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Posted by GTS on 12-18-11 11:17 PM:

MBTrading Sucks

Another futures market open, another "Currently Running On Back Up, Will Advise!" message from MBT and my positions are all screwed up (they have me short NQ and flat ES when I'm flat NQ and long ES) Oh yea, and my account balance is about $20k short right now.

Same thing last Friday morning until 8:30am when I guess they show up to work and fix it. They just aren't geared for futures trading, they only seem to try to get things right for regular trading hours.

Lame

Posted by Catoosa on 12-19-11 03:47 AM:

I believe the back office problems are within MBTrading's clearing firm Pension. Pension does not seem to take their futures clearing serious. Pension has had the problems you described for over 2 years. There are also errors on their confirmations for futures transactions that have existed for more than a year. I have contacted MBTrading and Pension about these problems many times and still nothing gets fixed. Pension can best be described by their companies stock share price of only a dollar per share.

What I like best about MBTrading is their client universal account (stocks, futures, and options all within a single account) with unlimited client check writing on the account.

Posted by southbeach4me on 12-19-11 04:42 AM:

GTS, don't you think its time to find another futures broker then?... or do you like to slowly torture yourself?

IB, Velocity, AMP Global Clearing( my broker), Mirus, etc..... very good ones.

Posted by GTS on 12-19-11 12:54 PM:

Quote from Catoosa:

I believe the back office problems are within MBTrading's clearing firm Pension. Pension does not seem to take their futures clearing serious. Pension has had the problems you described for over 2 years. There are also errors on their confirmations for futures transactions that have existed for more than a year. I have contacted MBTrading and Pension about these problems many times and still nothing gets fixed. Pension can best be described by their companies stock share price of only a dollar per share.

Catoosa, I agree, all of the problems appear to be related to Penson.

Quote from southbeach4me:
GTS, don't you think its time to find another futures broker then?... or do you like to slowly torture yourself?

IB, Velocity, AMP Global Clearing( my broker), Mirus, etc..... very good ones.

Actually I already have an IB account and actively use both. For redundancy I like having two different brokers and to avoid monthly data fees I trade both. I also have a non-trivial amount of time invested in C++ code I've written against the MBT API, while I've done some work with the IB TWS API as well I prefer the approach of the MBT API.

I must be an eternal optimist because I keep hoping that one day MBT will get its act together.

Anyway to update my original post, it appears they fixed the positions overnight so now my account reflects reality again, albeit with the wrong account balance (short by $5k now) but that is almost never correct unless I go completely flat and wait a day.

Posted by WS_MJH on 12-19-11 02:19 PM:

How good is MB Trading's platform? They are suppose to be as highly rated as tos, tradestation and ib?

Posted by MBT-Steve on 12-19-11 02:34 PM:

GTS..... Last week Penson went through a back office conversion which caused MBT to use our backup file. There should have only been a very short period where positions and balances needed to be updated past our normal time.

Today (monday)Penson is using the standard file and all looks good. Please pvt msg me if your position or balance does not look correct and I will follow up. Again, everything is running normal for our file from Penson.

Posted by GTS on 12-19-11 03:21 PM:

Quote from MBT-Steve:

GTS..... Last week Penson went through a back office conversion which caused MBT to use our backup file. There should have only been a very short period where positions and balances needed to be updated past our normal time.

Today (monday)Penson is using the standard file and all looks good. Please pvt msg me if your position or balance does not look correct and I will follow up. Again, everything is running normal for our file from Penson.

Hi Steve,

I received notice about the Penson backoffice change on Dec 9th. My positions were wrong the morning of Friday Dec 16th so I don't think that was related. The standard alert went about running on backup, please don't trade out of erroneous positions so I know it wasn't just me with the problem. Later that morning my positions and balance were corrected and everything was fine the rest of that day.

When I launched MBT Desktop Sunday night (18th) for the open of the futures market again my positions were completely wrong and my balance was wrong. I ignored that it and traded normally and this morning when I checked things seemed to be correct again with my positions however my balance is still off.

To be honest I'm used to my MBT balance being off all the time, the only time it seems to be right is if I let my account sit flat, I assumed that it had something to do cash being managed between my MBT and Penson but frankly my IB account balance (net liquidation value) is always correct all the time so maybe I should set my expectations higher.

