DATTrader, The industry is in transition and it will be interesting to see how things develop. I am close(in the same building) with one of the largest specialist units on the NYSE, so I hear alot of the politics on the NYSE. There is a proposal in the works to raise the spread to .05 in stocks over 10. Remember this is just a proposal(it may not make it off the NYSE floor!) , and even if the NYSE approved this change govt. regulators would probably have the last say. I think down the road , common sense may prevail and pennies may go back in the piggy bank where they belong! Gene Weissman Lieber & Weissman Sec., L.L.C. gweissman@stocktrade.net
"Couldn't we really make this statement about every company in the industry at this point?" Not necessarily. There a plenty of well capitalized firms out there. Schwab, Ameritrade, IB, Etrade, TerraNova, Protrader come to mind.
Cdntrader, I was reffering to the direct access brokerage industry in particular. A.B. Watley took over On-Site, Pro-trader was acquired by Instinet. Many small direct access brokers (under 1000 tickets a day) have merged or left the business. The 25k rule hurt many retail direct access brokers. One well known direct access retail broker lost over 50% of their customers (I hear from reliable sources) because of the new NASD pattern daytrading rules. This environment is even tough for the big guns like Merril Lynch, that is why they recently layed off 10,000 employees. Gene Weissman Lieber & Weissman Sec., L.L.C. gweissman@stocktrade.net
All the firms I mention offer direct access platforms. by the way I see Watley is on its way to getting delisted from Nasdaq. I noticed that they have lost 50% of their customers.
Gene I've always been curious. Its true your account (equities at least)is insured but in the event of a company going under do you have any idea how long it would take to get your money? Does anyone have experience with this?
No trading L.L.C.'s that are set up as professional firms are SIPC insured . The firms risk management,capital and experience are the insurance. Some NASD firms may be set up as L.L.C.s for tax purposes. Most of the current professional L.L.C.'s are well managed. I'm on vacation for til March 10. Speak to everyone in two weeks! Gene Weissman Lieber & Weissman Sec., L.L.C. gweissman@stocktrade.net
02-28-02 10:05 AM <RealTick charts by far offer much more than you can get with IB. However, rather than have one platform for data and charting, and another for order execution, why not integrate it with TradeStation6?> doreen i have a tradstation account.i cant stand to use the charting.your software doesnt have linked charts so every time i want to look at a symbol i have to enter it five times.it sucks.first enter in l2,then enter in daily chart,then enter in 5 min chart then enter in 1 min chart then enter in time and sales.you cant drag and drop either you actually have to type symbol in every chart.cant tell you how poor of a system that is.
>RealTick charts by far offer much more than you can get with IB. However, rather than have one platform for data and charting, and another for order execution, why not integrate it with TradeStation6? < This is my first time posting. My name is Jeff Schankerman and I work with Terra Nova Trading. I have to agree with Doreen about RT superiority to IB in the charting area, but she seems to have overlooked Terra Nova. In addition to integrating executions with the RT platform, Terra Nova gives active traders the opportunity to reduce or eliminate their monthly RT fees. I don't really like talking about price because price doesn't help traders to improve their craft. Great support, technology and education do. We have those covered, as well. My intention wasn't to pump Terra Nova, but I just wanted to add this other perspective. In terms of who will remain standing when the dust settles and the economy turns around, my money is on Terra Nova, ProTrader and Cyber. All three are well backed. Terra Nova, of course, will emerge ahead of the pack (what else did you expect me to say?)
well with the Executioner, AB Watley and Tradescape all nearly over... it seems more firms will flop than succeed....so lets concentrate on WHO WILL SURVIVE? We need to look at the firms with serious backing... Protrader, recently bought out by Instinet..so shld be ok. Cyber....Schwabs adopted baby so shld be fine IB...they made over $500m net profit last year which must make them one of the most profitable firms in the industry...so they'll be ok. Their low low commissions are probably responsible for many other brokers throwing the towel in. Datek - loads of accounts, 70k trades per day...they're well sorted and well, that seems to be it for firms that are sure to survive in their current form....although I'm sure that alot of others will be around and may merge or be taken over by some of the big firms.