ok, we all know ib has good commission fees for the smaller trade sizes. but i'm wondering if any of you ever have problems being able to log into your account, etc.? for an example of what i'm talking about, see my datek post here: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=6504 i just want to be sure ib doesn't have the same problems on active trading days, such as today.
Since the network upgrade that stuff doesn't happen. Note the lack of long anguished IB threads. That means the system is working. Speaking of today, there was no trouble logging on, no lags when entering orders etc...
I trade the Qs on Island, and I have only one minor quibble, sometimes the quotes are 3 or 4 seconds late. Other than that, I believe there have been some Globex issues. All in all however, I'm still at IB .
Great. Been with them now about 4 weeks. Fills for e-mini S&P futures are in the blink of an eye. Very impressed so far.
Surely I like IB. IB is honest, transparent, financially solid, technology-driven and really innovative, and IB is doing its best to leveling the playing field. IB is unique. IB is a phenomenon, a paradigm. With all the above said, I think everybody considering itself (itself = herself/himself) an active trader and is really serious about trading, via Internet, especially for those actively trading futures or margin-trading volatile stocks, SHOULD - maintain a well-conceived alternate brokerage account. The Globex issue specific to some broker/data-vendor connection on Sunday night trading hours, IB being one heavily affected, is a good example testifying the necessity of alternate brokerage account - not for offsetting positions, but for going on trading. * IB explicitly states in the account-opening process client's responsibility for any technical difficulty and for maintaining alternate brokerage account, doesn't it? - maintain a well-conceived, working alternate ISP, quote vendor, PC/Laptop, etc. I don't think it costs much. The choice of quote vendor/charting package is a personal preference that costs from less than one hundred dollars to more than two thousand dollars per month. But your choice of prime data vendor is essentially having nothing to do with IB. Personally I'll rely on a reliable, quality (and expensive!) data vendor and using IB and another trading platform as source of alternate realtime market data. A pragmatic and economic approach. - maintain sufficient risk capital. Sufficient, relative to your trading style, markets traded, vehicles used, loss sustainable, etc., etc.
Gordon, I am in the same boat as you in some ways. I have both a Datek account and an IB account. IB is very good and better than Datek. (note: I just opened my account so my opinion is not really valid) Nevertheless, I still do use my Datek account for one reason. I like to trade very large share amounts. Up to 20,000 shares at a time. For this I still use Datek. IB has better deals for smaller share transactions but Datek is still cheeper for large transactions. I think that anything above 1500 shares is cheeper to purchase at Datek, but I could be wrong. Just my opinion, if you trade large shares Datek will be cheeper, just not as good. But it is really not to bad. I guess?
I have been with IB for over 3 yrs. now and I must say that they have come a long way in terms of software refinements, adding new features, adding documentation on their website, and improving on their uptime reliability. Tech support is not comparable to MB trading, but overall, if you take into consideration the low commission fees, they are a worthwhile consideration for anyone trading smaller shares (<1500) or e-mini contracts. Their execution on Globex and Island are usually lightning fast for marketable orders. MM
yeah, i hear you completely. it's tough to judge datek. they're not terrible most of the time, but sometimes they are. they were a total failure today..i could not even log into my account for hours. even when i could, it was after market hours..and even then orders couldn't be placed. the upside is that this does not happen too often, but it has happened to me at least 10x since i've been with them. and it's always on the important days like today when a reversal takes place. you're right about the commissions though. for small size trades, ib seems great. but datek may be ok for large trades..you just gotta hope you have a stop order in place in case you can't access their web site. you can always call them, but who wants to do that. they should add some more freaking servers. if they aren't capable of processing their client's orders, they shouldn't be in business. and if they won't increase capacity, they shouldn't be accepting new accounts also IMO.
I logged in around 9:15 ET and I had both my IB and Datek open all day today during market hour. Both were working fine. Ya I understand that it is sometime hard to get into datek especially when market is very volatile. about commission structure between datek and IB, datek may be better for a high volume trader and who does not care about few seconds or mintues of trade executions. It is my wishful thinking that IB may in future implement some competitive fee structure for high volume traders. I'm new to IB and sometimes wonder myself about the quote system. For some securities, the bid is higher than ask price. That mostly happens with QQQ. Why that happens. Is it due to superfast bidders or laggerd specialists who keep ask price at lows.... I tried to short when bid is higher than ask price, but it was not executed. That happened once with the security named MXIM.