If you want to look into the account balance issue that would be great, I'll PM you my account id shortly.

Posted by GTS on 12-20-11 12:32 PM:

Another morning...another screwed up account

Let's see, here is a message waiting for me from MBT:
"Critical Currently Running on Backup, Will Advise. 03:59:01"

That was 4am, its now 7:30am, I guess that's not enough time to fix it?

My positions are wrong, again, MBT has me short ES when I am long. My account balance is short to the tune of about $5k again.

Steve, why is it so difficult to maintain this information correctly?

Posted by DTrade88 on 12-21-11 12:32 PM:

MBT Perms server down

MBT Perms server down. Impossible to login into account. 07:28 am EST.

Posted by GTS on 12-21-11 12:52 PM:

Re: MBT Perms server down

Quote from DTrade88:

MBT Perms server down. Impossible to login into account. 07:28 am EST.

Ditto....also can't login to web site since then.

Edit: Looks like both just came back up...7:55am

Posted by DTrade88 on 12-21-11 12:55 PM:

MBT Perms server back up afer being down for about 25 minutes. 07:50 am EST. What's going on here?!

Posted by DTrade88 on 12-21-11 02:43 PM:

MBT-Steve,

Can you please explain what is going on with MBT today? The perms server has been down more than a dozen times now since about 07:30 am EST. This is a disaster!

Posted by GTS on 12-23-11 12:50 PM:

Good Morning MBT customers!

Futures: Running on backup, will advise. 06:10:07
Futures: Please do not close out of erroneous positions. 06:11:06

Posted by MBT-Steve on 12-23-11 02:28 PM:

With regards to Futures only, Penson has an issue with regards to the upload file due to a formatting inconsistancy. This is created from the recent conversion. We expect to have this resolved shortly where we wont need to use the backup file. However, your trading should not be interrupted during this process.

Posted by promagma on 12-23-11 03:14 PM:

Quote from WS_MJH:

How good is MB Trading's platform? They are suppose to be as highly rated as tos, tradestation and ib?

MBT Web platform is garbage (I understand it is beta though)

MBT Desktop is decent but still seen a lot of weird things. Like a sell stop not executing until 10:23 even though the stock was trading below the stop all morning since 9:30. That can be bad.

Posted by southbeach4me on 12-23-11 03:57 PM:

There is no excuse for these screw ups, that's all u tell your customers now..."we'll fix it shortly, "we'll resolve the matter for sure by ...... time"...

Same BS different day, and you traders/morons just stand there like ducks in a dry pond waiting for the water to come back, lol, .......some people never learn, do they!

Posted by Mvector on 12-23-11 04:00 PM:

maybe penson was trading with the customer funds and needed some extra time to put it all back!

Posted by MBT-Steve on 12-23-11 05:32 PM:

Southbeach...

I agree however its a bit out of my control so the best I can do is let my customers know we are aware and working on a resolution. Issue will arise from time to time and when they do MBT takes an upfront approach to identify it and fix it. That is why I am here and will give support and updates publicly.

Steve

Posted by themickey on 12-23-11 07:08 PM:

Quote from GTS:

Another morning...another screwed up account........Steve, why is it so difficult to maintain this information correctly?

The most logical thing is vote your feedback in the 'Latest Broker Ratings' on the LHS panel of this forum, home page.

I don't see your comments written there.

What's the point of making lots of noise on this thread without voting your feedback in the appropriate place where current and future traders can see a correct poll on what ET traders really think about services supplied by brokers and software?

Baron sets up a great service on ET for us to use and I don't see your recent vote on what is obviously an important issue.

Thanks

Posted by GoBucks on 12-27-11 03:37 AM:

I agree wholeheartedly...MB Sucks

I've traded with MB for over 6 years. Customer service has gone from garage quality to nearly non-existent.

Moreover, the errors in Account Balance every G-damn day and ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS running on back have grown very old. I am now looking at moving all of my assets for Futures Trading to a more reliable broker.

Sorry Steve, but your excuses for such poor quality are unacceptable. Your company has been around long enough to know better.

