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JP905

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Hi guys,

I have been working for a prop trading house in London for almost a year and am looking to cut back on those so called 'facility fees'! So i have made some inquiries about the costs and procedures to set up.

I have been talking to people at Global Futures in USA and I would be getting a good package from them, trading platform, Risk management, clearing, tech support. I have also had a look at a few charting software and real time data feeds.

Just wondering if anyone could give me some pointers, advise and stuff to look out for. Is it realistic for me to move away from an arcade to home trading, bearing in mind I don't get much support from the firm. I know people say you need to be in that environment to trade, but other than that?

I look forward to your responses.
 
JP905 said:
Hi guys,

I have been working for a prop trading house in London for almost a year and am looking to cut back on those so called 'facility fees'! So i have made some inquiries about the costs and procedures to set up.

I have been talking to people at Global Futures in USA and I would be getting a good package from them, trading platform, Risk management, clearing, tech support. I have also had a look at a few charting software and real time data feeds.

Just wondering if anyone could give me some pointers, advise and stuff to look out for. Is it realistic for me to move away from an arcade to home trading, bearing in mind I don't get much support from the firm. I know people say you need to be in that environment to trade, but other than that?

I look forward to your responses.
Click to expand...

I'm currently assessing the GS Trader platform from Global Futures. Order execution is fine once you have it set up to your liking, the charts are quite basic the main problem being that you only have a day or two of data on 5 or 15 minute charts so its no use for backtesting. I am thinking about maybe getting prorealtime charts and just use GS for order execution. This may add a bit to the cost but its still a cheap setup compared to what you will have been paying.

Global's commission and margin is very competitive I think. I have to say they have been very responsive to support requests and I have read reviews elsewhere that say the same.
 
pboyles said:
I'm currently assessing the GS Trader platform from Global Futures. Order execution is fine once you have it set up to your liking, the charts are quite basic the main problem being that you only have a day or two of data on 5 or 15 minute charts so its no use for backtesting. I am thinking about maybe getting prorealtime charts and just use GS for order execution. This may add a bit to the cost but its still a cheap setup compared to what you will have been paying.

Global's commission and margin is very competitive I think. I have to say they have been very responsive to support requests and I have read reviews elsewhere that say the same.
Click to expand...

Oh ok, I was looking at the Xtrader Platform (TT), but have to get a charting software with it, i know it will push up the costs but just looking for a good setup, and as you rightly said, its still cheaper than what I pay now!

How long have you been using Global? I have been speaking with them for a few weeks about this, and I quite like their support (maybe its just as I am prospective client!) I was thinking maybe there would be problems because they are in the states, but if you havent had any and I cant seem to find any in reviews, so I suppose it would be ok. Will keep an eye on it anyway.

Commission are competitive and i like that they are negotiable! If you go with a better quote from another broker, they will match it at least!
 
JP905 said:
Oh ok, I was looking at the Xtrader Platform (TT), but have to get a charting software with it, i know it will push up the costs but just looking for a good setup, and as you rightly said, its still cheaper than what I pay now!

How long have you been using Global? I have been speaking with them for a few weeks about this, and I quite like their support (maybe its just as I am prospective client!) I was thinking maybe there would be problems because they are in the states, but if you havent had any and I cant seem to find any in reviews, so I suppose it would be ok. Will keep an eye on it anyway.

Commission are competitive and i like that they are negotiable! If you go with a better quote from another broker, they will match it at least!
Click to expand...

I've only been looking at them for a couple of weeks. I saw very positive reviews on elitetrader.com which is why I looked at them. There has always been someone available on their live chat support during UK hours any time I needed it.

Regarding charts I think Prorealtime will work out at less than $100 a month unless you need a lot of diverse data from different exchanges. They do a free one week trial with live data.
 
pboyles said:
I've only been looking at them for a couple of weeks. I saw very positive reviews on elitetrader.com which is why I looked at them. There has always been someone available on their live chat support during UK hours any time I needed it.

Regarding charts I think Prorealtime will work out at less than $100 a month unless you need a lot of diverse data from different exchanges. They do a free one week trial with live data.
Click to expand...

Prorealtime? I was looking at e-signal which was around $250 a month. I would probably be alright with that as I am just trading LIFFE and Eurex. Would just be looking at those two. I will have a look at them, thanks for the heads up on that.

How is Risk dealt with at Global?
 
There are some settings where you can limit your daily loss but essentially you will be managing it yourself (as far as I know)
 
25 euros a month for LIFFE futures, 49 euros for level 2 Eurex plus 20 euros platform fee.
 
That was the total I arrived at based on what you said. If you look on their website you can select what you need and it will total it up for you
 
Funny was looking into Global myself - and after trading in London arcade think i got ripped off as a local day-trader...didnt really need TT plus big desk fees!

Slight higher round trip costs, but not to make up for the big desk fee chunk - when i start clipping that 1000 lot in the emini i might change that thought though...

Will give global a check in coming months
 
Just out of interest because I'm not involved with this, but what is "working for a prop trading house"? It sounds like you're trading your own accounts, so why do you say you're working 'for' them?

Just semantics maybe? But how much are their facility fees? You go through your own broker, right, so the only thing your prop shop provides is hardware technology and deskspace?
 
Have you guys looked at using Ninjatrader as you can download their
histotical data. You can get them through Global, Velocity, Amp etc all
for $60 a month.
 
I might end up doing that, the GS platform doesnt allow you to scroll back on the charts more than a day or so on 5 or 15 minute timeframes which is pretty poor.
 
pboyles said:
I might end up doing that, the GS platform doesnt allow you to scroll back on the charts more than a day or so on 5 or 15 minute timeframes which is pretty poor.
Click to expand...

Ive been using it for a few months now and it just keeps gettin better.
You can even switch to tick charts as well if you use them.
 
Do you have it through Global and if so do you get the low margins with that platform?
 
pboyles said:
Do you have it through Global and if so do you get the low margins with that platform?
Click to expand...

I got it through Mirus and they do the $500 margins on the eminis and
currency futures. I think Global is exactly the same but they do $300
margins on the eminis.
 
AMP futures is a good bet to go with. Super helpful guys over there. And can't complain about Global either. Ninja Trader is definitely worth its weight in gold.

If you call up AMP futures ask for Kevin O'Grady. He's a great guy to deal with. Let him know I sent you (Quinn).
 
I've recently opened an account with Infinity Futures having contacted all the other brokers mentioned in this thread. They were all good, Global coming in a close second, but Infinity clinched it on a combo' of awesome customer service, good comm's and a fast 'n user friendly trading platform. It's early days but, so far, I'm a very happy bunny indeed.
Tim.
 
Thanks for your replies and comments everyone. Great stuff, i havent actually sealed the deal with Global yet, but have looked into other brokers that you guys have mentioned. Infinity and AMP is one that I am looking at. I am currently trading with a prop house and yes it is my own account! This prop house encourages spread trading, but in this current market I would rather trade outright, but they cant help me and i guess its time to cut costs. Found out that my fixed costs would be lower even though comms would be slightly higher. But in the long run i think i will benefit from trying out my own strategies without anyone questioning what I am doing.

I had one more question for you all.... I havent ordered my desktops yet for trading, and this is what I am thinking of getting:

Trading:

One Desktop (looking at HP, something powerful, can anyone recommend anything else?)
2 Screens

Charting/Info

One Desktop (also HP, slightly lower in Spec than the trading...)
1 Screen

Looking at Sigma Squawk and e-signal for the charting

What do you guys think of the proposed set up? Just havin a few difficulties picking a desktop, any recommendations?

Any comments or advise would be helpful, cheers lads...
 
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