Scientist, I use stop/limits on Globex with a wide limit. Stop/Limit orders are native on Globex. I got burned a couple times with regular stop orders sitting on the IB computers so I stopped using them.
I got burned on stops on ECBOT twice in the last two weeks. Last week had a 90 point stop and it was hit 85 points down. Only low print of the day. CBOT wants $1000 to check into it. Did not show on IB but it showed on E signal. Ouch.
ECBOT SHOULD be better than ACE regarding price prints but well... it doesn't surprise me one bit. TM Trader
Fast, I think I make a lot more at this stage than the "pro's" do, and I can that without a "pro" platform. Man, I love the ButtonTrader frontend - It's the best there is. It even beats X_Trader IMO. Seriously. The built-in T charts and the running strategies beat the crap out of X. As long as TT doesn't get a bit more innovative with their stuff, I won't go there. Plus, I look at 3 exchanges. Every other exchange on TT is +250. Why pay $1.5/month (18K/year) just for execution if on IB, I get all the exchanges for $10 or so, or free for that matter? Think I'll get those extra 18K/year back from my better trading with X_Trader? LOL! Maybe, maybe not! Either way you slice it, 18K is plenty of cash. Remember, most of my trades are in the market over a second before they get executed. So I don't need lightning-fast execution, either. That said, though, the comms are a different story - so I'm thinking about FFastTrade now, because their comms are far the lowest - plus they don't charge any extra for exchanges, the way TT does. Still, do I want to pay $7K/year for the platform? Why feed another vendor? What if I have an unprofitable streak and still have those running costs? What if I go on a holiday and have to keep paying for all this $hit? It's always something worth thinking about. I'm in my early twens, and I think I've come quite a way because of this thinking, in all the businesses I've endeavoured to. Not because I'm a "prodigy", but because I don't feed the "machine", buy and "expend" for all the marvellous things out there everybody is so willing to pay for. Remember, wealth isn't about what you earn - It's about what you keep. There's a million and one people out there making 500K/year and still getting nowhere. I do. I always get ahead, and very nicely, and at a very low cost base. I don't need to sustain super-duper-income to avoid going broke, either. I'm a lot more "secure" than most people out there. Think about it.
I agree. I also keep my trading costs at minimum. I don't think you need to spend too much money on "platforms". If you know what you're doing, get the tools you need to do exactly that and not all the additional bells and whistles or all the features you practically don't need. TM Trader
I think you push enough volume to justify trading at FFastTrade. The savings in commiss. will more than cover the $550/mo platform charge. -Fast
Yeah you're right. It means having to give up ButtonTrader and OCA orders, though... I love Button...