Thank you Robert Morse, So I can deposit $20K in a future broker account and wake up the next morning and its gone and I just lose $20K?
it has happened more than once and the stupid gov regulators have no power at all. in fact many times i think gov regulators are in on it. when you make it you better get it out fast.
Thank you MarkBrown, Can you please in detail what you mean by "when you make it you better get it out fast."? Break it down for me. For example, if I have $20K sitting in my Future Broker account right now I use for trading futures? It can be lost right, so do I transfer to my checking my account every X days or what?
i would never have more money in my account than 1.) i could afford to lose and it would not effect my lifestyle. 2.) than i need to trade for margin purposes and maintain my positions etc. 3.) it use to be a common practice to put your money in 90 day t-bills and use that as collateral to trade with so you gain some interest.
Thank you @Scataphagos and @MarkBrown In your opinion, what is the best (i.e., high integrity and no illegal stuff taking people money) broker for trading futures?
All the questions you asked are relevant, Just wanted to give you some industry insight. Typically for most retail customers, I do not think it matters whether a firm is clearing or not. However, if you are an algo group, prop, large CTA, then it could make sense to go with a firm that has exchange membership due to the back office staff that is dedicated to deal with such operations. As far as technology and execution: You need to compare apples to apples. If an FCM carries their technology, then you can compare it to others. However, you will find that "the street" uses CQG. Rithmic, TT, and CTS. These companies have their servers for the most part, so being with one FCM versus another does, in my opinion, will not make a difference in fills and execution. You might see a difference between one FCM and another in the knowledge of the platforms they carry. Although as an IB we do not have the ability to enable platforms for customers, we know from experience if something does not work where the issue may lay. So one question you can add is: "How well do you know the platforms you offer?" Yes, contingency plans are essential in the vent that your net is down and you can not trade. You should have the details when you establish an account. I hope this helps you.
Thanks much Matt. It's interesting that it appears that for the small retail trader, the service (executing fills/platform) seems quite standardized across different FCMs, a good thing looks like. By the way, great job on helping traders out there get a sense of what platform is available with what FCM and for the many walk-throughs you've done on your YT channel. That's really refreshing in what is an otherwise pretty non-user-friendly landscape.
Thank you for the kind words. I also wanted to add a few more things: There is a lot of software for execution out there, but the data stream and execution may come from one source. Let me give you an example: Let's say you have a number of users who use Multicharts, Sierrachart and Investor RT. All three may not be offered by a specific FCM but at the same driven by CQG or Rithmic data. As long as the FCM has these connections, they should be able to plug into your third-party software. This is what I also mean by "knowledge". The FCM may have the knowledge to connect to the software but necessarily support it. BTW, every data feed has three functions: charting, quotes, and execution. On the FCM side, its the risk management they are concerned with and that is where they set your margins, instruments, etc. Maybe this page could help you further http://help.optimusfutures.com/35228/categories
unless you have actually configured all the above i think you can have no appreciation for how fraught with disaster any of those combinations are to properly setup. years ago i fed tradestation 2000 with tt dual sub server and fed that to matlab it cost me 10k to get done and it programmed by the same guy who owns multicharts. it was a bitch to maintain. today multicharts can perform the same task thanks to my contributions but STILL symbol translations and cross-talking between platforms is a bitch to maintain. i always said if cg would allow for a hook to outside programing they would own the market. or if tt would have just bought out tradevec and made that their front end they would have all the market. but alas everyone has their path or else i would make no profits. charting, programing, data, execution is a rats nest overly advertised as gourmet ice cream.