While I realize I am just a lowly recruit here, I would like to add some food for thought.
In a prior life I was a registered CTA with the NFA/CFTC. What a joke. The first thing to consider is the NFA and CFTC are both over inflated bureaucracies. As with any bureaucracy, their first and foremost objectives are 1) position themselves as “required” and 2) obfuscate everything to withstand any immediate short-term bureaucratic investigation. Once that has been accomplished, they are free to “respond” to any uninformed public/governmental outcry of a need for more meaningless obfuscated regulations. Following is an example of meaningless they can be.
As a registered CTA I was required to file (multiple copies) of my Disclosure Document with the NFA/CFTC. A document that would have your eyes rolling back after the first paragraph. This document was valid for 6 months, after which I would have to resubmit for another 6 month period. Repeat as required every 6 months. The catch here was I could not legally actively manage accounts as a CTA if this was not on-file and approved. This approval process could be immediate or run indefinitely. Now the bureaucratic “job security” fun starts. I was provided a boilerplate disclosure document by my FCM to use. Approved countless time by the NFA/CFTC All I did was insert my data.
Rejected. When I attempted to seek clarification, I was only provided ambiguous responses. After numerous attempts resulting in continued rejection, I resorted to the original disclosure document. Approved immediately.
From that point forward, when ever I was rejected I just “flipped” a couple of paragraphs and the document was immediately approved.
When studying for my Series 3 I happened to retain a few key points. The primary ones being 1) if I did not actively solicit for trading funds and 2) if I managed 12 or less accounts, I did not have to be a registered CTA. Once I convinced my ego that was a good approach, I dropped my registration and only continued with “friends” accounts. Problem solved.
Back to today's problem. Here is how I am looking at these issues. To-date I have seen no restrictions on where or how many accounts I can have. The first approach to an increasing restriction that impairs how I trade is to move away from that restriction. i. e. move account off shore. There also is nothing that says I can not have more than one account trading the same currency pairs. Nor is there anything that say I can not create an artificial spread across 2 brokers. While each of these do entail a little more effort on my part, my energies are back focused on making money, not fighting the system.
With today's electronic trading, all I need is an account number/ID and password and I am trading anyone's account for them.
There are solutions. I also am a tactical weapons trainer. In this realm there is a directive I continually harp to the trainees, FOCUS – SOLVE THE PROBLEM. Failure to accomplish this could have dire fatal results. What ever approach you decide on, the same applies here, focus, solve the problem. IMHO opinion the approach should include keeping this site apprised and continually contacting your government representatives with your clearly define objections and possible alternatives.
Just my 2 pips worth. Flame away.
P.S. By chance I happened to meet an ex-NFA employee while on vacation one year. The long/short is that the folks in the document approval department were the near bottom rung group. This meant there was a very high turnover rate and one's document was rarely reviewed by the same person. If there was no turnover from the departing reviewer, there was a 50/50 shot at being approved/rejected. This was also impacted by the reviewers workload, mood and desire to get out the door early. I was told most CTA just resubmitted the same document over and over until approved. Only changing the document date. Got to love it, some low level clerk stepping all over your making a living.
In a prior life I was a registered CTA with the NFA/CFTC. What a joke. The first thing to consider is the NFA and CFTC are both over inflated bureaucracies. As with any bureaucracy, their first and foremost objectives are 1) position themselves as “required” and 2) obfuscate everything to withstand any immediate short-term bureaucratic investigation. Once that has been accomplished, they are free to “respond” to any uninformed public/governmental outcry of a need for more meaningless obfuscated regulations. Following is an example of meaningless they can be.
As a registered CTA I was required to file (multiple copies) of my Disclosure Document with the NFA/CFTC. A document that would have your eyes rolling back after the first paragraph. This document was valid for 6 months, after which I would have to resubmit for another 6 month period. Repeat as required every 6 months. The catch here was I could not legally actively manage accounts as a CTA if this was not on-file and approved. This approval process could be immediate or run indefinitely. Now the bureaucratic “job security” fun starts. I was provided a boilerplate disclosure document by my FCM to use. Approved countless time by the NFA/CFTC All I did was insert my data.
Rejected. When I attempted to seek clarification, I was only provided ambiguous responses. After numerous attempts resulting in continued rejection, I resorted to the original disclosure document. Approved immediately.
From that point forward, when ever I was rejected I just “flipped” a couple of paragraphs and the document was immediately approved.
When studying for my Series 3 I happened to retain a few key points. The primary ones being 1) if I did not actively solicit for trading funds and 2) if I managed 12 or less accounts, I did not have to be a registered CTA. Once I convinced my ego that was a good approach, I dropped my registration and only continued with “friends” accounts. Problem solved.
Back to today's problem. Here is how I am looking at these issues. To-date I have seen no restrictions on where or how many accounts I can have. The first approach to an increasing restriction that impairs how I trade is to move away from that restriction. i. e. move account off shore. There also is nothing that says I can not have more than one account trading the same currency pairs. Nor is there anything that say I can not create an artificial spread across 2 brokers. While each of these do entail a little more effort on my part, my energies are back focused on making money, not fighting the system.
With today's electronic trading, all I need is an account number/ID and password and I am trading anyone's account for them.
There are solutions. I also am a tactical weapons trainer. In this realm there is a directive I continually harp to the trainees, FOCUS – SOLVE THE PROBLEM. Failure to accomplish this could have dire fatal results. What ever approach you decide on, the same applies here, focus, solve the problem. IMHO opinion the approach should include keeping this site apprised and continually contacting your government representatives with your clearly define objections and possible alternatives.
Just my 2 pips worth. Flame away.
P.S. By chance I happened to meet an ex-NFA employee while on vacation one year. The long/short is that the folks in the document approval department were the near bottom rung group. This meant there was a very high turnover rate and one's document was rarely reviewed by the same person. If there was no turnover from the departing reviewer, there was a 50/50 shot at being approved/rejected. This was also impacted by the reviewers workload, mood and desire to get out the door early. I was told most CTA just resubmitted the same document over and over until approved. Only changing the document date. Got to love it, some low level clerk stepping all over your making a living.
