fordewind, I sure will miss Xela. She was a great contributor to the forum. She definitely helped me and new traders will definitely miss the good help. What forum did she go to?
Robert Morse, Thanks, what about my question #8 "8. What happens if I check my account one day and it shows $0.00? How will you give me money back that was stolen? Is the money insured?"
No. Futures account are not insured, I wish the NFA/CFTC would create a SIPC type insurance even if it just covered very small account for years until they can build the funds to a meanful number. Your futures account are protected by the segregated accounts. https://www.nfa.futures.org/rulebook/rules.aspx?RuleID=9066&Section=9
Hi Bob, Thanks. On 1 and 2, FuturesMag says: "By having your trading account at a firm that is both a broker/dealer and an FCM, you can transfer funds between your futures account and your securities account. By transferring funds to a securities account, those funds then fall under the Securities Insurance Protection Corp.’s protection and you then have some insurance against losses due to the failure of the broker." Is that no longer quite relevant (above was from 2012)? Re 4: some traders have said depending on how many steps there are from your order to the CME, the speed of your fills could be affected. So say one broker is co-located to CME and other is in Colorado, wouldn't that make a difference?
Where ever your fund reside, that determines what protection you get, So yes, while your funds reside in the SIPC protected account, you are protected by SIPC. "Quality of fills", I took that to refer to depth and liquidity, Speed of execution is based on many factors. Number of hops to their server, what they do with that order after their server gets it etc. Basically, if you enter a market order anywhere in the 48 states, and you do not have WIFI or some old provider, you should get what looks like an immediate execution.
example there is a sonet ring fiber optic loop specifically for members of the cme that office in the cme building and clearing members that have offices outside of the cme building but within the sonet ring loop. mizuho bank i know and others you will have to research is on that fiber loop and gain a great advantage for those who have "prime membership" accounts. usually to gain prime membership status you will have 1mm or more liquid assets on deposit. that opens the door for the very best in service both for the account and speed of service which can only be rivaled by having an office in the cme building itself and being a member. this is my experience and i am sure others will argue there is no advantage. just consider the source and know that the exchanges exist for the sole benefit of it's members. ask yourself are you a member and think about that and how you fit into the pieces of the trading puzzle. m
Thanks Mark. Off the top of your head would you know which of the popular brokers (IB, Amp, Optimus etc) are members of the CME?
this list reveals alot of good information for traders trying to get to the source. https://www.cmegroup.com/clearing/financial-and-regulatory-surveillance/clearing-firms.html
Thanks much Mark. Advantage Futures and Dorman are the only 2 smaller type names that are members of the CME.... If anyone has experience trading with these two relative to other brokers, would be great to hear your evaluation