the most I'm at liberty to say is that they are mathematically based. The S&P report may shed a little light. Sorry but confidentiality agreements preclude that I can't elaborate any further.
FWIW, at the end of the article in the link below is a listing of the top ten brokers in terms of financial stability. http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid={9B6FAD81-7CCF-428B-9134-4BB7B41C93DE}&siteid=mktw Congrats IB !!
Thanks NeutronJuan. It truly makes me feel better that my money is safer at IB than I originally thought.Best post on elite trader I read today.
I have seen the Timber Hill traders first-hand in the pits with their little computers years ago, and there is no question in my mind from what I saw that the computer is making some good cash. It looks to me that those guys do a ton of cross-market arbitrage and hedging, and they appeared to be very low risk traders compared to most guys in the pit. I always wanted to see what was so interesting on those little screens that they would stare at obsessively, almost oblivious to what was happening in the pit until the computer would appear to give them an order. This was back when no one had portable computers down there but these guys. I wouldn't bet against them. For retail trading, I think these guys are tops. If they ever merged with Echo I would have the best of both worlds in one. -Jim
traderjimr, what's on the screens? they are basically electronic sheets which continuously update throughout the day. they also allow entry of all trade/clearing information thus allowing straight thru processing and minimizing DK's.