Pabst: great advice! you are right! In fact, this is another reason why I still would prefer daytrading margins, to keep as little money as possible tied with my broker... of course I wouldn't keep 100% of my trading capital with ANY broker. Let's do the numbers, let's say I have 100K to play with, broker 1 lets me trade with only 25K what broker 2 asks me the full 100K. Suppose everything else is the same (commish, etc). Then, I go with broker 1, and keep 75K somewhere "safe". So my "worst case scenario" in case of broker failure with broker 1 is a loss of 25K, with broker 2 would be 100%, and I'd be out of the game!! Of course I wouldn't leverage the full 100K... If that's what you are saying, yes you are 100% right leveraging (say) 50:1 the full trading account is probabilistic suicide.
Buzzy: You're right on track. Better in a worst case having to write a check to a firm then trying to sue a firm for your money. Especially when they don't even have any money.
Let's make sure we are all talking about the right things here. Your Introducing Broker (usually referred to as the "broker") can go belly up or be shut down by the NFA and you will be reassigned to a new firm. If your clearing firm goes bankrupt then you do have a serious problem. So if you are looking to do due dilligence, do it by looking at the clearing firm's capital, and not the IB's capital. Of course it is always best to hook up with a reputable IB (or dealing directly with a stable FCM) so as to avoid the headache of being reassigned and having a trading disruption. Or as in the case of FWTG outright fraud leading to losses when the IB claimed to be a FCM but was really just a bucket shop.
I trade through a small town broker (Kalipsell MT) Treasure State Futures, he does have a web site, (VERY basic); clear through RJO, and trade via the net on their (RJO) Market Center Direct. I am currently paying $11 rnd. As I live where I do, I prefer to keep the business local.