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Michael,
Very well said. I just wanted to add my numbers for empirical evidence.
I've been with IB since they went retail. Last year I made 1,113 trades
with them (30% of which were ES and NQ trades), and I had one glitch, which
was fixed with a phone call, very quickly.
Just doing some quick math, compared with a $15 RT, I saved $10 per contract
per transaction, or about $11K per contract last year. You might think of
that as the price for a small telephone staff. Let's say I have 3 "botched"
orders or internect disconnects over the year while I'm in a trade. The
commission savings covers about $4K per event or 80 points of "panic room"
while I wait on hold for a broker. Insert your own numbers as appropriate.
My point is that the total costs considering the "protection" offered by a
large telephone staff ought to be considered.
Check out some of the brokers that are using J-Trader as well. I'm sure you
can negotiate some very favorable rates per RT, as this market for NQ and ES
trading volume is getting very competitive. Some may have better phone
staffs as well.
Dave Nadeau
Fort Collins, CO
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Watkins [mailto:watkins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2001 6:20 PM
> To: LD; Omega List
> Subject: Re: Online futures trading - any suggestions?
>
>
> At 03:48 PM 4/12/2001 -0500, you wrote:
> >Does anyone have consistently good experience with an on-line broker for
> >execution of the e-mini's (SP and ND) that is reasonably priced? My
> >definition of reasonable pricing would be at or less than $15 (all fees
> >included).
>
> LD - my recommendation:
>
> Interactivebrokers - http://www.interactivebrokers.com
>
> I have used IB for about 18 months and find it an excellent resource. I
> trade multiple ES and NQ contracts, and make extensive use of Stop Limit
> orders for position entry. I can not recall more than once when my order
> was not filled, and frequently one or more of my contracts will
> be filled
> at better than my limit price.
>
> They charge 2.95 per side per contract.
>
> For trading emini NQ/ES, for the price and execution speed, I do
> not think
> they can be beat.
>
> >It is very important to me that I be able to contact the desk if
> the system
> >(or my system) goes down to unwind a position. Many of the introducing
> >brokers have very poorly staffed desks.
>
> IB will meet your expectations then, as they have a small help desk
> facility. If you expect to have plenty of hand holding, do not select IB.
> They expect their clients to be self sufficient.
>
> My recommendation - IMMEDIATELY after an entry order is filled,
> place what
> we call a CRASH STOP. Then you are at least protected should Internet
> connectivity be interrupted or you have a heart attack.
>
> How useful this technique is to you may depend on your trading approach,
> but I'm going to make a wild assumption that you use stops
> extensively for
> protection. Since I can't imagine entering a single trade without knowing
> ahead of time when I am going to get out, using stops for price
> protection
> and computer/internet reliability protection seems natural to me.
>
> If a setup appears and time is short, I might set my crash stop an
> arbitrary number of points away (usually only a couple for the setups I
> trade) and one it has been transmitted then I might adjust its price and
> retransmit. At least I'm protected.
>
> In all this time I've only once had to contact IB help desk to exit a
> trade. I had my crash stop in place, so there was no panic, but the trade
> moved very large in my favour and I wanted to take profits.
> Again, they are
> set up with virtually total automation up to and including
> account set up,
> so they do not have a huge fleet of people sitting there waiting to take
> your call. They will charge you something like 30$ to place a
> trade on your
> behalf.
>
> For the self sufficient trader with reliable connectivity and a
> sound stop
> loss strategy, I think IB is a good choice.
>
> No affiliation, etc, just a happy client.
>
> Regards,
> Michael
>
>
>
> Intelligent Speculator
> Technical Tools and Trading Techniques for Investors
>
> Michael Watkins
> Chief Technical Officer
> watkins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> http://www.intelligentspeculator.com
>
>
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