I hear you man- I have found no single broker or platform gives me everything I want. I use 4 different platform/brokers because of this. It is a bit of a pain at times.
I dropped TS. 9% margin and no drip put the nail in the coffin. I prefer etrade over TS. Etrade pro has improved overtime. Plus they are very acceptable to suggestions. TS is opposite, when I suggest an improvement, they snap at me. I worked on globex, CBOT and CME in development.
What are your top 3 brokers for price and reliability? I am primarily with IB, but looking for backups. Thanks!
I used TS for about 6 years, I would not recommend TS. I used TD Ameriatrade, feels like it was made for novice traders. I like etrade, been using it for over 10 years. And was thinking about using IB as backup. Any thing you like or dislike about IB?
I hate to "report" what is in my brain a rumor, but isn't ETrade-Pro a relabel of IB's TWS?? If they have garnered a price advantage, that's cool, but if not, I'd just go IB. And maybe it's Fidelity Somthin'r'other that I'm thinking of. (Now, isn't that just *helpful*?? Sorry....)
IB is inexpensive and reliable. Although, I've only used them for about a year. Others have more experience. Their charting is very basic, but it's all I need and back it up with tradingview. This seems to be the big negative for traders that need more robust platforms. The other negative is their customer service. It is really hit or miss, and there are some rude people that answer their phone. Overall expense and reliability are more important than platform and customer service for me, but it's not the right choice for everyone.
Do you know if IB has bill pay, auto fund transfer by date, DRIP. ET charges me 3.99/trade and .50/contract, no platform fee. My average trade is 10 contacts, that's under $1/contract. I like ET java api's. Etrade pro is reliable, no issues there.
IB has a recurring fund-transfer feature, but I don't know if it's by date, or what. I would never go for such a thing on a live account -- I want each transaction to be individually authorized -- too much at stake. ("For me.")
Nope. Etrade Pro was built from the ground up. However, I left Etrade when it was starting to gain traction.