I have been trading on Datek for about a year now with mixed results. Sometimes I cannot access the screen to place an order or even get to my account. Usually it is when the markets are very active. Does anyone out there have some suggestions for other online brokers where access is always readily available?
I, too, use Datek, and have understandably gotten negative comments about it. Although it uses direct access unlike other online brokers (Ameritrade, E-trade), it still has its problems. For one thing, sometimes their cancellations do not work right. I once put in a limit order to buy Intel, and then cancelled it before it went through. When I logged on a few hours later I saw I had 400 shares of Intel!!! I was pissed. I called Datek and they admitted that they have some problems with their system (I got lucky with the Intel, it went up shortly after that and I made a little profit). I would switch to a "real" trading broker like MBTrader with RealTick, but it is expensive unless you make like 100 trades a month, which I certainly do not do.
use cyber. I think it is the best. Datek practically steals from you, and you shouldn't take them seriously as a broker
praet, what do you think of IB? They sound pretty good (cheap). Someone said that they don't have access to SOES, but on their website they said they did. I used the Cyber simulator and found it somewhat confusing, plus I have heard other negative things about Cyber (executions don't always go through, etc).
TheFinn, IB is only cheaper than Cyber if you trade <1000 shares at a time. IB: .01c per share @ 1000 shares = $10 Cyber: $9.95/trade @ any = $10 (appx) Also, IB's software is only an executuion tool. No charts, Level II, Time & Sales. You would need to subscibe to another service (eSginal, Qcharts etc) to have a full trading station.
There are some direct access brokers who charge a lot less for software than Real Tick firms do, and give rebates a lot sooner than 50 or 100 trades. For example, Exptrader charges $38/mo for their software, and rebate that after only 10 trades. Tradescape and IB are ideal for small lot traders, and don't charge for their software. There really are some inexpensive alternatives to Datek if you're not a hyperactive trader.
TheFinn, Another benefit of per share commissions like with IB is that you can scale into and out of positions at a lower cost. If you want to build a 1000 share position in 200 share increments, it would cost approx $50 with a firm like Cyber (5 trades @ $10 each regardless of share size) whereas you still only pay $10 with IB. If you enter positions of 1000 or more shares per order then like Dustin said, Cyber would be better. If you are looking for inexpensive data, then you can get free quotes and charts from a program called QuoteTracker ( http://www.quotetracker.com ). You won't get level 2 data (although it has the arca ecn book)and because it pulls its data from sites like Datek's Streamer, its reliability is dependent on these sites (But commercial data vendors like Qcharts have had their own reliablility issues). Since you aren't "daytrading", this may be all you need to run along side IB. Kirk
I have been using Datek too - there is excellent software available to make using Datek quicker/easier. Go to http://www.microdrive.com and get the trading interface. Even more impressive and still free is http://www.quotetracker.com which will pull in datafeeds from whoever you use - and what's more you will now have up to 80 streaming real time quotes available from Datek because they use 4 servers (getting over the Datek 20 stock restriction). Quote tracker allows point and click ordering, multi streaming charts and more. So far seems excellent - have cancelled my subscription to Interquote - their feed suddenly became delayed (although apparently still 'real time'), compared directly to Datek streamer and stocktalklive, I confirmed this and contacted interquote. Was told they were about 2 minutes delayed! Not impressed - was told they would be using their own software/source within a few days - meanwhile why hadn't they informed all the users? Was given a temporary login to DTNIq, whcih is quite a horrible looking interface.... basically don't trust them any more... Datek are also bringing in Level 2 streamer, not sure if it's free yet ?? and will be checking out "Datek Direct" since this allows you to control order routing... I realise many are very negative about Datek, but after limited trials so far they are reliable and seem comitted to improving performance and feautures. I've seen the latest horror reviews of Cybercorp.... regards coops
Datek is just a pseudo-trading platform for now, really. It is web based, and is not really "user-friendly" in the trading sense (i.e., no buttons to move the price up or down by a fraction, etc). The thing that most annoys me about their service is that, though they try to make it look like it's some kind of "true" trading platform, you have to put in your password each time you want to trade! I already got rid of the "double-confirmation"(!) thing, but just having to do it once is annoying enough. I think Datek is working its way to become for traders and investors, though (obviously they want us since they get probably 100 times more $$$ from us than from investors). They got the streaming quote, they got the Time of Sales now, and they are getting Level II. Now they just need a trading interface that is java-based. I got quote-tracking and am impressed with the software (it is amazing the things you can get for free from the web these days). I don't like the charts, though. The resolution is really bad (and I don't think it uses stochastics or anything like that, I could be wrong, though). Comments? The Finn
finn you're right, datek is a pain in the ass to use if you are in a hurry. You are also correct that quotetracker overcomnes all (?) of this - you camn activate double clicking on a bid or ask to auto fill in your trading input section (this frame musr be already open to work) then you can indeed click on a spinner to increase/decrease the values - your incremewnts in price are able to be changed to what suits your style as are the initial size of order size - pretty good. Charts - i agree, they seem a bit hairy, still investigating a bit more but you can get stochastics etc but it is a bit tricky to find exactly where you change this kind of stuff - off the top of my head, right click on your chart then look thru the options, one of them will lwt you select what to show on top and bottom of your chart ie top may also have bollinger bandss, may be line or candlestick or another i haven't worked out what it means yet! and bottom can have stochastics slow and fast as well as volume. PS PS any queries do use medved, they reply to your emails! and from other comments i understand they can quickly implement any worthwhile requests...... good luck to all coops