Would have thought that you would have found out what you were looking for by now. Or are you going to once again tell us that Andover has the best deal. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13504&perpage=6&pagenumber=1
1) dont go through a middleman, LLC 2) try etrade, andover, genesis, other self-clearing firms and make sure you deal directly with the mgmt of the brokerage, not some stupid LLC or trading group. 3) you should get around .004 all in for listed and .015 bullets or better, with good software, support, environment, etc.
Maybe you should quit being a trader. If you can't make it paying .006 you are not cut out for this type of work. Any trader that needs to reduce commissions to make money probably can't trade in the first place. It seems that you are trying to prolong your agony. Admit defeat and move on and stop complaining about $1 a 1000 shares you could be saving because it will not help you.
Make that your only post. You will go down in history as batting 1.000! Dead on accurate even though it is not what most want to hear. To post anything else under that name will tarnish the immediate legacy you have created with this one simple post.
I disagree with this - in most cases. This is why: Dealing direct with only 2 mil shares a month brings no leverage. Going through a group who does 20-100 mil shares a month can surely help since they will have a lot more leverage even if you pay the middleman a few bucks a month. And believe me is you ever have any problems (and you will), you will want the leverage to have the problem resolved. By yourself, you will be ignored when you need help the most.