Are there any simple instructions for how to get this membership that a stupid foreigner would understand? Last time I looked I could not find anything that wasn't overly complicated. Or perhaps that's the way the exchanges want to keep it...
I know that Global Futures offers '$0.35 per side + exchange fees' for their X_Trader clients. There is a monthly fee for X_Trader though so it only makes sense if you're trading enough contracts. Still, I agree with you, that's pretty damn low. I'm not sure how that makes any sense to the broker.
Pick up the phone and call some brokers. There are some that are quite a bit cheaper with service. Some do it in tiers for the guys that call and say they are doing 1000 r/ts a month when in reality they do maybe 100. They pay a higher rate and then it drops after x# of trades and drops again after another x # of trades. Again, you have to pick up the phone, it really is easy. I shop around for most everything I pay for to look for the best deal, why wouldn't you do the same with your business?
Here it is from Lightspeed - right from my inbox. In a separate email I clarified the $10k min account size, and no platform fees.
Lightspeed doesn't have a platform charge, but does charge $65.00 a month for futures data. Lightspeed uses Penson as the clearing firm. It would be nice to see more futures firms at $0.50 a side plus exchange fees with no monthly volume requirement.
Why not just make it free? Brokers shouldn't make anything for taking the debit risk of a world full of idiots. Put all the momo's of the world on auto-liq and just let them roam. Well see how well that one works.
also why does my broker charge me 25 dollars to wire money when my bank charges 6!!! It's hard out here for a trader.
Not cheap, good business sense. Professional traders know that they have to control the costs of their business. No different than any other business person. Why pay $9 RT when you can easily pay under $4 RT? Let's say I do 1000 RT a month - $9 RT costs me $9000 and $3.50 RT costs me $3500. I can't see any reason to throw away $5500 a month or $66,000 a year that belongs in my pocket. Local don't do 1000 RTs a month, they do 1000 RTs or more a day. Traders doing big volume become exchange members to save a small fortune on commissions and exchange fees every year. Bottom line is that professional traders wouldn't even consider paying a rate close to $9 RT.
Not looking for free, just looking for the low costs of electronic trading to be fully passed along down to the customer level. Would be very nice if the CME cut their $1.14 a side fee for Globex trading. We need some real exchange vs exchange competition to make exchange fee cuts possible.
and why does my real estate agent charge me 18,000 to sell a 300,000 house when i can sell 300,000 worth of stock for under 10 bucks?