Preventing anyone from stealing your profitable strategies - Trading-Lab

FabMav · #1 09-10-2007, 04:54 PM

let's say you found a trading strategy which makes wonders in almost all kinds of markets. You make money almost everyday. Have you ever thought that someone may be watching you and scanning your trading activity in an effort to reverse engineer it and steal it from you?

It can be your broker or your prop firm managers. who knows. how would you go about preventing this from happening to you? Trade only with a big enough broker where you are basically just a number? or split your trading activities between several accounts?

MarkB · #2 09-17-2007, 10:38 AM

you will never be able to hide your trading activity from unwanted eyes unless, of course, you own your own brokerage house!

..

yes, you can disguise it but do you really think the risk of you getting ripped off by a broker stealing your "Holy Grail" is so high that it justifies taking all these precautions? come on, brokers are not interested in making mone from trading. they are in the commission business. so they have an interest in you staying in business. now things are different in a proprietary trading environment.....

FabMav · #3 09-20-2007, 01:52 PM

it's not that I lose sleep over it

I was just being curious and asking a question

ProTrader · #4 09-28-2007, 01:17 PM

assuming we are talking about a broker here, in order to be able to rip your strategy off, he would have to know quite a few things about your trading style, especially if you do a lot of discretionary trading. The indicators you use, time frames you look at, chart patterns you follow, these are just a few things he would need to know. I'm not saying it's impossible, it's just very unlikely

Leth · #5 10-22-2007, 09:30 PM

the odds of anyone stealing your trading strategy is slim to none. however..your broker may see that your trading is making consistant profits..which is something you can't really hide. he may start making the same bets and profitting from your "position decisions." even though it sucks that he is riding your coat-tails, we can't really do much about it.

daytraderB · #6 10-23-2007, 03:04 PM

I would say you are right, if you are talking about retail accounts at a regular brokerage. retail clients are just a number to most brokerage houses.

if you trade at the proprietary level, though, things are a little bit different as there are more eyes watching your trading activity, spanning from the risk management crew to your office manager and co-manager. I assure you a consistently profitable account at a prop shop does not go unnoticed.

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#1 09-10-2007, 04:54 PM
FabMav Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 33	Preventing anyone from stealing your profitable strategies let's say you found a trading strategy which makes wonders in almost all kinds of markets. You make money almost everyday. Have you ever thought that someone may be watching you and scanning your trading activity in an effort to reverse engineer it and steal it from you? It can be your broker or your prop firm managers. who knows. how would you go about preventing this from happening to you? Trade only with a big enough broker where you are basically just a number? or split your trading activities between several accounts?

#2 09-17-2007, 10:38 AM
MarkB Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 36	you will never be able to hide your trading activity from unwanted eyes unless, of course, you own your own brokerage house! .. yes, you can disguise it but do you really think the risk of you getting ripped off by a broker stealing your "Holy Grail" is so high that it justifies taking all these precautions? come on, brokers are not interested in making mone from trading. they are in the commission business. so they have an interest in you staying in business. now things are different in a proprietary trading environment.....

#3 09-20-2007, 01:52 PM
FabMav Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 33	it's not that I lose sleep over it I was just being curious and asking a question

#4 09-28-2007, 01:17 PM
ProTrader Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 109	assuming we are talking about a broker here, in order to be able to rip your strategy off, he would have to know quite a few things about your trading style, especially if you do a lot of discretionary trading. The indicators you use, time frames you look at, chart patterns you follow, these are just a few things he would need to know. I'm not saying it's impossible, it's just very unlikely

#5 10-22-2007, 09:30 PM
Leth Super Moderator Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 621	the odds of anyone stealing your trading strategy is slim to none. however..your broker may see that your trading is making consistant profits..which is something you can't really hide. he may start making the same bets and profitting from your "position decisions." even though it sucks that he is riding your coat-tails, we can't really do much about it.

#6 10-23-2007, 03:04 PM
daytraderB Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 63	I would say you are right, if you are talking about retail accounts at a regular brokerage. retail clients are just a number to most brokerage houses. if you trade at the proprietary level, though, things are a little bit different as there are more eyes watching your trading activity, spanning from the risk management crew to your office manager and co-manager. I assure you a consistently profitable account at a prop shop does not go unnoticed.