Most brokers will give you a better rate if you're an active trader... in the form of commission reduction and sometimes, free trades. While commissions are important, it's also mandatory to have a reliable platform that provides good execution and doesn't slow down or shut down during the day.
I use Scottrade; I like the commissions. But the site often has periods of slow response. It has cost me in the past. A question: Scottrade doesn't update DTBP during the day. If you have a non day-trade position held overnight it reduces your beginning of day DTBP, but if you sell it, it doesn't help the currrent day DTBP. What about the othe brokers? Yoni
Yes, that's the key. If you have 10K shares of a stock, 1 penny slippage cost you $100. That's far more than commission. If you trade with 100k shares, forget about finding the cheapest commissions. Just find the most reliable broker at any cost. 1 penny slippage cost you $1000.
If you buy/sell 100k shares in ONE TRADE..... I assume this is on penny stocks because something like GS - 100k will cause you 14 million dollars in buying power... you should have a broker that allow you enter a fractional penny on the limit price. e.g. 0.3012 instead of 0.30
So besides TD, any other broker that's good for big size orders? I've looked at Scottrade, Sogotrade, Mastertrader, and bunch of others that offer per trade pricing. But they all have limitations. Scottrade and Sogotrade will charge you 1/2% of your position value if the stock is under $1. The direct access brokers will charge you the ecn fees on top of the ticket charge if you remove liquidity. That's like 0.003 for arca and for 100k shares that's 300 bucks.