So I Got An Offer...

[Degen]

from a currency trader. He showed me audited financials that says he has made 8% a month for the last two years. In November over 40%. He says I can have a 'managed account' at his broker where he will have power of attorney to trade my account. He gets 25% of profit. I'm to invest 25k+

Thoughts?

[AceHigh]

If he can make 8% a month why does he need you to invest?

If it sounds to good to be true it probably is.

If you give this guy power of attorney, what's to stop him from stealing all of your money?

[KaneKungFu123]

If this guy is in Thailand, then run!!!!

[Sniper]

[ QUOTE ]
from a currency trader. He showed me audited financials that says he has made 8% a month for the last two years. In November over 40%. He says I can have a 'managed account' at his broker where he will have power of attorney to trade my account. He gets 25% of profit. I'm to invest 25k+

Thoughts?

[/ QUOTE ]

Here's some questions...

How well do you know him?

How many other clients does he have?
Is he registered?

Assuming he has several managed accounts, how does he allocate trades to each account?

Which broker is he using?
What type of reporting will you receive?

A typical deal like this would be for 1% of assets and 20% of profits.
Also, even though he will be managing the trades, you should understand his trading philosophy/plan!

Finally, make sure you understand the risks of currency trading, and that you are prepared to lose the entire 25K!

[Evan]

I do not believe that any FX trader in the world returns 152% annually, let alone the one that offers you a deal so suspect that you felt compelled to post it here.

[Sniper]

[ QUOTE ]
I do not believe that any FX trader in the world returns 152% annually, let alone the one that offers you a deal so suspect that you felt compelled to post it here.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why not???

Check this link for results of a 24 hour Trading Competition (http://www.tradingfloor.com/24-hours-trading/trader-ranking-24-hours.aspx) .
(Note: the "," is a ".")

I believe that page refreshes every day with the latest 24hr results.

[Evan]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I do not believe that any FX trader in the world returns 152% annually, let alone the one that offers you a deal so suspect that you felt compelled to post it here.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why not???

Check this link for results of a 24 hour Trading Competition (http://www.tradingfloor.com/24-hours-trading/trader-ranking-24-hours.aspx) .
(Note: the "," is a ".")

I believe that page refreshes every day with the latest 24hr results.

[/ QUOTE ]
I am not saying that no one can return an amount that would annualize to way more than 152% over a day or even a year or ever 5 years. I'm just saying that I wouldn't expect someone to return 152% next year.

Show me a page of data from 30 years and then we can talk. 24 hours of data is worthless. It's like showing me 20 hands from Poker Tracker and arguing that that's your true win rate. It's a joke. 10k hands would be a joke, just like one year would be.

[Sniper]

Evan, here is what you said...

[ QUOTE ]
I do not believe that any FX trader in the world returns 152% annually...

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
I am not saying that no one can return an amount that would annualize to way more than 152%...

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm just saying that I wouldn't expect someone to return 152% next year.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just because you can't do it, doesn't mean that others can't!!!

Don't like the 24hr contest, try this annual one... Robbins Wold Cup Challenge (http://www.robbinstrading.com/worldcup/standings.asp)

Those results are meaningless because they don't say how many people participated in the contest. I was just in a blackjack tournament where the winner had a return of 2000%. Does that mean that there are blackjack wizards that have mad skillz, and I should give that guy my money to play with?

To OP: At absolute best, this guy is a skilled trader and will, on average, beat the market by 10 points/year. I put a less than 1% chance of that being the case. More likely, he is either a) a lucksack amateur who's done well, and won't beat the market next year, or b) a scam artist. You didn't say where this guy was located or who it was that audited his returns. I don't see any reason why you should have to give him "power of attorney" over your account, and this in particular raises red flags for me. A professional would have an investment vehicle set up where you could deposit directly, like you would with a mutual fund. If you do pursue this further, BE VERY CAREFUL WHAT YOU SIGN, or you could wake up one morning to find he has legally cleaned out all of your accounts.

[Evan]

[ QUOTE ]
Evan, here is what you said...

[ QUOTE ]
I do not believe that any FX trader in the world returns 152% annually...

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
I am not saying that no one can return an amount that would annualize to way more than 152%...

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm just saying that I wouldn't expect someone to return 152% next year.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just because you can't do it, doesn't mean that others can't!!!

Don't like the 24hr contest, try this annual one... Robbins Wold Cup Challenge (http://www.robbinstrading.com/worldcup/standings.asp)

[/ QUOTE ]

This has nothing to do with whether or not I can do it and everything to do with the long run being really long.

For example:
http://img482.imageshack.us/img482/1046/longrun9kv.th.jpg (http://img482.imageshack.us/my.php?image=longrun9kv.jpg)


If you want to make a bet regarding this guy's return for 2006, I'll gladly take it. Set the over under at 152%. I'll take the under.

[Sniper]

[ QUOTE ]
At absolute best, this guy is a skilled trader and will, on average, beat the market by 10 points/year.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is a currency trader he's talking about... triple digit annual returns are not that unusual!

[Degen]

[ QUOTE ]
If this guy is in Thailand, then run!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]


/images/graemlins/grin.gif /images/graemlins/grin.gif /images/graemlins/grin.gif

Why, these guys are damned honest. I got off the boat in Koh Tao and he was like "WHEUH JU CUM FUM, U NEED LOOM, JU VANT I TRADE BAHT JU, TAXI!!"

[Degen]

A friend of mine is using this guy. He is about to setup his managed account and referred me. I'm very skeptical (probably overly so) of this kind of thing. He's very smitten on this idea.

I'm going to go back and ask him Snipers questions and see what comes of it. He told me his broker but I can't recall and I didn't recognize it.

I doubt I'll be doing this now but will post the answers to those questions when I get them.

Thanks for the input

1. This is a scam, so I'd avoid, but...
2. Make sure to check with the auditor to make sure the financials are real
3. Get references
4. Check his CRD

[DesertCat]

[ QUOTE ]
1.
2. Make sure to check with the auditor to make sure the financials are real


[/ QUOTE ]

And if he answers the phone at the auditors offices, then for sure it's a scam. This is (allegedly) how the Bayou Capital guy hid his fraud, setting up his own phony accounting firm to "audit" his own results.