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I've used TradeStation, eTrade, Scottrade and Interactive Brokers.
I complete well over a thousand round trip trades a year using EOD
data. I typicaly place anywhere from a dozen to a couple of hundred
limit orders each night, only about 10-20% of which ever get filled.
I plan to continue working full time for at least the next year.
As such, the most important features for me are:
- Low commissions
- Ability to upload basket orders
- Web access from behind a firewall (while I'm at work)
- Easy reporting, exportable to GainsKeeper or TradeLog for the
accountant
TradeStation
- Honestly, I don't recall if these guys supported my requirements. I
only started with them because they seemed more professional than
AmiBroker and I needed a backtesting tool. However, I soon found out
that they had fixed limits with respect to not being able to scan
more than 1000 symbols (or somewhere around there), so they were
useless to me since I scan 8000+ each night. Their comissions were OK
(penny a share), but if you ever made fewer than some number of
trades you got hit with a $100 monthly platform fee. With my volume
that was not an issue, but it irked me anyway.
eTrade
- Again, I only went with these guys because my employer
automatically opened an account for me when I joined the employee
stock purchase plan (ESPP). Even with active trader status, they were
too expensive ($9.99 each way), did not support basket orders, and
required special permission and a whole lot of phone calls to open
more than one margin account. Customer support was VERY slow with
LONG wait times, but helpfull once you finally got through. Trying to
connect using the web client during fast trading would sometimes
fail.
Scottrade
- These guys had excellent customer support, I was happy with their
desktop platform and the web based access from behind a firewall.
Depending on your order size, their comissions are higher than IB
(for stock orders of fewer than 1400 shares, they're better than IB
above that point i.e. $7 each way vs. .005/share). They suffer from
the same charting problem as IB in that they do not show the correct
EOD Close and so can screw up an EOD trader (
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/amibroker/message/116777 ). I
use a separate data provider because of this. However, the biggest
problem for me was that they did not have support for uploading a
basket order. Trying to type in dozens or hundreds of orders each
night is just too time consuming and error prone. My request for this
feature went unfulfilled. Had they offered basket trading, I probably
would have stayed with them.
Interactive Brokers
- It's a mixed bag with these guys. They have been awful. They update
their software constantly and introduce new bugs every time as a
result. Complaints go unaddressed for weeks and months if ever
addressed at all. Support tickets get closed after a period of
inactivity, even when the ball is in their court! You have to keep
pinging your ticket just to keep it alive. However, feature-wise they
are one of the best games in town. They offer everything I need. An
AmiBroker exploration can be written to output the format of an IB
basket order such that 1 click import and you're done. Alternatively,
the IB plugin from AmiBroker can be used to place the trades
directly. Their web portal is satisfactory. They support GainsKeeper
and TradeLog, including Mark To Market accounting. Despite the above
negatives, they recently did a complete overhaul of their software
that fixed all my outstanding issues (over a year later for some).
So, for the moment, they are the perfect setup for me. But, once
burned, twice shy. If they can stay stable for a period of time, I'll
feel better about recommending them.
Mike
--- In amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Pete" <dryheat3@xxx> wrote:
>
> I've been with Scottrade for several years and now that I've become
> more educated about the different types of markets out there to
trade
> in I have realized Scottrade does not offer much. Just low
commissions
> and a nice, user friendly trading platform.
>
> It would also be great if you were willing to share the name of the
> brokerage but I understand privacy is top priority. But that's the
> whole point here. I'm trying to save time searching for the one with
> the features I want. I'm hoping you all can provide some helpful
> advise by describing what features you find most important and why.
>
> Here are some thoughts I've been tossing around as features I would
> like to see in a single brokerage:
> 1. Reasonable commission structure
> 2. Trading available on Forex, Commodities, Equities, and Options
> 3. Ability to trade on Asian and European markets
> 4. RT Data feed which can be easily linked to Amibroker
> 5. Reasonably priced RT streaming quotes and charts available for
> smart phone/Pocket PC's.
>
> Thanks for taking the time. Looking forward your responses.
>
> Pete :-)
>
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