Here's some free advise: Kick your IT Department in the ass and tell them to get on the ball (you guys botched the recent conversion badly and it SHOWS!). If that's not the problem, then start raising Hell with he people at Penson. You WILL LOSE BUSINESS. Finally, your customer service reps are way to laid back, seem to have limited securities knowledge, even less tech knowledge, and are only good for placing limit orders and reading account balances.

In other words, get MB's act together. MB's messing up BIG TIME and I would NEVER recommend this site to a new trader, much less someone with a substantial amount of experience (they can obviously do much better elsewhere with the multiple Brokers available. At this point.... I WILL PAY MORE for BETTER QUALITY NOT FOUND at MB TRADING.

TradeStation.... here I come.

__________________
"Go confidently in the direction of our dreams. Live the life you have imagined." Henry David Thoreau

Posted by DTrade88 on 01-04-12 01:30 PM:

"Account temporarily unavailable for trading". WEDNESDAY, 1/4/12, 08:28 EST (!!!).

Posted by GTS on 01-04-12 02:28 PM:

Quote from DTrade88:

"Account temporarily unavailable for trading". WEDNESDAY, 1/4/12, 08:28 EST (!!!).

Yea me too, waited a minute and tried again and it was back.

Posted by GTS on 01-05-12 12:38 PM:

"Please do not trade out of erroneous positions. 04:22:14"

Posted by arbs-r-us on 01-05-12 01:10 PM:

Quote from GTS:

"Please do not trade out of erroneous positions. 04:22:14"

Someone keeps tripping over the power cord for the TRS-80 that runs MB's bookkeeping system.

__________________
gulfspiller

Posted by DTrade88 on 01-31-12 01:08 PM:

Impossible to login into account thought MBT website. This has been going on for a couple of hours now. Tuesday, 08:10 EST.

Posted by GTS on 01-31-12 01:18 PM:

Quote from DTrade88:

Impossible to login into account thought MBT website. This has been going on for a couple of hours now. Tuesday, 08:10 EST.

I just tried and was able to login but it did seem slow.

Posted by GTS on 02-28-12 02:47 PM:

I happened to be reviewing my MB account for tax purposes and noticed some odd data charges: I did not sign up for COMEX full size quotes but suddenly in Oct 2011 I was charged $61 for it. The charge was reversed the next day (unknown to me). Nothing for November then in Jan 2012 I was again charged $61 for COMDEX - this time it was not auto-reversed.

I also saw a couple of other minor weirdness going on with Nasdaq Level 2, charged out of the blue, reversed, and then charged again - nothing that inspires confidence. I documented the whole mess and opened a ticket with them.

MB customers may want to review their cash history (on the Penson site, Account Information->Cash History) and look for unexpected entries.

Posted by Catoosa on 02-28-12 05:19 PM:

Quote from GTS:

I happened to be reviewing my MB account for tax purposes and noticed some odd data charges: I did not sign up for COMEX full size quotes but suddenly in Oct 2011 I was charged $61 for it. The charge was reversed the next day (unknown to me). Nothing for November then in Jan 2012 I was again charged $61 for COMDEX - this time it was not auto-reversed.

What you explained for the COMEX $61 fees is exactly what happened to me. As of 10/07/11, COMEX full quotes were shown as free on MBT website and in MBT Client Account Market Data Subscriptions. At some point in time after 10/07/11, MBT changed the COMEX fee wording from free to what you now see on their website and also what is now shown in MBT Client Account Market Data Subscriptions. I was signed up for free COMEX free full quotes on 10/07/11 and MBT later changed their wording to $61 for COMEX full and free for COMEX Mini quotes. MBT will most likely charge your account $61 for COMEX full quotes for January and February 2012. I cannot prove to MBT when MBT changed their wording with respect to COMEX fee changes. MBT usually takes the position that MBT never makes mistakes, is always right, and the client is wrong and at fault.

Posted by DTrade88 on 02-28-12 05:28 PM:

FYI: MBT sent out an e-mail on Wednesday, 11/30/11, informing customers of changes to data feed pricing (see below)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Valued Customer,

We are writing to inform you that MB Trading has changed its data feed offerings. If you generate at least $25 per month in aggregate commissions across all equities, options and futures accounts per username login you will receive NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ, Options Data, Futures E-mini data (CBOT,CME,COMEX, NYMEX) for FREE. Otherwise the cost will be $6 per month.

