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Strategies & Market Trends : SOES Trading -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Trader SOES who wrote (1543)	7/22/1998 1:17:00 AM
From: Darren	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1618

Block Trading is the absolute worse place a SOESer can trade... Although a former Block trader, I have seen much worse. Block offices are closing left and right, and the reason being is that the clowns who run Block are incompetent (at best), and downright sleazy (at worst). At best, a subjective cheap shot. At worst, slander. You want to back that up with some evidence? Most Block offices either don't have these very basic helpers, or they charge traders extra for the "service." Every Block office I have been to (2) had Market Spotter and a news feed. Both were at no additional cost to the trader. Block's daily trade reports (how much one made or lost the previous day) suck. Reports are not uniform to every office, and they are often very difficult to interpret and full of mistakes (such as overcharges on trading fees and, on occasion, incorrect execution prices). I know many, many, many Block traders who have found constant mistakes in their accounts. (And, guess what? These mistakes are always in Block's favor...) Every error I ever had on a sheet was corrected on the same day, and it was split about 50-50 between errors in my favor and errors in their favor. I was trained for free by two Block office owners. They spent a month with me, directly and indirectly, one on one. While that training may have been considered woefully inadequate, I got what I paid for. Frankly, I'm not sure you can train a trader to become a successful trader. You have to mold yourself into being a good trader, through perseverance and determination. Who can teach you that for $3,500? Bottom line: Block is a piss-poor operation. They seriously suck! Anyone considering SOES trading should look elsewhere. Who would you recommend? It would only be after hearing your answer that we have a complete understanding of your bias... Again, as a former Block trader, I owe them nothing. But this was not my experience at all...

To: Trader SOES who wrote (1543)	7/22/1998 8:09:00 AM
From: Chris Block	Respond to of 1618

wow! you can at least start with IMHO. I would love to see your opinion of market makers or order flow sellers. I can always appreciate criticism, however you give no examples of specific instances or offices that you feel have problems. If you want to vent that's fine. If you want to see change then be specific. Also some of your facts are inaccurate. Were you ever a Block Trading customer? Who do you currently give your business to now? Did they ever work for Block Trading? They deserve a huge compliment. With respect to our offices you are correct. We had in the past charged 25% after clearing and back when commissions were high ($60 per side) it was a win win for all; now we are opening offices ourselves or the only franchisees are experienced traders. The office does not technically make money, however the traders effectively pay cost (~$6.00/1000) for their own trades. They are also able to collect training fees themselves. Any interest? your other posts seem very helpful to traders; let's try to be helpful to the SOES firms as well. We're all on the same team.

To: Trader SOES who wrote (1543)	7/22/1998 10:28:00 AM
From: LPS5	Respond to of 1618

At the very least, I'd say this- For all I've heard, they (Block, and other firms like them) are out there on our side (i.e., providing the means to get into the market in a way that no one else has, and was cloistered for a long time). Let's distinguish between theory and application. LPS5

To: Trader SOES who wrote (1543)	8/2/1998 2:48:00 AM
From: Fasttrader	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1618

Dear Fellow traders. Hearing Trader SOES go off like this makes me think of one thing and one thing only. Traders SOES must be a marketing guy for a SOES firm competing with Block. Pretty pathetic.

To: Trader SOES who wrote (1543)	8/4/1998 5:01:00 AM
From: Gary M. Reed	Respond to of 1618

That post wreaks of sour grapes. What's wrong Trader SOES? Lemme guess, Chris Block stole your girlfriend awhile back and this is how you choose to "get back at him"??? For those who haven't figured it out, 99% of what Trader SOES said was untrue. I traded at Block for about 3 months and had no complaints. Very professional staff. If I ever chose to get back into SOES trading, I would return to Block in a heartbeat. Do they encourage you to trade actively? Sure! Why wouldn't they? Why do people think SOES firms should be non-profit entities? They're in this game for the same reason we are--to make money. As far as your "Bloomberg reader" suggestion, that is about the silliest thing I have ever heard of. Yeah right. If I'm in the middle of three trades, trying to concentrate on the screens, the LAST thing I need is some person barking out that AT&T just released earnings. Anyone with half a brain knows you trade off of what's on your screen--not off of some news release. As far as the "incompetent" and "downright sleazy" comments, that is BS as well. My investors were interested in opening a franchise and as a result, I had the opportunity to meet with Chris and Jeff several times. They always conducted themselves professionally and as gentlemen. Me thinks "Trader SOES" lost money after the first month of trading at Block (like most of us first-month rookies do) and instead of chalking it up as tuition, he chooses to blame Block now. Gary