard to get a seat in London under these conditions? Any kind of suggestion is welcome.

Many thanks.