What Bright Trading does

Bright Trading, LLC is a privately held proprietary trading firm founded in 1992 by Bob Bright and Eddie Franco, headquartered in Henderson, Nevada. The firm operates as a FINRA broker-dealer and recruits experienced traders as Class B Members (not employees), providing them with firm capital to trade equities. All securities transactions clear through Goldman Sachs & Co., which also provides locate facilities for shorting stocks. Bright Trading does not accept or solicit orders from retail customers.

The firm's core product consists of three execution platforms — REDI+ (low-cost, GUI-driven with charting, spread/portfolio trading, hot keys, and automatic order marking), Real Tick (Excel Order Scripting Tool with high front- and back-end speed, advanced APIs, and support for baskets, pairs, bracketed, conditional, and multi-step orders), and TORA — which members can select based on strategy fit. Execution methods span manual trading, firm-provided algorithms, FIX connectivity, and custom development in Excel VBA, .NET, or C++. There is no public API and no cloud- or mobile-based trading. Two adjunct offerings underpin the value proposition: a Mentored Capital program providing daily instruction from professional traders and a StockOdds Enterprise Agreement that delivers no-cost education to members.

Bright Trading monetizes through transaction-based fees on member trading volume plus required trader deposits set per qualification, with profit-sharing arrangements paying members a percentage of P&L. Members are not subject to the Pattern Day Trader Rule or Reg T/Portfolio Margin restrictions because they trade with firm capital as members, retain full ownership of their strategies and IP, and may withdraw profits weekly via direct deposit or wire. The firm does not sell or internalize member orders, allowing routing to preferred exchanges, ECNs, algos, or dark pools.

Name

Bright Trading

Legal name

Bright Trading, LLC

Website

https://stocktrading.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1992

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Bright Trading is a privately held, FINRA-member proprietary trading firm founded in 1992 that recruits experienced professional traders as Class B Members, providing them with firm capital, execution platforms (REDI+, Real Tick, TORA), mentoring, and education, and earning revenue through transaction fees and required trader deposits.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Las Vegas

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Transaction-based trading fees: Bright Trading generates revenue through transaction costs charged to its trader members. Due to favorable economies of scale, Bright Traders pay low transaction costs.
2. Trader capital contributions: Applicants are required to provide a trader deposit, to be determined based on trader qualifications. Traders can draw profits weekly via direct deposit or wire.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Bright Trading is a proprietary trading firm that recruits experienced professional traders as Class B Members and provides them with firm capital, FINRA-regulated broker-dealer membership, and access to electronic execution platforms (REDI+, Real Tick, TORA). Members execute equities strategies such as pairs, basket, hedged swing, and macro trading, while the firm clears transactions through Goldman Sachs & Co. and earns low-cost transaction-based fees plus a share of trader profits.

Product overview

Bright Trading is a proprietary trading firm offering capital, education, and professional tools to professional traders. The core offering consists of three execution platforms (REDI+, Real Tick, and TORA) that Trader/Members can choose from to accommodate their proprietary strategies, skill sets, and trading needs. REDI+ provides a user-friendly GUI with charting and automatic order marking, while Real Tick offers Excel Order Scripting Tool with advanced APIs for bulk-order trading. Traders can execute manually, use provided Algorithms, execute via FIX, or develop their own methods. Additional offerings include the StockOdds Education Program (enterprise agreement for no-cost education) and the Mentored Capital Program (daily mentoring from professional traders). The firm was formed in 1992, is a FINRA member broker-dealer, and clears all securities through Goldman Sachs & Co.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• REDI+ Execution Platform Low-cost, user-friendly electronic trading platform for Member traders, featuring a broad range of order entry methods, charting, spread trading, portfolio trading, hot keys, linking and alerts, and automatic order marking. Made available to Traders via Bright Trading's relationship with Refinitiv (REDI+).
• Real Tick Execution Platform High-speed execution platform with an Excel Order Scripting Tool, advanced APIs, and industrial-strength infrastructure for bulk-order trading and creating lists, programs, baskets, pairs, spreads, bracketed, conditional, and multi-step orders. Provided to Bright Trading Members.
• TORA Execution Platform Execution platform available to Bright Trading Trader/Members to accommodate proprietary trading strategies, skill sets, and trading needs.
• Bright Trading Mentored Capital Program Membership program providing professional traders with firm capital intraday and overnight, weekly profit withdrawals, and a daily mentoring group with help and instruction from Professional Traders, including programmer support for implementing strategies through the firm's execution platforms.
• StockOdds Education Program Trader education offering delivered under Bright Trading's Enterprise Agreement with StockOdds, Inc., giving Bright Traders access to unique, timely, and relevant market education at no cost.

Quantifiable outcome

• Weekly profit withdrawal capability

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• StockOdds, Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBright Trading has an Enterprise Agreement with StockOdds, Inc. so that Bright Traders can receive Education at no cost. The education is unique, timely and relevant for today's markets.
• Refinitiv (REDI+)coreTechnology or IntegrationBright Trading provides access to REDIplus execution platform through Refinitiv, offering charting, spread trading, portfolio trading, hot keys, and automatic order marking capabilities.
• FINRAcoreOthersBright Trading is a broker dealer member of FINRA, providing regulatory oversight and legitimacy as a securities firm.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Maverick Trading: Maverick Trading is a proprietary trading firm that recruits and funds traders in equities, options, and futures. Its model of providing capital, education, and technology to remote traders closely parallels Bright Trading's offering.
• Topstep: Topstep is a proprietary trading firm that funds traders who pass evaluation programs, trading futures on popular exchanges. It directly competes with Bright Trading in providing capital to active traders, though Bright Trading focuses on equities while Topstep focuses on futures.
• Warrior Trading: Warrior Trading combines proprietary trading with extensive trader education and mentoring programs, offering funded simulator and live trading accounts. It competes with Bright Trading for active day traders seeking capital, education, and community.
• TradeZero: TradeZero is a proprietary day trading platform and broker that provides commission-free short-selling and direct market access to active traders. Its focus on technology-enabled short-side trading and direct routing to ECNs overlaps with Bright Trading's offering.
• CenterPoint Securities: CenterPoint Securities is a proprietary trading firm and broker-dealer offering direct market access, advanced execution platforms, and capital to professional day traders. Its combination of firm capital and execution technology makes it a direct competitor to Bright Trading.
• Cobra Trading: Cobra Trading is a proprietary trading firm offering funded accounts to active day traders with direct market access and multiple execution platforms. It is comparable to Bright Trading in providing firm capital, technology access, and trader membership structures for equities day traders.

Emerging players

• Lux Trading Firm: Lux Trading Firm is a newer proprietary trading firm offering funded accounts to retail traders who pass evaluation challenges in equities and futures. It represents the emerging evaluation-based prop trading model that competes with traditional prop firms like Bright Trading.
• NinjaTrader: NinjaTrader provides an electronic trading platform for futures and equities traders, with brokerage services and educational resources. While more platform-focused than capital-focused, it overlaps with Bright Trading's technology offering for active retail and proprietary traders.

Broad incumbents

• Interactive Brokers: Interactive Brokers is a global broker-dealer offering professional-grade execution platforms, margin, and market access to active traders and institutions. While vastly larger and serving retail-to-institutional clients globally, it competes with Bright Trading for the active, professional trader segment.
• Lightspeed Financial Services: Lightspeed is an established broker-dealer providing professional trading platforms (Lightspeed Trader, LiveVol) and execution services to active traders and institutions. It serves a broader retail-to-institutional client base than Bright Trading but competes in the active trader execution space.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Bright Trading