Hi there, I'm a fairly experienced stock trader and looking to add the ability to trade s&p emini futures occasionally to hedge without tying up much capital. Unfortunately my discount brokerage doesn't offer futures trading. So can anyone recommend a good futures brokerage that is low cost and won't charge me fees for inactivity? I looked at IB and think they will waive any inactivity fees with over 100k in assets, but looks like they will charge exchange data access fees every month (not sure if I'm reading that right). Are there really low cost futures brokers that are similar to scottrade or tradeking with stocks? Thanks
We can offer Stock DT with accounts over $25,000 We can offer Futures accounts starting at $25,000 You can trade them both from Realtick, but they are separate accounts and Realtick will cost $100/month or more plus Market Data We pass through Market data fees. I think ES is $40/month. We don't have inactivity fees for futures account at any level or equity accounts over $15,000.
We can offer you a number of platforms https://optimusfutures.com/Futures-Trading-Platforms.php where some of them are free, feature rich and include charting and execution. Since you are using web based execution consider also the New TT https://www.tradingtechnologies.com/platforms/tt-platform/ I would be more than happy to assist you chose a platform and a futures clearing firm based on your specific criteria. These are the FCMs we are working with https://optimusfutures.com/Futures-Commodities-Trading-Account.php Thanks you,
Do you want to park all your money in 1 account? Or it doesn't bother you to have all ur $$ spread across different accounts?
I'm OK with a separate account just for futures, but I'm willing to move all my assets to a new brokerage as well.
Yes IB waive inactivity over 100k USD. But for sub-100k, IB charge the difference (e.g. if you do 2 trades then you get charged <Inactivity> minus <Commisison from 2 trades>). From memory, the IB inactivity fee isn't that big anyway. Yes IB charge exchange data access but : You don't have to have it to trade, for example, I get my data elsewhere and just use IB to execute the trades. The IB software will moan at you with warning messages about not having data, but you can still place the trade. Of course, I don't need a live P&L, delayed P&L is good enough for what I do on IB. But if what you do needs a live P&L then you'll obviously need live data on IB. You are going to end up paying for data one way or another. IB itemise everything seperatley (commissions, data etc.). With their "free data" competitors, you'll probably find yourself paying for it with wider spreads or higher commissions. There's no such thing as a free lunch (or free data).
@kuhnbt Hi there! I'm not sure if you're also looking for a broker who houses both stocks and futures accounts because both TD and IB do but you may want to look for a broker who only specializes in futures. I've been trading with Cannon Trading for more than a few years now and I know they clear through several different clearing firms so you can split up your money that way as well. I have two accounts with Cannon Trading and one of my accounts is held with Gain Capital and the other one through Dorman but Cannon is my broker for both accounts, so I only deal with one broker which is nice. That just my two cents. Hope this helps!
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We can diversify your portfolio between a number of FCMs based on your trading needs. Different FCMs have different strengths.