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I've been using the Interactive Brokers platform for the past three weeks
and have yet to experience any difficulties. Past discussion regarding
stops has raised concern over IB's practice of holding stops in a queue
until price is hit and then sending them as market orders. I've had about
15 one lots stopped out and have yet to experience any slippage. This may
have more to do with my stop placement than anything else so my experience
may not be relevant to other traders in this regard. I have not discussed
contingency plans with them should the system go down. I have enough other
brokerage relationships that I would simply execute elsewhere and have IB
office transfer the hanging leg out to whomever I exited through.
John Lothian mentioned that you will begin to see more ISV offerings in the
near future. I've taken a very close look at the Future Dynamics product
and can say that it looks very nice. It functions in similar fashion to
the IB TWS but it assumes a market maker profile. In other words, you can
join the bid or offer with a single click. The IB system is more of a
customer type application in that it it allows you to hit bids and offers
with single clicks. Another advantage of the Future Dynamics product is its
ability to show depth of the market. I've had it showing me the best five
bids and offers which can be quite handy. Their website can be accessed at
www.fdlweb.com.
At this point it seems that you get what you pay for. The higher end
systems are leased and interfaced with your FCM. This will change as direct
connections to the exchanges become commonplace. However, I believe that
high volume customers will be able to negotiate high end platforms into
their clearing deals as competition spreads. The majority of traders are
going to be very happy with the platforms available in the near future as a
part of their existing clearing arrangements. New systems will focus on
particular needs and will have costs commensurate with their level of
sophistication.
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