Traders' Roundtable

Criminal acts on Mfglobal finally persuaded even me to use more then one broker.
I can be wrong but my tests suggest that is better trade a big account that two halves.
There are also differences in futures allowed to trade between brokers.
So , if you want trade more symbols once again it's better to use more brokers.
Now,going on with this, i see that my suite say to buy one Ten Years Note ....,but "mmm, i was already long with the other brokernor not?, s*it, i don't remeber"...
Well,you know what i mean.
There is also a need to stay a balanced between accounts and for sure there are other aspects that i am not considering now.
Suggestion ?
Some expericence to share?

thanks

keeping it simple - can you get the brokers to feed into excel - two separate sheets, combine into one....this becomes the key sheet to watch.
You obviously need to be able to reconcile each day.
This could also be checked against a theoretical model looking for discrepancies.
(depending on volumes and the ability to automate for this, the simplest might just be to have the feeds coming in and to visually check - or use conditional formatting to highlight discrepancies)

i use 4 brokers - wheres the problem ? surely you know what position you have on with what broker - you simply keep a record of it (have your bac office let you know) or split markets up into groups and trade certain groups with certain brokers etc

With 4 brokers and 4 banks holding my cash I still dont feel especially safe but its a better solution than taking a punt that the broker who you think you know so well is not implemneting "Knight Capital" type risk management procedures i.e. none, MF Global type morals or PFG Bes type ? whatever those idiots did
I think multiple brokers is very doable but it entails slightly more work - but that work is better than losing it all