Additionally, we have changed our pass-through charges for full-size Futures contracts. All full-size Futures data, aside from ICE, now cost $61 per month. ICE futures will cost $65 per month.

A quick guide of the changes are below for your convenience.

Market Data Express Indexes (CBOE) $2.00

NASDAQ Level II $10.00

NASDAQ Totalview $15.00

NYSE ArcaBook $10.00

Toronto Stock Exchange $9.50

COMEX (Full Size Contracts) 1/1/2012 $61.00

CME (Full Size Contracts) $61.00

CBOT (Full Size Contracts) $61.00

NYMEX (Full Size Contracts) 1/1/2012 $61.00

ICE Futures US $65.00

ICE Futures US 1/2/2012 $75.00

1. The non-professional Data Bundle is free to clients who generate at least $25 per month in aggregate commissions across all equities, options and futures accounts per username login. Forex activity is not included in this calculation. Applicable commissions will be attributed only to trades that were entered under the username login. For example, a desk trade would not count toward the $25 commission level. Those clients who do not reach the $25 commission level in a calendar month will be charged a $6 per month data fee that will be deducted from the account with the largest cash balance. If the client does have an account with a sufficient cash balance to be charged this data fee the Level 1 Data Bundle will be automatically removed from the account. The client will be responsible to add cash or to liquidate sufficient positions in an account to provide the cash balance sufficient to cover this fee.

2. Requires a funded Futures-enabled account. In order to receive market data for futures, all users must complete the Uniform Subscriber Agreement during the online futures account application or available at this link. This completed document can be faxed (310-388-3115) or emailed to newaccounts@mbtrading.com.

3. All data feeds will be automatically disabled once an account value (including cash and positions) has fallen below $100. Data feeds may be reactivated with additional funding and by emailing support@mbtrading.com.

Good Trading,
MB Trading

Posted by pma on 02-28-12 05:33 PM:

Wow-what a hose job! Some businesses just do not get it. Other firms are LOWERING fees and they are jacking them. Not too smart.

Posted by GTS on 02-28-12 05:40 PM:

Quote from DTrade88:

FYI: MBT sent out an e-mail on Wednesday, 11/30/11, informing customers of changes to data feed pricing (see below)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Valued Customer,

We are writing to inform you that MB Trading has changed its data feed offerings. If you generate at least $25 per month in aggregate commissions across all equities, options and futures accounts per username login you will receive NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ, Options Data, Futures E-mini data (CBOT,CME,COMEX, NYMEX) for FREE. Otherwise the cost will be $6 per month.

Additionally, we have changed our pass-through charges for full-size Futures contracts. All full-size Futures data, aside from ICE, now cost $61 per month. ICE futures will cost $65 per month.

A quick guide of the changes are below for your convenience.

Market Data Express Indexes (CBOE) $2.00

NASDAQ Level II $10.00

NASDAQ Totalview $15.00

NYSE ArcaBook $10.00

Toronto Stock Exchange $9.50

COMEX (Full Size Contracts) 1/1/2012 $61.00
..snip..

Thanks DTrade88. I have all my email setup to go to two different accounts automatically (domain forward), my ISP email and Gmail. A copy of that email does not exist in either location for me so I doubt I received it.

Regardless, it is not clear to me from that email that COMEX full size went from FREE to $61, just that the fee changed from something to $61 on that day.

Interestingly I was charged the first time on 11/16/2011 which is a couple weeks before that email was sent.

Also I was not charged a fee for November so they are clearly screwed up.

Posted by Catoosa on 02-28-12 06:17 PM:

Quote from DTrade88:

FYI: MBT sent out an e-mail on Wednesday, 11/30/11, informing customers of changes to data feed pricing (see below)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Valued Customer,

We are writing to inform you that MB Trading has changed its data feed offerings. If you generate at least $25 per month in aggregate commissions across all equities, options and futures accounts per username login you will receive NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ, Options Data, Futures E-mini data (CBOT,CME,COMEX, NYMEX) for FREE. Otherwise the cost will be $6 per month.

Additionally, we have changed our pass-through charges for full-size Futures contracts. All full-size Futures data, aside from ICE, now cost $61 per month. ICE futures will cost $65 per month.

