London office share

[Eye of the Storm]

Hi,

I am looking for an office to share or another trader(s) to club together to get an office.
Anywhere in Zone 1 or South Zone 2 is ideal for me, but will be flexible.

Anyone have anything or interested?

Regards,

Mark

 

[Eye of the Storm]

UPDATE: I have looked at a few offices ranging between 500-700 pcm. Big enough for 2/3 desks easily.

Anyone want to go halves?

 

[trader_dante]

I would be interested in this.
What area specifically?

UPDATE: I have looked at a few offices ranging between 500-700 pcm. Big enough for 2/3 desks easily.

Anyone want to go halves?

 

[Parky]

A desk is the easy part, what about the IT? getting access to the markets you want, the front end trading system you want and the quote vendors etc. Also renting space in an office is fine but what about the building management? how easy are they to deal with on the IT and communications side, what support will you get if you loose internet connections etc? How much power is available on the floor and what is the aircon like? Stick PC's and screens etc into a small badly aircondition space and you will soon find you wont be able to bare it in the summer.
By the time you add all this up you will be better off in an existing trading room unless you are doing huge size or have deep enough pockets to not care?
Its been tried and is often a very false economy.

 

[trader_dante]

All I want is to be around other traders - I don't want to work from home for a living - I don't care about how much this will cost. I can cover it.
IT is all sorted at my end - I trade SB only so need no other vendor and if it power goes, I'll use phone.
Aircon is a bonus, power on the floor is a must.
But surely that has to be cheaper than the cost of an arcade. Especially when split with another trader.

A desk is the easy part, what about the IT? getting access to the markets you want, the front end trading system you want and the quote vendors etc. Also renting space in an office is fine but what about the building management? how easy are they to deal with on the IT and communications side, what support will you get if you loose internet connections etc? How much power is available on the floor and what is the aircon like? Stick PC's and screens etc into a small badly aircondition space and you will soon find you wont be able to bare it in the summer.
By the time you add all this up you will be better off in an existing trading room unless you are doing huge size or have deep enough pockets to not care?
Its been tried and is often a very false economy.

 

[Parky]

A desk charge is usually around £ 750.00 and would include full IT support and risk management and sit you with other traders. Costs for PC's and screens are minimal but again ensure that if anything goes wrong you will have your equipment swapped with a replacement within minutes but if your PC locks up in your own office how long will you be out the market? I appreciate you can cover trades on the phone but still brokerage costs money and finding out if you have a position because your PC is locked up can cost more.
Front end trading systems in some houses are loaded for example TT for one exchange costs US$ 625.00, some houses will charge the same figure in sterling others may even load the costs but some will pass this on at costs, but it is a charge you will have regardless of wether you are sitting at home or in a trading room.
I

 

[trader_dante]

Hello Parky,
I agree with your point but my problem is that I have absolutely zero experience trading the market beyond SB'ing. I don't know about the advantages/disadvantages of different platforms or quote vendors. I've never had to pay commission costs, I know nothing about lot sizes and never had to think about slippage.
I have an "edge" in SB'ing which mainly relies on loopholes in the system to generate a lof of money. My directional trades do well but I am prone to the usual "exit early" mistake which means I rarely capitalise fully on a move.
I suggested once on these forums before that I would be willing to pay for an exchange seat just to be around other traders - but I would sit there and access my one SB company. I think I was ridiculed.
It's not that I don't want to move to the "real" marketplace - I do. But at the moment, I can make guaranteed money SB'ing that I have no proof I can do in the underlying market. And when you are taking lot sizes at minimum size $10 per tick (Crude) there is little room for mistake.

A desk charge is usually around £ 750.00 and would include full IT support and risk management and sit you with other traders. Costs for PC's and screens are minimal but again ensure that if anything goes wrong you will have your equipment swapped with a replacement within minutes but if your PC locks up in your own office how long will you be out the market? I appreciate you can cover trades on the phone but still brokerage costs money and finding out if you have a position because your PC is locked up can cost more.
Front end trading systems in some houses are loaded for example TT for one exchange costs US$ 625.00, some houses will charge the same figure in sterling others may even load the costs but some will pass this on at costs, but it is a charge you will have regardless of wether you are sitting at home or in a trading room.
I

 

[Parky]

Hello Parky,
I agree with your point but my problem is that I have absolutely zero experience trading the market beyond SB'ing. I don't know about the advantages/disadvantages of different platforms or quote vendors. I've never had to pay commission costs, I know nothing about lot sizes and never had to think about slippage.
I have an "edge" in SB'ing which mainly relies on loopholes in the system to generate a lof of money. My directional trades do well but I am prone to the usual "exit early" mistake which means I rarely capitalise fully on a move.
I suggested once on these forums before that I would be willing to pay for an exchange seat just to be around other traders - but I would sit there and access my one SB company. I think I was ridiculed.
It's not that I don't want to move to the "real" marketplace - I do. But at the moment, I can make guaranteed money SB'ing that I have no proof I can do in the underlying market. And when you are taking lot sizes at minimum size $10 per tick (Crude) there is little room for mistake.

