I was doing some browsing last night and thought I’d look more into the FX Manager features which Oanda has. I managed to come across an interesting page on BarclayHedge listing the top currency traders for the past 12 and 36 months. After a little more digging I found some websites for these FOREX money managers, I was surprised to find one of them openly using Oanda FX Manager.
The original thread I found is here (I view the returns some of the thread participants discuss as rather extreme).
- Rove Capital
- Genoa Capital has some quite detailed information about their strategies.
- Zone Capital is an Aussie FOREX trader who isn’t currently on that list, though I’ve visited there before.
- Tri Global FX has an interesting question on their Managed Accounts page “Are you interested in our Capital Preservation Program?“
I’m somewhat curious in the feasibility of using FX Manager as a possible future venture. Some people (eg. see the thread posted above) will ask why would you want to trade other peoples money when you could make a fortune with your X00% annual returns. My belief (and I’m sure lots of smart people will back me up) X00% returns is over leveraged stupidity about to be wiped out. If I could make a consistent 40% I would be incredibly happy. I would need to look into what the certification requirements are in Australia.
Looking briefly at Zone Capital it would appear that it’s not too difficult to be able to take money from wealthy investors who qualify as a “Sophisticated Investor”, here’s what Law Central has to say on this page.
There is a special investment opportunity. But it is only open to the “big boys” – not mere members of the public.
If you are only a member of the public then you don’t get exposure to these special (unregulated) investment opportunities. The Australian government feels that you need protection. Members of the public can generally only invest in investments which are highly regulated. Examples of regulated investments are often contained in a Prospectus or a Product Disclosure Statement. These investments have to go through many hoops before they can be offered to the general public.
There is at least some protection and regulation for mums and dads.
However, many promoters don’t want to nickel and dime the small stuff with the mums and dads. They don’t want to go to all the trouble of dealing with a large out of date government regulator called ASIC (Australia Securities Investment Commission). They want to go to a smaller number of the “big boys”. The “big boys” are the Sophisticated Investors. They have a lot of money to invest or they earn a lot of money each year.
The Australian Government thinks that if you are that so wealthy then you don’t need the protection of things such as the Prospectus and Product Disclosure Statement.
However, before you can get the lofty status of Sophisticated Investor your accountant has to sign off on a complying Sophisticated Investor Certificate. You then show the Certificate to someone that wants to take your money.
