PLANTATION, Fla., Aug. 22, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TradeStation, a Monex Group company (TSE: 8698), today announced that Michael S. Collins has joined TradeStation Prime Services as Head of Prime Brokerage Sales, where he will play a pivotal role in expanding the company's prime services business and relationships within the hedge fund community.
"TradeStation Prime Services continues to build a world-class team," said Rob Sackett, Head of TradeStation Prime Services. "Mike's expertise will benefit both new and existing customers. Small to mid-sized hedge funds are often seen to be at a disadvantage to larger funds when comparing prime services. Our goal is to level that playing field. With our self-clearing capabilities and the hiring of bulge bracket personnel such as Mike, we're poised to make a large impact in the small to mid-sized hedge fund space."
As head of Prime Brokerage Sales, Mr. Collins will be responsible for continuing to build TradeStation's Prime Services offering, with a focus on emerging managers and small to mid-sized established hedge funds. TradeStation's award-winning electronic execution platform, coupled with its growing prime services platform, should be an ideal fit for managers looking to maximize cost efficiency and use a prime brokerage offering.
Based in New York and reporting to Mr. Sackett, Mr. Collins will lead the U.S. sales team in identifying new client opportunities and servicing existing relationships on the TradeStation Prime Services platform.
"I'm excited to join such a great franchise, which is focused on serving the hedge fund community with a unique combination of execution and prime," Mr. Collins said. "With the structural changes that big banks are undergoing, our senior team of prime-brokerage veterans can serve small to mid-sized managers with an electronic execution platform that leads the market in its technology and speed."
Mr. Collins comes to TradeStation from Citigroup, where he was most recently a Director of Prime Finance Sales within Citi Global Markets. He spent 10 years at Citi within prime finance and previously worked on the Institutional Equity Sales desk at Morgan Stanley.
About TradeStation
TradeStation is an award-winning online brokerage firm and trading platform. In the March 2013 Barron's magazine review of 24 online brokers, TradeStation was ranked Best for Frequent Traders and Best Trading Experience and Technology, and received the highest star rating for International Traders. In the February 2013 Technical Analysis of Stocks & Commodities magazine annual Readers' Choice Awards, TradeStation was voted Best Trading System – Stocks, Best Trading System – Futures, Best Institutional Platform, Best Professional Platform, Best Online Analytical Platform and Best Real-Time Data. In the January 2013 Investor's Business Daily Best Online Brokers Report, a major new annual survey of active investors conducted by Investor's Business Daily, TradeStation was ranked among the top five online brokers for Overall Customer Experience, as well as best for Equity Trading Tools and among the top five in three other key categories. For more details, visit our Awards page.
TradeStation Group, Inc., through its principal operating subsidiaries, TradeStation Securities, Inc. and IBFX, Inc., offers analytical and trading platforms to the active trader and certain institutional trader markets. The TradeStation platform offers electronic order execution and enables clients to design, test, optimize, monitor and automate their own custom equities, options, futures and forex trading strategies. TradeStation Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of Monex Group, one of the largest online financial services providers in Japan.
TradeStation Securities, Inc. (Member NYSE, FINRA, SIPC, NSCC, DTC, OCC & NFA) is a licensed securities broker-dealer and a registered futures commission merchant, and also a member of the Boston Options Exchange, Chicago Board Options Exchange, Chicago Stock Exchange, International Securities Exchange and NASDAQ OMX. Its TradeStation Prime Services division, based in New York, seeks to provide prime brokerage services, including securities lending, to small and mid-sized hedge funds and other firms. IBFX, Inc. (Member NFA) is a Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer (RFED) that provides forex brokerage services directly and through its TradeStation Forex division. TradeStation Group Inc.'s technology subsidiary, TradeStation Technologies, Inc., develops and offers strategy trading software tools and subscription services. TradeStation Europe Limited, an FSA-authorized brokerage firm, introduces UK and other European accounts to TradeStation Securities, Inc., IBFX, Inc. and IBFX Australia Pty Ltd.