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>I'd appreciate good or bad input from current/former customers of any of
>the SOES firms,
> such as All-Tech, Broadway, Block Trading, Momentum Securities, Self
>Trading Securities,
> -Brooks
I looked into it more than a bit. I called around and read. We also
visited two SOES shops in the Boston area.
One shop told me and a friend, in separate interviews, that they have many
successful traders who switched from the industry that we're in. (We're
each in totally unrelated industries, so it sure sounded like they say that
to all new recruits.) When I asked to speak to even one of the "successful
traders", the owner literally yelled "No", then regained his composure and
politely asked if he could call me back. He didn't, and refused to accept
any further calls from me.
The other shop touted the amazing results of an enormous percentage of
their traders, but were vague about the exact numbers involved. Keeping in
mind that their back office operations track your equity and exposure like
a hawk, they certainly must have these numbers at their fingertips at every
second, yet they acted as if it's something that they don't know for sure.
My friend and I both felt that the SOES shops sure sounded and smelled an
awful lot like a scam. I could be wrong, but I had a gut feeling that they
were up for making money from customer turnover, as the basis for an
ongoing business. We avoided getting involved.
Keep in mind that, at least when I checked this out 4-8 months ago, the
SOES shop game was a completely discretionary trading concept. I.e., at
that time there was practically no technical analysis and absolutely no
system testing or trading available on these machines.
While traders must always be willing to consider playing games that most
people don't succeed at, I found the SOES game particularly objectionable.
It wasn't easy to find anyone willing to say they were making money, except
for the brokers who wanted me to play. And absolutely, positively No way
of quantifying the truth of what others were claiming. I don't know about
you, but that's too much for _my_ stomach.
-Paul
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