A quick guide of the changes are below for your convenience.

Market Data Express Indexes (CBOE) $2.00

NASDAQ Level II $10.00

NASDAQ Totalview $15.00

NYSE ArcaBook $10.00

Toronto Stock Exchange $9.50

COMEX (Full Size Contracts) 1/1/2012 $61.00

CME (Full Size Contracts) $61.00

CBOT (Full Size Contracts) $61.00

NYMEX (Full Size Contracts) 1/1/2012 $61.00

ICE Futures US $65.00

ICE Futures US 1/2/2012 $75.00

1. The non-professional Data Bundle is free to clients who generate at least $25 per month in aggregate commissions across all equities, options and futures accounts per username login. Forex activity is not included in this calculation. Applicable commissions will be attributed only to trades that were entered under the username login. For example, a desk trade would not count toward the $25 commission level. Those clients who do not reach the $25 commission level in a calendar month will be charged a $6 per month data fee that will be deducted from the account with the largest cash balance. If the client does have an account with a sufficient cash balance to be charged this data fee the Level 1 Data Bundle will be automatically removed from the account. The client will be responsible to add cash or to liquidate sufficient positions in an account to provide the cash balance sufficient to cover this fee.

2. Requires a funded Futures-enabled account. In order to receive market data for futures, all users must complete the Uniform Subscriber Agreement during the online futures account application or available at this link. This completed document can be faxed (310-388-3115) or emailed to newaccounts@mbtrading.com.

3. All data feeds will be automatically disabled once an account value (including cash and positions) has fallen below $100. Data feeds may be reactivated with additional funding and by emailing support@mbtrading.com.

Good Trading,
MB Trading

I have an email account number I use for correspondence only with MBT. I have checked this account and found no such email in the in-basket, spam folder, or trash folder. I do not think MBT sent this email to me.

Market data fee subscription agreements are contract agreements. If a broker changes a market data fee, the broker needs to cancel the existing contract agreement and have the client sign a new contract agreement with the data fee changes. Broker changes to an existing signed market data fee contract agreement is no longer a binding contract agreement.

Posted by DHOHHI on 02-28-12 10:03 PM:

[QUOTE]Quote from GTS:

Thanks DTrade88. I have all my email setup to go to two different accounts automatically (domain forward), my ISP email and Gmail. A copy of that email does not exist in either location for me so I doubt I received it.

Regardless, it is not clear to me from that email that COMEX full size went from FREE to $61, just that the fee changed from something to $61 on that day.

Interestingly I was charged the first time on 11/16/2011 which is a couple weeks before that email was sent.

Also I was not charged a fee for November so they are clearly screwed up. [/QUOTE

I have 2 accounts with MB and another account of a friend that I trade and all 3 accounts received an email.

As far as charges hitting your accounts it may be related to the conversion that Penson was doing late last year -- not sure but a possibility.

Posted by DTrade88 on 02-29-12 03:52 PM:

MBT's NYMEX data feed is down

Update: After about 15min on hold, was told by an MBT rep that as of yesterday (2/28/12) current NYMEX and COMEX data subscribers had their NYMEX and COMEX data subscriptions terminated (due to confusion surrounding the new pricing) and had to call in to have NYMEX / COMEX subscriptions added back to their account. No e-mail was sent by MBT giving clients a heads-up...

Posted by Catoosa on 02-29-12 07:44 PM:

Quote from DTrade88:

MBT's NYMEX data feed is down

Update: After about 15min on hold, was told by an MBT rep that as of yesterday (2/28/12) current NYMEX and COMEX data subscribers had their NYMEX and COMEX data subscriptions terminated (due to confusion surrounding the new pricing) and had to call in to have NYMEX / COMEX subscriptions added back to their account. No e-mail was sent by MBT giving clients a heads-up...

This is what MBT should have done at the same time they first implemented each of the pricing changes.

Thank you for letting us know.

Posted by GTS on 02-29-12 07:47 PM:

Quote from Catoosa:

This is what MBT should have done at the same time they first implemented each of the pricing changes.

Thank you for letting us know.

Unreal - they haven't bothered to reply to my support ticket that I put in yesterday morning. Thanks for the update DTrade88.

