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In a message dated 06/23/2000 3:49:57 PM Central Daylight Time,
prosys@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
<< John -
for e-mini, I have Alaron, Field Financial, Jack Carl, and PFGBest under
consideration....
all very competitive. I dropped Interactive from the list....too barebones
for me.
**** Alaron uses the same Rolfe & Nolan system that my operation does. They
put a different html front on it though to make it look different. That may
be good or bad depending on your tastes.
**** If I am thinking about the right firm, Field Financial is an IB to First
American Discount Corp, Inc., a former employer of mine in a prior life. :-)
If they are using the FADC systems, it is probably the Futures Online system
that FADC leases. I don't know much about this specific system, though I
think it uses TOPS. I am not sure, but it may be the FADC people who
service the online accounts, not the Field personnel.
**** Jack Carl is the discount division of the clearing firm my firm uses. I
will leave that one alone.
**** Best Direct I have already commented on. I will say that I respect them
for being innovators using the FIX. Being innovators though, they are taking
some heat from the occasional unhappy customer as they work out the kinks.
LFG and the Leo system was a good example of this.
**** I am a believer in value rather than just price. There are lots of
things that go into making the service you receive a good value beyond the
visible price you pay for the commissions. There are other costs that you
have to quantify yourself to come to your own value assessment. That may
take trying different brokers out for yourself though and not just depending
on this list or certain writers' opinions. Of course I write this from the
perspective of someone charging a higher rate than the sub $10/RT
discounters.
Question is: order routing systems.....does it make much difference as far
as fill performance ?
***** I would say that there is not that much difference. Performance wise
the TOPS system is probably the hardiest order routing system out there.
TOPS volume has grown dramatically in the last few years. The disadvantage
is that the orders have to travel through more computers, routers and systems
to get to Globex2 if they are using TOPS. This may mean that your order is
executed in 3 to 4 seconds rather than 2 to 3 if trading the eminis. Does
that much difference matter? To some it might. However, I would expect that
some fills will be better and some worse than expected and thus it may
average out. The first in first out matching is a huge benefit here. If
volume is the answer, I would guess that there is more volume going through
TOPS to Globex2 than any other route for the retail trader.
***** The idea behind the FIX API is to level the playing field, increase the
functionality and streamline the order flow. Orders will flow into the FIX
and are then routed to Globex2, CUBS2 on the floor or the TOPS system.
Orders have a more direct route to Globex2 or CUBS this way and they are not
sharing system resources with soybean orders or other such exchange orders.
Is the FIX API using newer technology or what ? Is TOPS going to become
passe ?
***** The FIX is using newer technology, yes. The FIX is a standard used on
the securities side for firms to uniformly communicate with each other. The
FIX includes a real time price feed as does the FI connection. As firms
switch to the FIX, the screen customers are looking at and entering orders on
will change. The price feed will be incorporated into the interface, IMHO.
***** The CBOT has announced that they will not support TOPS after May 31,
2001. The CME said in the meeting last week that they will continue to
support TOPS for the foreseeable future. However, as firms have to move
their CBOT floor order flow to the CBOT's Floor API, TOPS will probably see
less use. A good friend of mine made the case that TOPS will probably be
around as long as open outcry survives. TOPS does a lot of things for order
management and order routing that the CME or the CBOT have yet to replicate
in a new tool or system. The CME was given a lot of input by TOPS users at
this meeting and I think they have the management in place to make an effort
to make good on that information. We shall see though.
If the difference is 30 seconds or more, it could be significant.
>>
***** If the difference is 30 seconds or more you are routing your order to a
desk and the order is being entered in manually. There are still some
systems like that around. Fills in a TOPS or FIX or FI system normally come
back in less than 5 seconds for emini orders.
Regards,
John J. Lothian
Disclosure: Futures trading involves financial risk, lots of it!
Disclosure: John J. Lothian is the President of the Electronic Trading
Division of The Price Futures Group, Inc., an Introducing Broker clearing
ED&F Man International, Inc.
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