History
Ira's Bio
Ira Epstein & Company Futures Brokerage
Ira Epstein & Company (IECo) has grown to become a leading futures brokerage offering futures brokers, options brokers, online trading, discount commissions, cutting edge One-Screen Trading Software, education and reasearch on futures market contracts.
In 1984 Ira Epstein & Company was founded by Ira Epstein. Ira was a highly successful retail futures broker, having mastered TV to showcase his talents, which in turned helped Ira develop and create a very large customer following. Many of you may remember his TV show "Stocks, Options and Futures", which was one of the most popular Finance Television shows on what was then called "The Financial News Network", which is now known as CNBC. Ira showcased his talents in many other TV markets as well, including Los Angeles where he was a regular guest on KWHY-TV as well as WCIU-TV in Chicago, where he was on the air for nearly 20 years.
In 1984 Discount Commission Firms were just beginning to make inroads in both Stocks and Futures. Ira had a large traditional one-on-one retail brokerage business. However, the client mix was changing. Many of his accounts were making their own trading decisions, simply using Ira's trade desk to place their orders and obtain quotes. These clients wanted low commissions since they were making their own trading decisions. Ira provided them with such and such began the story of Ira Epstein & Company. Pricing, services, technology and having in place a large following are what lead Ira in 1984 to create Ira Epstein & Company.
Ira always catered to the "Mom and Pop" trader. We service the smaller trader out there that most of the larger firms aren't interested in. After nearly 35-years in this business, rest assured we've never lost sight of who are clients are. We handle all types of accounts from those that need one-on-one assistance to those that make their own trading decisions. Our clients range from first time traders, who know little about the markets, to sophisticated professional traders running hedge funds. Our pricing, services and education are specifically geared to attract all types of traders.
Ira discovers trading technology...
We opened in 1984 and the company grew quickly. Problems arose with growth. One nagging problem was that of providing to our thousands of accounts price quotes, fills and and market information. The Internet was in its' infancy. Few clients owned computers, let alone knew how to work them. There really wasn't an Internet structure at that time as we know it today. Business was done primarily over the telephone.
So Ira focused hard on telephones, becoming the first in the futures industry to offer totally computerized market quotes via voice synthesis. Remember this was over 20-years ago. No one had done this and to this day, no one that we know of has a phone system as sophisticated as Commodity-Fone, our telephone system. We automated the quote and fill reporting functions along with adding many other clever things, Ira Epstein & Company delivered superior service, while at the same time lowered the costs associated with trade handling. We quickly became a major name in both the Discount and Retail parts of the Futures business.
At the same time, Ira took on the Internet. In 1984 he contacted DeVry Institute in Chicago and made Ira Epstein & Company a working lab under their direction for student credit. DeVry brought in their professors and students. They helped us structure an Internet presence. It was cutting edge at the time and....yep..a lot of fun. The most important thing is that we saw first hand what the importance of the Internet was going to be, prepared ourselves for the impact it was going to have on the Futures Markets and taught our staff to embrace this technology. We ran with it! In the process we gained an edge on many in our business. This has never been lost on us. Technology is a major part of the culture at Ira Epstein & Company. We are known as leaders in trading technology.
When you look around our website, you'll notice we never sit still. We regularly review and enhance it. We've designed it be easy to navigate, while providing information pertinent to traders.
We never sit still. That simple phone system described above has been vastly expanded. It now faxes P&S Statements to you, automatically calls you with your fills, allows you to customize what quotes you want to hear... in the manner in which you want to hear them and transfers you to your assigned team at IECo When you call into Commodity-Fone, if you haven't programmed it to call you with fill reports, it begins reporting them to upon your login. All of this is done without you speaking to anyone...24-hours a day! Front-end messages tell you of impending market events. Very shortly OST-IraCharts, our new charting software, will tie into Commodity-Fone, allowing you to transfer your OST-IraChart quote files into Commodity-Fone.
OST-IraCharts...Our new charts and order entry....
We've spent the last 3-years developing a true...One-Screen-Trading platform for clients to work with. By combining OST IraCharts with our One-Button Order Entry System, traders placing market orders need never move between screens to view market activity, news or place orders. "Price Ladders" showing depth of market are available as well for those who's trading style require them.
We develop products and services that cater to both our Self-Directed and Broker Assisted Accounts. As you'll see in our website, we specifically target those who wish to improve or simply learn more about trading via our chatrooms and The Futures Academy®, our in-house school that teaches you how to become a futures trader. Our commissions are highly competitive and our technology, well to be blunt, it's truly cutting edge. It is our belief, that once you work with our products you'll see that we have few peers. Try us out. Decide for yourself. That's why we provide you FREE access for 14-Days to the client areas of our website. We know what you'll find. It's time to experience what we have to offer.
We are a Guaranteed Introducing Broker of Shatkin Arbor, Inc. All of Ira Epstein & Company's clients funds are both guaranteed and held by Shatkin Arbor,Inc.
In 1984 Ira Epstein & Company became a Guaranteed Introducing Broker, placing it clients orders with Shatkin Trading Company, who later became LIT America. Lit America sold itself to First Options of Chicago. First Options of Chicago later sold it's retail business to Man. In 2004 IECo moved its business to Alaron Trading Company.
In 2007, the firm IECo began with, Shatkin Trading Company, who is now called Shatkin Arbor, Inc. established itself with IECo as IECo's clearing firm. Strange isn't it amazing how 2 decades later IECo ended back with its original clearing firm. This was meant to be.
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