Edit: My account doesn't show any changes yet and even more funny is that I've never signed any agreement for these feeds, my account looks like this:

COMEX Full Size Contracts [ Not Signed ]
NYMEX miNY quotes [ Not Signed ]
CME Mini Data Package [ Not Signed ]

Posted by shopster on 02-29-12 08:02 PM:

Rule no. 1

never trade with a broker from Cal.

the lads are usually at the wedge in Newport, fully stoked, waiting to max out the richter on a 30 ft. narly breaker riding a big gun.

s

__________________
the world is so certain yet i walk on thin ice.

Posted by Catoosa on 02-29-12 10:41 PM:

Quote from GTS:

Unreal - they haven't bothered to reply to my support ticket that I put in yesterday morning. Thanks for the update DTrade88.

Edit: My account doesn't show any changes yet and even more funny is that I've never signed any agreement for these feeds, my account looks like this:

I think MBT has been gathering and reviewing all of the information with respect to this market data confusion problem before deciding how to handle their affected clients. Sure looks like you will not be charged for any of the past subject data since you did not sign any data contract agreements.

MBT could apply for and get CBOT and CME exchange waivers for free client market data for the "Electronically Traded" "Full Size" futures contracts. NYMEX, COMEX, and ICE/NYBOT also offer waivers that reduce the data fees on the electronically traded full size products to about a $1.00 a month but CBOT and CME waivers are the most important to obtain. Most futures brokers offer these pass through waivers for their clients with a futures account (TD Ameritrade, Interactive Brokers, Lightspeed, etc.). I think any broker serious about offering futures trading obtains these market data waivers for the electronically traded full size contracts. MBT needs to seek-out and obtain these waivers.

Posted by BlueTurtle on 02-29-12 11:18 PM:

I had an account with MB once, but they didn't let me trade at night. Other firms allowed night trading.

It's like two Coke Machines. One is 50 cents and open 24/7 and the other is 60 cents and you can only buy a can during the hours of 9 am til 4 p.m.

It is now 5 p.m.

Go with IB....but they have flaws as well.

Just not as many

Posted by DTrade88 on 03-05-12 11:55 PM:

"Trading temporarily unavailable for accounts..." since 6:30pm EST. Just called trading desk (tech not answering their phones), no ETA from tech when this will be fixed. Almost 30 mintues now and counting.

UPDATE: access to account balances and positions restored at 07:15pm EST after approximately 45 minutes of downtime.

Posted by PBateman7 on 03-10-12 10:09 PM:

Is MB's trading system any good? I am with IB but looking for a new broker.

Posted by GTS on 03-10-12 10:25 PM:

What products do you want to trade?

Posted by PBateman7 on 03-10-12 10:59 PM:

stocks mostly. options not too often also

Posted by GTS on 03-10-12 11:18 PM:

Quote from PBateman7:

stocks mostly. options not too often also

I haven't traded stocks with MB for quite some time so I'll let others answer.

What is your issue with IB that has you looking elsewhere?

Posted by PBateman7 on 03-11-12 03:24 AM:

more and more i feel like i need better software. the system feels laggy. looking for better execution.

Posted by DTrade88 on 04-19-12 08:02 PM:

Perm servers down since 2:46 pm EST.
Back up after almost 50 minutes of downtime. This is bad...

Posted by Catoosa on 04-24-12 09:18 PM:

MBT Perm server down this afternoon through close of trading at 4:00 EST. I doubt if MBT could have placed an order if you called it in to their trading desk. I doubt if Barron's does more than look at a brokers website to determine Barron's Broker Rankings (Barron's likes the looks of the latest MBT website).

Posted by DTrade88 on 04-24-12 09:25 PM:

Same here... They just can't seem to fix whatever is causing Perm server disconnects. These disconnects have been happening with alarming frequency over the course of the last 2 weeks. And the timing of these disconnects is just unbelievably bad. Come on, MBT, get your act together!

Posted by GTS on 04-28-12 03:39 PM:

From: MB Trading
Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2012 1:03 AM
Subject: Update from MB Trading

Dear Client,

We experienced two brief permission server outages this week. This may have impacted some users attempting to connect to the Desktop and Desktop Pro trading platforms during those times.

