Which of the above would offer the best deal and security (in terms of the stability of the firm) to an experienced, profitable, swing (short-intermediate term, low ticket) trader....capital contribution expected at say $20k. Thanks in advance for your response. commission rate payout desk fees additional fees? etc.
As far as the "best deal" just call the firm and negotiate the rate/fees/payout etc. Bright allows for overnights, however I'm not sure about the others. Like Maverick mentioned, you'll need 50k for Bright, but 20k is probably fine for the others. Regarding stability, go to the SEC.gov site and you can review the 2013 focus reports in .pdf for each firm via their search feature (as of this post only T3's focus report isn't listed, so call T3 and ask them for it). Bright, Avatar and Chimera all have their financials up to date on the SEC site. In the focus report, you will see listings for "Member's Equity" and "Net Capital as of the end of December 2013." Those are some of the key numbers to look for when comparing the financial stability of firms.