Anyone trading at Echo know what their ISLD fees and rebates currently are? In addition,when adding liquidity to the ISLD book,does one pay the ISLD fee minus the rebate or no fee and the rebate?
Not all firms pass the rebate on to their traders. Some firms charge a flat fee to use ISLD and some let you trade for free. I know that Andover would give the .001 credit (called DATA) and charge the .0025 debit called (DATR)
Uptick, I didn't see anything about ECN charges. Does that mean they don't charge them, or they just aren't saying?
I just talked to the people at Echo, they are using the new ISLD rates, they say their website should reflect that later today. I think they had just forgotten to update the site from the way it sounded. Basically, if you traditionally put bids and offers on ISLD, not buying into or above the ask or selling at or below the bid, then you are adding liquidity. When you add liquidity, you receive a rebate of $0.0011 (.11 cents) per share. This rebate is INSTEAD of paying the $0.0019 ECN fee. It does not mean that you pay the fee, then get some back. What that means for traders is that if you traditionally are putting bids and offers on ISLD, it is possible to never pay an ECN fee and only receive ISLD rebates, thus effectively lowering your per share costs with Echo by over a tenth of a cent per share. Since their rates are so low anyways, for guys that use ISLD a lot this beats anyone I know of.
Technically it may, but the opportunity to hit the bid/ask and not pay any ecn fee at all still seems more advantageous and less expensive.
All depends on how you trade. I do get the feeling from talking to Echo though that if you are a big trader you may be able to work out a free ISLD deal instead of getting the straight pass through. Can't confirm that but it kind of sounds like that.
Thanks Jim. Seems like ISLD is the best way to go. Trade 1 million shares a month on ISLD,add liquidity, get a check for $1,100. No complaints here.
The Echo deal sounds fine, I just want to comment on the whole idea of "adding to liquidity".... Our traders (as most are) are taught to "initiate" trades by hitting bids and taking out offers, rather than to simply sit there and get whacked (or taken out) when the market turns. I venture to say that less than 10% of all orders are completed this way (at least with our guys).... This is, in part, why Island pays for liquidity....because most don't want to add to it. I use Island a lot, and like the fills, but, again, I prefer to initiate trades.