We have identified and corrected the issue and the resulting erroneous error message stating, �someone has logged in as you� that may have displayed to some users. Despite the erroneous message you may have received, no one else was accessing your account, this is simply a security measure in place as a preventative measure.

We would like to take this opportunity to remind you that we have a fully staffed trade desk with professional traders ready to assist you with your trades. Our traders can be reached by calling 866-628-3002 or 310-414-4553.

We thank you for your patience and apologize for any inconvenience.

MB Trading

I experienced one such "someone has logged in as you" message this past week. Good stuff.

Posted by Mark2m on 04-28-12 04:03 PM:

Spoke to MB on Problem

Indicated to MB, to at least warn you of the problem, via 1) email, 2) notification when you call (as does IB), instead you are awaiting technical help, in some cases at 15-20 minutes, wait. Dont leave a message, than they will never get back to you.
Overall , I am reasonably satisfied with them. They are a very minor portion of our portfolio, our problem too much concentration with 4 accounts at IB. Honestly, there is no one else I can consider since trade 3-4 round trips per day per account and execution and commissions need to remain low.
I have reduced my trading with MB in the past year, mainly due to Penson, which is honestly the biggest joke out there. For years, except this year, receive amended 1099's at least three from March to April. This year, only two 1099's, things are getting better.

Posted by GTS on 04-28-12 04:26 PM:

Re: Spoke to MB on Problem

Quote from Mark2m:

Indicated to MB, to at least warn you of the problem, via 1) email, 2) notification when you call (as does IB), instead you are awaiting technical help, in some cases at 15-20 minutes, wait. Dont leave a message, than they will never get back to you.
Overall , I am reasonably satisfied with them. They are a very minor portion of our portfolio, our problem too much concentration with 4 accounts at IB. Honestly, there is no one else I can consider since trade 3-4 round trips per day per account and execution and commissions need to remain low.
I have reduced my trading with MB in the past year, mainly due to Penson, which is honestly the biggest joke out there. For years, except this year, receive amended 1099's at least three from March to April. This year, only two 1099's, things are getting better.

Yea, I don't bother contacting MB support about problems like strange messages or being unable to connect because its either frustrating or pointless - unless they have cost me money (like charging me for quote data packages that I didn't sign up for) I don't bother.

MB is getting less and less of my trading business and my IB account is benefiting from it. The only reason I'm keeping MB is that I need to have a second futures trading account and I have invested quite a bit of time in coding software that works with their API.

Penson closed at 0.47, all time low is 0.46...woo hoo!

Posted by jplazard on 04-28-12 04:39 PM:

Hi all,

Can i ask you as i was going to open an account with mb whatdo they need improvement on? I hear they have great customer service (forex side read on a forum But the option for platforms dont allow much tweaking. Also on their futures side do you know if their 24hrs or only able to contact during US session. Thanks in advance

Posted by upandcomer on 04-28-12 10:54 PM:

Quote from jplazard:

Hi all,

Can i ask you as i was going to open an account with mb whatdo they need improvement on? I hear they have great customer service (forex side read on a forum But the option for platforms dont allow much tweaking. Also on their futures side do you know if their 24hrs or only able to contact during US session. Thanks in advance

I have been with MB for four years but I don't trade full time (100-200 trades per year). Had I not been grandfathered into MB's old commission plan, I would honestly change to IB or some other firm.

Biggest complaint I have is their inconsistency (I trade stocks and options). If you have read this thread you can see that many people have had server disconnection problems; these and other types of error messages are of frequent occurrence and something I have learned to deal with. MB Desktop Pro has sub-par options technology. Also, their web and mobile based platforms are generally worthless.

I must say however that MB's customer service is terrific. I have always been able to speak to someone relatively quickly when I call cs. Phone orders are also excellent. Four years ago, when I was in high school, I was forced to call in to the order desk to execute many of my trades since web and mobile platforms where not yet available. I probably called the order desk roughly 50 times and was connected to a broker immediately every time. I never had an order placed incorrectly and the whole process was very smooth. In addition to their telephone services, online chat representatives are very helpful though it may take a few minutes to speak with one. I believe they recently added Skype as well..

Concerning rates for commission plans, I don't know how IB or other competitors currently compare to MB. If competitor�s rates are competitive, a different firm may be the way to go, in my opinion.

