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John,
It's not the L2 data per se that can save you 1/8 or so. Maybe the L2 will allow you to time your entries and exits better and maybe it won't. That's a matter of experience, timing, and skill.
But the near instant posting of your execution orders seems to be your current goal. A broker using RealTick(such as MBT) or CyberTrader will allow quick posting of your orders. You still may not get instant executions depending on the route you select, the activity in the stock and the MM actions. But you will certainly get better executions than going thru any web based broker. In most cases on an active stock such as INTC or MSFT you will get instant executions if you buy at the ask and sell at the bid. An additonal feature that you will have is the ability to post your bids and offers via one or more ECNs at the inside market or to make a new inside market. Some web based brokers such as Datek will also allow this but you will have the option of selecting from more than one ECN. Additionally you will be able to trade before and after market hours via ECN or Selectnet.
Bottom line is: it's not a holy grail but with some experience and practice you will have much better control of your trading destiny.
The lite package that MBT offers is basic quotes and execution package without L2 display. You can opt for L2 data with this if you use another display software package that works off of RT3 feeds such as the Roberts-Slade package. Depending on which display and data package you opt for and how many trades a month you do, you may get the software and data for free.
Ron
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Austin [mailto:jaustin@xxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Sunday, November 15, 1998 11:25 AM
> To: omega-list@xxxxxxxxxx
> Cc: Sigstroker@xxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: Online stock trade execution
>
>
> Thanks for your reply. I use the BMI feed and average 100 - 150 round
> turns/month on the higher volume NASDAQ stocks. If I understand you
> correctly, you are saying that Level II data would allow me an additional
> 1/8th of a point per trade. I would consider that a big deal
> indeed if it's
> true. Any thoughts on this?
>
> Let me give you an example of what I mean by unacceptable execution. On
> Fri., Nov. 13, I was long INTC and MSFT and was nicely up in both trades
> when I decided to exit at 11:30. First I needed to move to the
> order entry
> page and that took several seconds as the server response was sluggish. I
> entered the INTC sell order, hit the send button and got the
> message "server
> unavailable", try another. That required another login and a re-entry of
> the sell order. In short, it took 3 1/2 minutes to get out of that trade
> and then I had to repeat the process for MSFT. It took about the
> same amount
> of time and combined, these delays cost me over 1/2 point and
> compared with
> previous similar occurrences, that's not bad. The previous week,
> I lost 7/8
> of a point on INTC alone in the same fashion. It is happening to me at
> least once a week.
>
> Correcting this problem alone will pay the difference between $10
> and $20 in
> base commissions, but what about the fees? You mentioned "lightweight"
> execution systems and I've checked them out, but who would you consider
> "heavyweight" execution systems? I would really appreciate opinions as to
> what firm is really the best at this.
>
> At 04:25 PM 11/14/98 EST, you wrote:
> >I'm a little confused about how you say Level II isn't of major concern,
> >implying 1/8th of a point either way is not a big deal, but then
> you say you
> >get unacceptable executions, implying 1/8th is a big deal. At
> any rate, Datek
> >at $10 a trade uses the ISLD ecn for most orders, when their
> servers are up
> >and running. Otherwise, www.mbtrading.com and
> www.polartrading.com both have
> >(I think) "lightweight" execution systems with no data for
> around $20 a trade.
> >
> > > I currently trade stocks intraday with what is probably a
> typical online
> > > broker. At $10 per trade, the price is great, but the executions
> > > are often less than acceptable, particularly when the market is busy.
> > >
> > > Although Level II data would be nice, it isn't of major
> concern as I trade
> > > 15 Min. bars. I would, however, like to get equipped with the
> > > capability of trading on the SOES and various ECN's.
> > >
> > > I realize that making this move will result in increased
> commission costs
> > > and I would appreciate any suggestions as to who might provide
> > > these services.
> >
> >
> >
>
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