I spent last weekend in Chicago with a large group of traders.  It was a wonderful group, quite an international group.  We had individuals from Germany, China, Taiwan, Switzerland, Croatia, and more.  I was pleasantly reminded that there ARE individuals out there who have exceptional trading skills and manage themselves just fine in the financial markets.  This blog entry is dedicated to the retail trader.

On the brokerage front… my favorite retail broker remains thinkorswim.  PFG was popular with many of the traders.  I also think quite highly of Interactive Brokers.  Rumors of a high frequency service for retail are out in the press. 

In terms of markets… the crowd was largely focused on simple approaches towards US futures markets.  Very few even understand options strategies.  Little have interest in stocks and even claim that stocks are harder to “grasp” than commodities.  They all seem to be smart enough to stay away from the “forex” buzz.  And, I didn’t run into anyone who was playing around with any thing too complex or exotic such as high-frequency or exotic derivative or complex interest rate products.  Very few intraday traders were represented.

Popular references from the weekend:

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