Hi Guys, I need some opinions re brokers. I've got my IB account ready for funding but I am getting spooked by people who say don't put your money in the US/Connection Problems/Backup problems etc. Now from a purely economic view there is no competition IB wins over easy2trade hands down. But I'd really welcome some informed opinions.
in the end you only have one way of not losing a lot of money at once - don't expose yourself to that risk in the first place. if putting on 1 e-mini ES/NQ contract makes you fretful over whether your connection with your broker will go down then either pay up to go with a broker with fully-manned trade desks or trade something like the SPY/QQQ in smaller size. secondly have a think about what demands your trading method has on your software/connection reliability - the shorter the time frame you use the higher the reliability/redundancy you need... if you are taking one or two position trades per day then you probably leave stops/limits in the market anyway so any connection loss would not be that important (from you to broker). some exchanges accept stops on their servers so again a loss of the broker-exhcange connection would not be too much of a problem... but if you're scalping in and out every few minutes without hard stops then you need that reliability/redundancy and you have to pay for it. Q1
Well Quiet1 said it best really helen.. its a risky game is all I guess. I just hope for the best myself.. lol I am only 'in' the market for relatively short periods during the day and do not always use IB stops but prefer to hover my finger over the mouse button. I have used the new trailing stop feature recently and that may be a good idea as a rule for every trade if it suits your trading style.. at least you are then covered in the event of a connect loss or a power cut etc.. if it goes against you the stop will take it and if it goes your way you will either still be in or have the gain taken as the trailing stop takes you out on a pullback.. In the future, when rich and succesfull and living in the south of france.. I plan to have two pc systems, ups system with back-up generator, mobile phone internet connection and back up broker too so I can hedge any position I am in if all else fails! lol (not joking!!!) Neil
Hi Following on Helen's comments re:IB - I myself am a little concerned about the US daytrading rules which IB note in their web site stating that the minimum account balance for day trading is $25,000 - not there quite yet!!. Doesn't seem to be an issue when dealing CFDs out of the UK but may be an issue when signed up to IB - is this true?? Neil - following on from the other UK thread started by Helen, I've signed up to Sierrachart for my charting needs. For the price ($35 for 6 months plus data feed), it is an excellent package - includes scans and you can build your own personal indicators. Also, You can use IB for data feed if you wish. By the way, seeing as am new to elitetrader, what does LOL mean/stand for??? Good luck Bouds
all the brokers are as reliable or unreliable as each other, i guess IB has more retail traders than most, and as they cover stocks and options as well as futures, they are going to get more flak just because of the the wide client base convering so many different types of trading just trade one contract, dont hold for too long until you get confident with platform and the reliability, take profits when u can, cut losers most who are nervous of IB have probably never used them and maybe have never used any broker - system problems are just part of the game and if people dont accept that - they need to look for a new game
Bouds, there is plenty on this site about the day trader margin rules introduced last year.. a bit complicated but if you do a search of the site from top right of this screen you can read away to your hearts content.. but basically it means this.. *You can do NO MORE than THREE intra day round trip trades of stocks with a FIVE day period.. that is with a margin account with I think it is a min of 5k.. you can do any amount of trade in whci you open on one day and close the next *To do more than three a day you are classified as a 'pattern day trader' and you must maintain a min balance of 25k at all times *It is not an issue re cfd's out of the UK.. but as stevet will be quick to point out there are plenty other problems to keep you busy with them Yes, I just signed up for sierra too.. just for fun and as a back up.. I am also using esignal again as a feed for ensign.. have cpu isssues with this bunch but they have nice analytics and a great service.. also still have the dreaded qcharts feeding erlangerquote, which despite the drawbacks have the best formulas and the most elegant charts of any package I have yet seen, including the famous but (in my opinion) vastly overated Realtick.. Neil
what issues are u thinking of Neil as long as u use gni, ( a lot of CFD suppliers wholesale from GNI, but some spreadbettors may make their own book), who go directly into the exchanges for US stocks, and u can route or take the best price, i suspect it is a good way for UK people to trade US stocks - less margin to put up, 10 times leverage and i believe no downtick rule however, as they dont supply the API for their trading platform, i have never looked too deeply into how the whole thing is operated
Hi all Following Stevet comments on GNI, I have some further info that may be useful about their service: - UK and US CFD trades available - no min $25k balance rules for US day trading - Quotes and spreads are real time actual - unlike d4f - Fees per trade 0.25%, min £25 - Margins as follows: FTSE100 10% - non tech stocks (tech =20%) FTSE250 15% S&P 15% NASADQ 25% - Comes with what appears to be good package including Reuters real time, intraday streaming charts and studies, market reports etc. - UK Level 2 screen extra £100 per month, NASDAQ Level 2 £50 per month Hope this is useful Bouds
p.s. i have never met a Uk person who has made money on an ongoing basis trading stocks, by cfd, spreadbetting or whatever basically stocks go up when indicies go up adn stocks go down when the indicie goes down, so why not trade the indicie there are plays in trading weaknesses and stregths in stocks - and arbitrage against futures, options and sectors - but if u understand those - you know what you are doing anyway