I am looking to open with a new broker. Currently i have money with tradeking, i have been happy with their service however i am going to be putting in more than 25k in order to start "day trading." I was considering opening an IB account, however i do not have the 100k minimum to open a margin account. This makes IB pointless in order to daytrade. I really like TOS platform, but am looking for cheaper commissions. I looked at Just2Trade however it seems people have been having problems with them. Thanks, and i would appreciate any advice from individuals who have been through the same process with any helpful insight.
You don't need 100k to have a margin account. You need only 2k to have Reg T margin. 100k refers to portfolio margin accounts.
I use Tradestation for scanning and charting and IB for execution. depending on the type of trading your doing you may want to go with tradestation. Their support is really good, total opposite of IB and their platform is better than IB. IB has a great short list and they don't play as many games with short margin as TS does. So if your gonna short a lot then really IB is the way to go IMHO. On the other hand if your gonna deposit about 30K or so and maybe do under 50-60K shares a month I would go with TS as dollar for dollar I think you will be happier. Its not like you cant change once you start. You may also want to take a look at lightspeed. I don't have direct experience with them but I know a trader in the chat room I am in that uses them and he gives them high marks. Best to you RW
Thanks for the help, i am going to open an IB account. I have a couple questions -What extra quote packages do you subscribe to with IB, if any? -Do i need a quote subscription to use a program like quotetracker?(i would guess yes) -What do you guys use for charting programs, i do like TOS platform for graphs however would appreciate any advice from fellow traders. I do not want to spend a lot on monthly fees, but will if it is the best alternative
i am in the process of opening an account with IB; this thread has me a little skeptical. There are this many issues with trade executions-people not knowing if the actual trade went through? And erroneous reporting of positions? This really does not sit well, and the fact that the customer service is not helpful.... Any other suggestions besides IB?
IB is the way to go, although you will need a realtime charting package. Since I use ensign, the only problem is data will only handle up to 100 symbols comfortably. This is a slight problem and can be modified within ensign. Actually I am surprised no one has mentioned that IB has eliminated T+3, consequently in some aspects, don't necessarily need to use margin, ie: IRA's.
which chart package did you purchase through IB, i am thinking i will give them a try and see how it works out. if not i will switch to a similar broker.