BTW, I use Rithmic data with Sierra Charts as my front end. I pay a premium price for Rithmic but even with that my "all-in-rate" is still terrific and I am working with the fastest and most dead on data I have ever used. As a swing trader the premium is only a couple of dollars a day -- well worth it to me. There are lots of good choices just giving you a sense of how I have gone. I used Velocity some years ago. Good guys and a pretty good firm. Contrary to popular belief there are good, honest brokers out there to service small traders. I love Deep Discount but Velocity is a firm I might use again. They carry the Indian "Nifty Fifty" I believe which is getting more real by the day.
Velocity is my other broker, and I also give them high marks - I have been very happy with them (I just prefer to have 2 - redundant data feed, etc.). I had a broker a couple of years ago that I was unhappy with (who shall remain nameless . . ), but both Velocity and Deep Discount Trading have been excellent so far . .
What is there software like? Also, is it possible to purchase a software platform separate from a broker? Software seems to be most important for me, with price/CS second.
You get Howard Lender -- a seasoned pro and Deep Discounts owner -- to look after you. As far as I can tell he services customers 24/7 ... maybe 25/8 ... lol. He is truly the best. And he comes free. Same price and someone who knows how to treat a client. Win/Win!
I chose DDT because I could quantify in advance exactly what all costs/fees/Margins would be. Total transparency. I could not find that information for Crossland anywhere. I believe this is standard practice (& probably good business) for most FCM's - as they don't want to be out in the mkt trying to undercut their own introducing brokers. This is fair & all, but I wanted clear, published information (which is also why I like Velocity). I didn't want to be making any assumptions about things like intraday margin, etc. - which could lead to silly (& perhaps costly) mistakes. It's nice to know what the deal is at all times. For those of you who believe this may not be a problem, I left my first broker (a very large, well-known firm) because margins fluctuated on a daily basis +/- $1,500 for the ES - without any notice whatsoever. I called them & asked if margin requirements were going to stabilize, and they said "not any time soon - we're still deciding how to handle this issue." Crossland would never do business this way - yet I still like to have all the "crucial data" published on the web where I can find it if I forget something . .
They offer about 15 software platforms and just pass through the cost they are charged with no markup. Most of these software / trading infrastructure providers sell only through the broker but if there are any that also sell direct then I suspect you could do it that way - you would have to ask......
i noticed on their website that they charge a per side fee for someone of the platforms (esp NT) whereas other brokers don't (if you don't use static DOM for example). can anyone comment on this. i agree that DDT has the cheapest rates i've ever seen but they're a little bit more expensive adding $0.10 (or whatever the fee is) to each side.