And there is your dilemma, professional traders are not spread betting, although I know a few that do so as a sideline to their exchange trading. But to sit in a room of professional trader you must join the club, so to speak. Just as Man Utd wont suffer a Sunday league player in their ranks no professional trading room would have a spread trader in their ranks if for no other reason than as I stated most trading rooms make nothing on the sit down costs, they make a return on the trading. If you sit down spread trading how do they make money? And as you have already indicated if they load their sit down costs then you are better off going into your own office space, but if you go into your own office space you are not sitting with professional traders!
It's time to decide what you want to do, in truth you are probably at the top of the tree for spread trading. We have a huge energy exposure, 8 brokers and 14 prop traders but to join the ranks you have to exchange trade. If you are directional then no problem but if you are just exploiting a loop hole in spread betting then stay where you are because it is not scaleable.

 

[trader_dante]

Parky, I don't need to SB - that is simply the current vehicle I use to access the market.

If I had access to a Nymex Crude full sized contract, I can make money consistently with minimal risk using a method it has taken me some time to develop.

That is the angle I want to go down. However, I will need to get up to speed on commissions, market spreads, slippage, so that I can work this into my method.

At the moment, I have no one to back me and so I am reluctant to start paying desk fees and being "forced" to trade when I am new to the "real" market.

And there is your dilemma, professional traders are not spread betting, although I know a few that do so as a sideline to their exchange trading. But to sit in a room of professional trader you must join the club, so to speak. Just as Man Utd wont suffer a Sunday league player in their ranks no professional trading room would have a spread trader in their ranks if for no other reason than as I stated most trading rooms make nothing on the sit down costs, they make a return on the trading. If you sit down spread trading how do they make money? And as you have already indicated if they load their sit down costs then you are better off going into your own office space, but if you go into your own office space you are not sitting with professional traders!
It's time to decide what you want to do, in truth you are probably at the top of the tree for spread trading. We have a huge energy exposure, 8 brokers and 14 prop traders but to join the ranks you have to exchange trade. If you are directional then no problem but if you are just exploiting a loop hole in spread betting then stay where you are because it is not scaleable.

 

[TWI]

If I had access to a Nymex Crude full sized contract, I can make money consistently with minimal risk using a method it has taken me some time to develop.

Almost anybody can get access to this, just need an account with a clearer. From June 13th you can trade it electronically on CME. How long you been trading crude with this system and how much of your trading focusses on energy?

 

[trader_dante]

Twalker - I was trading crude for about six months using this. I has a phenomenal run and made hundreds of percent increase on my account.
The SB company I was using moved to E-mini crude specifically as a result of my trading - I am fairly sure of it.
This was last year - I have never tried this since but I know it would still work.
All my trading was focused on energy back then - now I focus mainly on forex and precious metals and I continually discover loopholes in SB quoting practices which allow for guaranteed wins and help me control my patience in placing directional trades.

Almost anybody can get access to this, just need an account with a clearer. From June 13th you can trade it electronically on CME. How long you been trading crude with this system and how much of your trading focusses on energy?

 

[Parky]

Twalker is almost right in so far as Nymex business is being transfered onto CME architecture however the Nymnex market membership is still required for access and for reasonable commission rates and not many houses have that membership. Without it rates are liable to be high.
Also Energy being a fundamentals driven market is much better supported in an office with a background in Energy products and ideally with an Energy brokerage desk and other experienced Energy traders.

 

[trader_dante]

Great. Now all I need is someone to back me.

Twalker is almost right in so far as Nymex business is being transfered onto CME architecture however the Nymnex market membership is still required for access and for reasonable commission rates and not many houses have that membership. Without it rates are liable to be high.
Also Energy being a fundamentals driven market is much better supported in an office with a background in Energy products and ideally with an Energy brokerage desk and other experienced Energy traders.

 

[TWI]

I started trading the ICE contract for WTI, liquidity is good enough and I just prefer to execute electronic. I clear through Barcap and they assure me access to Nymex products once they are listed. Also do emini crude on nymex which is already electronic but half size contract so more cost.