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So, I've written in both TS and WLP, and found the portfolio level simulation to be the number one characteristic that keeps me with Fidelity. The Quote Execution is reasonable, and has a wide range of services. WLP has specific statistical functions that are only available at Fidelity. I find their tech support average, and training on how to program in WL takes far longer than 3 months, which is the time they give you to start your active trading by requiring at least 10 trades per month for the first three months. I've found them to be reliable, and the best broker I've used for the price. Fidelity has a per trade fee commensurate with the level of research provided to the broker by tens of third parties. I find their research superior to TD Ameritrade specifically, as well as Charles Schwab, and, yes, I have used all three at some point. In the end I've been with them for all of my trading career going back to 2003. Would recommend them for EOD swing trading. |
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I started off on Fidelity, but quickly moved on when I realized how poor/broken their active trader services were. It's not clear to me at all that they're serious about getting into this space.
I will say their ATS trading group is very helpful, at least as much as they can be. You can have someone on the phone within 30 seconds of picking up a phone, and they can place/cancel orders for you.
However... bad news: I programmed with Wealth Lab Pro for some time, but quickly found it to be completely broken vis-a-vis integration to Fidelity. (Can't short, horrible execution tracking, can't reliably cancel orders, etc, etc...)
Worst of all, I quickly found their entire margin calculation back-end is broken. There was a known bug (as of 11/08) in the way buying power was calculated, but a known bug which no one at Fidelity informed their traders about, and which no one could help me bypass. Basically, buying power wasn't being released as stocks were sold... meaning you quickly found yourself deprived of margin intra-day. This absolutely killed my long/short strategy, directly cost me tens of thousands of dollars... and I never even got a call/email of apology from anyone there.
Use Fidelity if you're trading a few times a month... but stay away if you're actually active. |
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