Hopefully this helped, I know you would like the opinion of someone with a little more experience but I figured one response would be better than none. Sorry no comment concerning forex trading.

Posted by Mark2m on 04-28-12 11:28 PM:

IB vs MB

IB pros - 1) no money markets, no sweep accounts, therefore eliminated T+3, so if you have $XX in your account (IRA cash acct or brokerage margin) you can trade all of it on Monday AM. sell Monday PM, and you dont have to wait till Thursday (trade date + 3 days to settle)
2) Pricing varies, since I trade mainly in 100-200 blocks @ $4 -$8K price is .005 no less than $1, so ie: 200 stock trade will be $1.00.
3) Minimum is $30 per month whether you trade or not, so if $26 in trades than you pay $4 more at the end of the month.
4) I dont recall price for futures mini, but very competitive, I sometimes will trade e-mini's.
5) Used to trade TSX, still do at times, note keep Canadian dollars the same as money market for TSX or Venture.
Honestly, they have so many good points, the only reason I keep MB, is I like the Watchlist Layout (although limited to 100 symbols) and easier to open chart. Most of my charting used to be Ensign with IB Data Feed. Also MB tends to be cheaper if you speculate on $1.50 stocks at 3000 shares, than IB gets to be pricey.

Note: also IB, downloads directly to Turbo Tax without going via Quicken, easier to maintain , 10 pages of trades.

IB cons - 1) you need to know what you are doing, no hand holding, service is not beneficial for newbie. 2) charts arent the best, quite honestly trading with them for 12 years, never used their charts. 3) Filtering for movers, low cost stocks, etc.. is so so.4) platform is a bit complex, takes getting used to, especially since everything can be adjusted, unlike MB which is much simpler.

Posted by Catoosa on 04-29-12 04:46 AM:

Re: IB vs MB

Quote from Mark2m:

3) Minimum is $30 per month whether you trade or not, so if $26 in trades than you pay $4 more at the end of the month.

This seemed to be a little more than what I recalled as IB's activity minimums. I went back and read IB's activity minimums and this is the way I understood the minimum activity cost per month: If a trader generates less than $10 per month in trade commissions in a month, a fee will be added so the fee plus the commissions equals $10.00. Also, if a client is signed up for the USA market data bundle, there is a additional $10.00 monthly fee which is waived whenever the monthly commissions generated in the account reach 30.00 USD. The way I interpret this is the minimum monthly charge for no activity is $10.00 if the client is not signed up for the USA market data bundle. If the client is signed up for the USA market data bundle, the total monthly fee for no trading activity is $20.00.

Posted by DTrade88 on 07-09-12 12:40 PM:

Monday morning. Numerous perm server disconnects starting around 1:30 am EST. MBT, this is no way to start the week.

Posted by GTS on 07-09-12 12:44 PM:

Quote from DTrade88:

Monday morning. Numerous perm server disconnects starting around 1:30 am EST. MBT, this is no way to start the week.

MBTrading Mobile has been showing no positions, zero account balance since futures opened Sunday night (still the case now). MBT Desktop app looks fine to me right now (account normal)

Watchlists on the same mobile app (Android) has been screwed for 2 weeks...get some sort of error that says 'try again later'.

Posted by carpani on 07-15-12 06:43 AM:

Closed my account after only 1 month with them. Customer service never responds, website/mobileapp so buggy and agree with the no positions in the mornings, etc. Plus they use Penson financial as agent and atlas ratings puts them down close to PFG on the list so that's not good. ( http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/defa...0709_FCM5_0.png )

Posted by DTrade88 on 07-17-12 10:50 AM:

Tuesday morning. Numerous disconnects AGAIN ("Trading temporarily unavailable", "invalid username", "internal database error") starting around 3:00 am EST.

Posted by DTrade88 on 08-02-12 02:16 PM:

Knight Capital

MBT sent out a letter about a month ago informing its futures clients that Knight Execution & Clearing Services (now part of Knight Capital) has taken over futures clearing operations from Penson Futures Division.

As fate would have it, Knight Capital is on the front page of every major newspaper with today's headline indicating that they took a $440 million loss as a result of yesterday's "trading glitch". In light of this development, any reason to be concerned about the safety of funds held in MBT Futures accounts?

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