I have been to many, many firms before picking the one i wanted to stick with. I looked up the best rated firms here, and went to check them out. Not to say that some of them weren't ok, but they all had ridiculous steputatoins. 1% monthly fee of the the money used or at least $500 a month, ticket charges, high commission and low payouts. I picked Echo after seeing whats out there. The people are the best here, very friendly and close atmosphere. They give you enough space so that you are not cramped together with others. You actaully get your own desk!!! Unlike most trading firms, there is a lot of light here, so the place does not look like a cave! A lot of light. The software is great, Sterling. It has been improved a lot from few years back. Very customizable to your own preferences and needs, and very easy to use. Fast executions, the office in New York has their clearing firm and IT department on the same floor. If i have any questions i just go over there and speak to the programmers personally. I needed a custom filter installed, which required a lot of work to do, the manager went way out of his way to help me set it up. The owner here is always available to talk to, very reasonable and negotiable. You can get help on anyting you want. My friend was thinking about switching from retail to daytrading, and wasn't sure, he wanted to see if he could have a demo set up from them for free. I told the owner the situation, two days later he set up the demo account for him. Great people, great firm to work with. No one forced me to go here, i picked this firm because i liked it the best. Thats why i made this post, i love this place, and if i can help another trader find a better place to trade at, than i am glad to be of help.
I've been with them for over a year now...and really have few complaints. so I guess I'll have to agree with you. If I had one thing that bothers me is that certain fees have actually been going up (software)...seems like they used to be more competitive . Other than that, I'm a happy trader.
Yep, Sterling is pretty good, until all the quotes freeze in a fast market and you're screwed. I have to second Uptick's comment about rising fees. Want the more stable software plaform? gotta pay extra. Want news? gotta pay extra. Want open book? gotta pay extra. Echotrade was a great firm. Van Echo isn't the same outfit.
The fee is fine, and when you think about your payout and the comission it's more than fine. Do the math and then figure out how much you are saving with them. The whole time i've been there, i have never once had a problem with my platform, and so far has never froze. Either way, in the New York office the tech support and the clearing firm is righ there on the same floor. You guys must have been using an older version.
Normally, I would not continue in a thread like this...but I could not resist. 1) Let me be clear, I like Echotrade. I've been with them for over a year. If I had any major complaints I would have left already. I've had countless offers at other firms for lower rates. 2)I update my software the day a new version comes out. If it has not froze on you since you've been there , then one of two things could be true: you're full of crap or you have been there for a very short time. I will point out that I have not had any software problems in a longtime and they are few and far between. 3) The fee may be fine with you. Maybe we should go over the total cost? For quotes, open book, news, and now there will even be a charge for Echopoint. Why don't you post the total cost? I know someone is starting to type a response, "...but if you do man-size volume it gets waived"....where that might be true, traders often have vacations and slower months where volume is low and I don't think anyone would appreciate getting charged such high fees. 4) Payout is 100%. Like it should be anywhere is a trader puts up $. If a trader is not getting 100% after they put up a deposit, they need to get their head checked. I'm glad you like Echotrade. I do too. I have a friend in the NY office who is also very happy there. However, I don't understand why a firm would start raising fees on software. When I joined they were positioning themselves to crush other "dim" firms, now they are emulating them. Like i said, I'm happy . And to be honest , if it wasn't for the service of a few people there who have been very helpful over the year (the AZ peeps..shout out ) I'd probably be at KittyKat Trading or something. Happy Trading
ok, wise guy, i made a mistake and typed it incorrectly. So for the ones with the I.Q. not high enough to figure out what i meant, it's stipulations. Happy???
I've been with Echo for two years and still happy with them. There were some issues with the quotes in March (i think) but as far as I can see it wasn't Echos system. I'm sitting two yards away a guy who trades with Bright and he had exactly the same quotes as me (quotes freezing). As far as I can see it's working perfect now.