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SPAM is a four letter word. It is good for brokers and other vendors to know
that. As Earl's reaction shows you, there is a cost to SPAMMING.
Let me state for the record that I know Steve Baumhart and I am neither going
to defend him or flame him, though I pity him for the foolishness of SPAMMING
Earl. To me the real crime is any broker who competes solely on price, with
no mention of the merits of their services.
In many ways, for many people, futures brokerage is a commodity. Yet the
bulk of traders today are not all trading thru the cheapest commission
broker. The mantra is faster, cheaper, better. Some brokers just get stuck
on the cheaper.
I believe that faster, cheaper, better produces something called the best
value. Even though faster and cheaper would seem to be quantitative
measures, there are qualitative factors to weigh as well in each. Faster for
example. I have gone over this ground before. The FIX API is supposed to be
a faster way to get into Globex2. But yet order management in a TOPS order
is faster because of a greater number of experienced TOPS operators and
terminals at the major brokerage firms. Fast execution versus fast
troubleshooting. It is a qualitative factor to weigh.
As a broker I am very cognizant of the anti-commercial nature of trading
lists. Before I made my first post to Realtraders I contacted the moderator
and asked him if my tagline or signature line was appropriate. I wanted to
walk of terra firma.
I don't write this to pat myself on the back, or at Steve's expense. Rather,
it is to demonstrate the care I believe that needs to be taken to not upset
the decorum or sensibilities of the particular forum.
To that end I started my own private e-mail list recently to keep my futures
industry friends, contacts and prospects up on industry happenings. Rather
than flood Realtraders or some of the other lists and forums with this, and
irritate someone or the many, I decided a private list was the way to go to
broadcast my perspectives.
The list includes some of my competitors, some industry news reporters and
traders and clients. It is a one way list, with a blind copy sent to each
person.
It is my effort to stay up on what is going on, share that information with
others and create some Good Will among people who I know or who have shown
appreciation for my previous contributions to this list or others. The value
of keeping in contact with industry friends was driven home for me when an
early career advisor/mentor of mine was named as president of the CME.
I am like Earl in not wanting to respond to SPAM with the request to drop my
e-mail address. Mostly though because I don't know the people who sent it or
what there modus operandi is. In the case of my list, everyone knows me or
should know of me, and I take people off the list as soon as they request it.
A broker friend of mine at LFG/Refco requested he be dropped from the list.
And then we rode the train home. He, like many of us, is inundated with
information. There probably are a few people on my list who have dumped my
e-mails right into their SPAM bucket and not even read them. They are gladly
removed upon request as I certainly do not want to draw any animosity
directed my way. I have had my share of that on other forums. :-)
Personally, I believe in participating on the forums and lists and creating
Good Will thru that participation. I am appreciative to Earl and many others
from whom I have learned. It has helped my brokering, my regulatory
intuition and my trading. And, I have never met a successful broker who
built their business on SPAM. Something for the Steve's and that ilk to
consider.
Regards,
John J. Lothian
Disclosure: Futures trading involves financial risk, lots of it! John J.
Lothian is the President of the Electronic Trading Division of The Price
Futures Group, Inc., an Introducing Broker. The opinions expressed are his
personally.
In a message dated 10/6/00 6:28:53 PM Central Daylight Time,
eadamy@xxxxxxxxxx writes:
<< Since I have never at any time contacted you or your firm regarding a
futures account, it is obvious to me that you have obtained my email
address from one of the private trading-oriented lists to which I
subscribe. I do not appreciate spam in any form, but especially do not
appreciate spam based on my contributions to lists which are private. I
trust that you and your firm will be humiliated enough by the blind
copies to the trading lists to which I subscribe, that there will be no
repetition. >>
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