Also, Lightspeed Trading just put out an email about a terrifically cheap commission for e-mini trading.
Brokerages are a competitive business. There is no monopoly. Some broker somewhere is undercutting yours. But keep in mind, you get what you pay for. Some like IB, allow you to hold your money in different currencies, have plenty of shortable stock, high security to protect against unauthorized access to your account/money, and are big enough to withstand some of the things pummeling other brokers. They have good execution, etc. Others have fantastic customer service and lightning execution and great interfaces. Others offer little, and charge cheap rates. I once lost a third of my trading account because a stupid broker had really putzy programming logic that made me hit my stop and profit target in a fast market (they were 30 minutes apart, and did not flush the other side in a synthetic OCO). But I saved on commissions, yea right. YOU USUALLY GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.
Because there is not many Future clients as Stock clients. Every broker need to pay common cost such as hardware/software, license, exchange fee, employees, etc. Thats called the cost to keep business running. The more you have clients your average cost per client is lower, while the less clients you have then the average cost per client is higher.
Who's the one bitching over pennies? Sounds like you're the greedy one. BTW, short-term interest rates are near zero, so many brokerages aren't making much "on the float." Why are you so cheap, anyway? Are you one of these guys who "Scalps" 7 points on YM? That's sad. How much did you make last month trading? Unless you're a local who does 1,000+ R/T monthly, your parsimony is pathetic. I'm happy to pay $9 R/T for service; then again I'll trade CL & ES doing day & position trading. If commission matter that much to you, you probably shouldn't even be trading. Get a better edge.
I pay $7 R/T and not too happy about it. How can Lightspeed be offering like $3 R/T and still be in business ?
first of all, you are a fucking idiot second of all, only FCM's get to collect interest on deposits, and have you seen what they are getting? Dick. The float for an FCM ain't what it used to be. Also, most people in the business are IB's and NOT FCM's and they don't get shit. They have to pay their clearing firms $2 a side. You think it's worth it to them to make 98 cents a trade on $5 rt) and have the enormous debit risk from a bunch of fucking losers out there? If you can't make money at $5 a rt, let alone $10 a rt, then you can't trade. period. commissions aren't the problem - you are...
3$RT is 0.35 $ commissions per side + exchange fees...I think it's for people making 3000-5000 RTs per month on average. If they do that from first lot, they are fool.