Brókers con PAMM y cuentas gestionadas

In a PAMM arrangement you deposit into an account traded by someone else, usually alongside other investors, and gains and losses are allocated in proportion to each participant's share. The manager is paid a performance fee, and sometimes a management fee as well.

The structural point that gets lost in the marketing: you are handing trading discretion to a person whose track record you cannot audit, inside a firm whose accounting for the pool you also cannot audit. Whatever the published figures show, that is the risk you are accepting.

Allocation

How profit and loss are divided between participants, normally by share of the pool at the time of each trade.

Performance fee

The manager's cut of profits, often taken at a high-water mark so it is only charged on new gains.

Drawdown

The largest peak-to-trough fall in the account's value. A far more informative number than a headline return, and the one most often omitted.

Lock-up

Any period during which you cannot withdraw. Ask for it in writing, including what happens if you ask to exit mid-period.

Questions worth answering in writing before depositing into any managed arrangement.

1. Which licensed entity holds the money, and does its regulator permit it to manage client funds on a discretionary basis?
2. Is the published track record audited, and by whom? An equity curve on a dashboard is not an audit.
3. What is the largest historical drawdown, and over what period was the record compiled?
4. Exactly how and when can you withdraw, and what does it cost?
5. How is the manager paid, and does the fee structure reward taking more risk with your capital?