Hi, I'm comparing different direct to exchange brokers. I've gone through all of the major daytrading firms and specifically want firms that are good at selling short (short inventory/locates). Cobra and Centerpoint seem to mentioned most often. I've heard really strong things about Cobra. Including much lower rates for overnight HTBs. But I found this 2017 post about a trader's experience with both firms. He switched from Centerpoint due to the CBLI debacle with ETC. He tried Cobra but eventually left due to no short locate app. Had to constantly msg support to get short locates. Also he said short inventory wasn't as good as Vision. Cobra Trading Review (aspen-c.com) I've requested the 14-day trial with both platforms to check them out first hand. But was wondering what others had to say about these 2 brokers. Some other contenders that fell short, - Lightspeed, short inventory/locates isn't at the same level. - IBKR Pro, excellent inventory monitoring tool but poor locates and inventory dries up fast. Multiple traders have complained about slow executions of large orders. - TradeZero, high fees to compensate for zero commission platform. Also I believe that all these zero commission, payment for order flow brokers are not true daytrading platforms as they route your orders through their system to make themselves the most money costing daytraders poor execution times. - TD Ameritrade. Practically no short inventory. Again slow execution due to PFOF. - TradeStation. Short locate app but came up empty during the trading day.
Cobra has Wedbush. The blog also mentioned that. But he said it was worse than Vision. Trying to get first hand experiences since the blog was in 2017.
One more thing that comes to mind: IBKR Prime. It gives you direct access to the SLB (short locate) team. Those guys will work your order over the phone as well to find locate.
And last one is BTIG TradeSave, another level here. But they require a few millions to open an account.
I've searched past ET threads. I also have IBKR Pro. Locates are not good. Inventory dries up fast. Having to deal with phone nowadays is a disadvantage. One of the main complaints about Cobra.
I checked out their website. They don't really cater to the retail public. So probably the automation isn't as good.
Appreciate the response but I'm not looking to deal with the institutional side of IBKR. I'm a single daytrader that doesn't need the overhead/complexity. Besides once you have IBKR Pro, you are already experiencing how their software will perform. Multiple daytraders have complained about order execution for decent size. I doubt if they had gone with IBKR Prime, it would suddenly get better.
The equation is very simple: if you want locate (illiquid bonds, equities short, bankruptcy claims, funds secondaries...), You need to start using your phone daily.