What is a broker-dealer?

Broker dealer is in the business of buying and selling securities i.e. a broker dealer is buyer and seller of securities for itself or for other (Clients). A broker dealer can be a single person or a firm as a whole. Broker dealer firms vary in size from small and medium enterprises to giant companies.

What a broker-dealer do?

Broker dealer performs a lot of financial activities for themselves or on behalf of their clients such as:

• Provides investment advice
• Publish investment research
• Facilitate trade activities
• Raising capital for firms

A broker dealer can be a firm that sells its products to customers or an independent one that sells products from outside sources. According to official numbers by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), there are almost 3700 broker dealer firms in the US. A broker dealer performs a dual function. They act as a dealer (principal) when trading on their own account and as a broker on behalf of their clients.

Starting your own Broker Dealer:

If you’re wondering how to start you own broker dealer there are some basic steps. To start a broker dealer, you must register with the SEC and join a self-regulatory organization. You can start with an existing company or you can start your own independent firm. If you plan on being an independent broker dealer, you must have $100,000 to $200,000 capital available.

If you decide to be an independent firm it gives you the freedom to run things your way, there will be no unnecessary hindrance by firm bureaucracy but this freedom comes at a cost; substantial risk. If you look at it positively, it’s not just risks that are a hundred percent going to affect you, the substantial rewards are going to be completely yours too.

Experience:

Experience plays an important part in the success of your broker dealer setup. If you’ve already worked as an independent contractor, you’ll have a better understanding of how the industry works. If you’re new to this business it’s better to consult a professional on how to start a broker dealer. There are consulting agencies out there who will guide you about everything you need to know to start your own broker dealer. They will even give you professional guidance regarding the business and you can hire an experienced broker dealer to help you for a while. So the four basic steps to starting a broker dealer are:

• FINRA registration: most important thing is registration with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority
• State registration(s): then registration with respective state and SRO
• Consultants: get professional consultation on all the rules, regulations, laws and marketing trends on how to start a broker dealer.
• Employees: look for experienced employees for your broker dealer firm.

When you start your own broker dealer firm, expenses can be overwhelming. To control that it’s extremely important to get professional consultation. BD consulting Associates are highly experienced consulting firm and they can provide you all the required guidance you need regarding starting your own broker dealer.

The financial services industry can be a bewildering and mysterious place if you’re thinking about starting your own broker-dealer firm and are relatively naïve/new to its complexities. It can be an incomprehensible task to get a hold of all the terms used and learn all the processes (that quite frankly seem bizarre to an outsider) at once.

If you’re thinking about starting a broker-dealer firm, there are some basic things that you need to know.

What are brokers

A Broker acts as an agent in the trade of assets or goods. The simplest way to put it is a broker is a person who buys or sells goods and assets on behalf of others i.e. act on behalf of investors. Brokers can be of two types:

• Full services broker
• Discount brokers

What are dealers

A dealer is someone who buys and sells goods or assets himself. Dealers make trades on behalf of themselves.

What is a broker-dealer?

Broker-dealer is the one who buys and sells good and assets (investment products) both on behalf of himself and act as an agent for others. They act both as principal and agent. They also provide investment services to investors.

What broker-dealers do?

Broker-dealer provides several services in the financial industry. They provide investment advice to customers. They facilitate trading activities, help in publishing investment research and also raising capital for companies. Broker-dealer helps in supplying liquidity through activities that create a market. In addition to all these broker-dealer firms provide the basic infrastructure that facilitates stock trading.

How to become a broker-dealer?

If you understand all the basics and are thinking about your starting a broker-dealer firm of your own, then you have two options. Either You can join an existing firm for some time to get an idea about how the industry works or can start your own new set-up. There are several advantages of starting your own firm because you can have the freedom to do things your way and if you tread carefully and wisely the profits can be huge. For starting your firm, you will require capital, capable and professional management, correct licenses and memberships. And a consulting firm can guide you all about it. They can give you all the information required to understand the industry because the better you understand the industry’s vocabulary the more easily you will get the hold of how it works. You can be a wirehouse broker-dealer or an independent broker-dealer. A wirehouse broker-dealer sells its own products to customers whereas an independent broker-dealer sells products from outside sources i.e. third parties. Before starting your own firm, it is better if you get the help of a consulting firm so you can develop a better sense of how investments work, the services you will provide in exchange for your fees, how to provide those services efficiently and what you can expect if any deal goes sideways. BD consulting associates in Milton GA have a team of consultants that has the experience, knowledge, and skills to help you position your broker-dealer in the industry for long-term growth and success.