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Mike,
Thanks so much for taking the time to provide this very detailed
description of your personal experience with several brokers. I can
see the value of being able to upload basket orders and this was
something I had not considered before. Now it's on my list. I am
really attracted to the idea of being able to trade from Amibroker and
IB so far seems to be the only broker which supports this.
Someone else recommended MB trading. They don't support orders from
Amibroker but they do support a trading interface with several data
providers. Since you are using a separate data provider you might
check them out.
http://www.mbtrading.com/default.asp
So far, thanks to the recommendations and opinions of others, they are
at the top of my list.
Pete :-)
--- In amibroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Mike" <sfclimbers@xxx> wrote:
>
> 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@> 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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