About G-2

With nearly 20 years of history, an industry-leading trading technology platform, full back-office service, and a senior leadership team that knows how to succeed in any market, G-2 Trading LLC is a premier destination for experienced professional traders.

History

G-2 Trading and its predecessor firms have navigated successfully through nearly 20 years of bull and bear markets, and momentous financial changes.

In 1991, Ron Shear, our chairman, founded a new firm at the forefront of the developing electronic trading world. Ron believed that a firm serving professional traders could be developed using his skills and the relationships he developed over a 25-year Wall Street career which included memberships on ten major Exchanges. That firm, Generic Trading, was the first of several firms created by Ron, which prospered and grew into Carlin Financial Group (CFG).

CFG prospered by providing advanced technological tools for individual and institutional traders. Its technology, expertise, and quality client base attracted the attention of Royal Bank of Canada, which acquired it in 2007. The professional trading group became the RBC Professional Trader Group.

In 2009, Ron joined with David Abramson and Greg Fortunoff to lead the company he founded, and to bring its professional traders in to a successor firm which would carry forward the original, highly successful vision of responsiveness to the technological and support needs of the most demanding professional traders - that firm is G-2 Trading.

The G-2 Trading Experience

G-2 Trading promotes a professional environment where traders share ideas, but are also free to create their own path. Our trading headquarters in midtown Manhattan can seat over 120 professionals. Many of our traders also choose to work remotely from other convenient private home or office locations. Our trading services include the following:

All accounts maintained and cleared through Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs REDI Trading Platform
Access to Wall Street research & morning reports
Access to running market commentary (2010)
Professional level execution system for Equities & Options (futures available in 2010)
In-house chat system to communicate with other traders in the firm and share ideas (2010)
Service desk for special orders and hard to borrow stock loan

Leadership

With over 50 years combined management and trading experience, our entrepreneurial senior management team has the proven ability to lead professional traders and help them successfully adapt to variable market conditions.

Ron Shear, Chairman, is a veteran of 40 years on Wall Street. He started as a retail stock broker but quickly moved into proprietary trading with Lehman Brothers. In 1977, Mr. Shear founded Investors Option Co., which had memberships on numerous exchanges and responsibilities as both registered specialist and market makers. Mr. Shear’s expertise has always been to mitigate risk through arbitrage and hedging strategies, while seeking high returns via leverage.

In 1991, Mr. Shear founded Carlin Financial Group, which provided advanced technological tools for individual and institutional traders. The firm was acquired by Royal Bank of Canada in 2007. In 2009, Ron joined with David Abramson and Greg Fortunoff to lead the professional trader group and rename it G-2 Trading.

In July 2007, Mr. Shear started Compo Investment Partners, L.P. as a vehicle for his personal investments in public, private securities, and hedge funds. He focuses on emerging managers as well as his own portfolio.

David Abramson, Chief Operating Officer, was previously the Managing Director at RBC Capital Markets (RBCCM) where he served as Head of RBC Professional Trader Group, LLC, managing more than 275 traders operating from ten locations in the United States.

Prior to joining RBC, Mr. Abramson was Chief Operating Officer at Generic Trading of Philadelphia, LLC, a division of Carlin Financial Group, which was acquired by RBCCM in January of 2007. Mr. Abramson also served on Carlin Equities Corporation’s Risk Management and Operating Committees.

Previously, Mr. Abramson was a proprietary trader at First New York Securities for seven years, managing a portfolio specializing in the insurance industry. Earlier in his career, Mr. Abramson acquired and operated an independent insurance agency representing 20 national and regional carriers serving over 3,000 customers.

Gregory Fortunoff, Chief Executive Officer, has over 15 years of experience in the management and growth of securities trading firms. He started his career in 1994 at First New York Securities, where he helped initiate and maintain the firm’s training program. As part of First New York’s management team, Mr. Fortunoff dealt with all aspects of risk management and human resource issues.

Mr. Fortunoff was the first proprietary trader at RBC Professional Trader Group, LLC, during which time the proprietary trading group grew from one to 40 traders in its first two years of operations. Mr. Fortunoff continually draws on his own trading experience, when managing and teaching other traders.

Mr. Fortunoff sits on the board and the audit committee of American Medical Alert Corp., a publicly traded health care company.