It is beyond me how they can claim X-Trader is free and simultaneously charge an additional monthly fee for using it (as well as higher commissions)
OK, let me help explain this. The software is not free. When they use the word free most traders understand this term to mean it's a deferred cost, not an upfront cost. Most "small" traders don't like up front costs. Because they tend to stop trading and start again or they take hit and stop for a month and they get pissed when they paid all that money for the software and now are not going to use it. PATS software was the first company to come up with this model where they don't charge an upfront free and instead charge you on the back end. It caught on with small traders and many other firms followed suit. Just about everyone in the business understands this. Now, as to the FCM model, these firms are struggling to stay afloat. They earn NOTHING on cash balances (thank you fed) and trading volumes are down across the board. FCM's have a lot of high fixed costs due to regulations. Honestly most these FCM's are going to go under. Having said all that, I don't think Johnny one lot should be using TT anyway. He should be using Ninja or CT4. But just to prove my point how cheap traders are about upfront costs, Ninja sells a lifetime license for $1000. It's a one time fee. You pay it and you own the software for life! And you can take it to just about any broker. Many FCM's actually lease Ninja for $50 a month and one firm, AMP, charges nothing, again, they work it into their rates. And guess what traders do? Do they pay the 1k up front which is dirt cheap? Nope. They pay the monthly fee or inflated commissions. And this is my point. Traders want to pay on the back end. And most are willing to pay 10x more for the same software over the long term just so they don't have to cough up 1k.
I do not believe you can purchase X-Trader up-front at any broker. It is always a monthly fee and/or transaction fee. So maybe I am missing something, but I do not see that it is appropriate for this broker to call it "free" when they charge both a higher transaction fee and an additional monthly service fee to use it (unless we consider it to be "free" at every broker).
No. By upfront, I mean paying the $625 the first of the month before you place a single trade. Traders HATE that. Let me repeat this. Traders HATE that. They would rather pay inflated commissions even if it costs them multiples more. And by free, they mean you are not under contract with TT. Apparently you are not familiar with TT so let me get you up to speed. Let me tell you what I went through at my firm when guys used TT and then wanted to get off it, usually because they were in the process of blowing out. TT has this policy where they bill you one extra month after you quit. So let's say you start trading on Jan 1. You have to pay TT $625 before you get your first fill. Let's say Jan doesn't go well for you. You lose half your account. You're steaming mad. So you decide to stop trading for a while. So you call TT and tell them you are cancelling. They say, sure, no problem skippy, we got it. Oh, but we are going to charge you another $625 because they have a 30 day out clause. So now you paid $1250 for software you used for 2 weeks. And that is what PISSES traders off. You have to enter into a contract with them. The free part means, you are not entering into a contract with TT. If I go to firm XYZ and get TT for "free", meaning no contract but my rates are 7.50 instead of 3.50 and I also blow out two weeks in, the good news is, I can take my money and go home and close my account at firm XYZ. No 30 day out. No extra charges. You have no idea how irate traders get on that 30 day out. So this is why guys pay more money to have the freedom to walk. It's also why people lease cars instead of buying one even though the fair value on the lease is way more then the cost to buy the car. This is why people rent a condo instead of buying one. In the futures industry, those of us who work in industry, we understand the lingo.
Ok thanks. I can see some advantages to their deal in that case, at least for some users. I think they could do a lot better in explaining it, though.
People need to make money!!! I would first send out an email that goes to your spam folder, and a letter than takes 3 months to reach you. It would say something about taking more money from you. Then have you put a deposit down for the software, just for more money. Then say you need to send a letter from your lawyer 180 days before you want to cancel, or automatically you pay another 180 days. then say if you try to cancel the contract there is a fine of 10,000. why not?????? if you don't fight to keep your money, you will lose it... now call and get some credits and rebates and, well, they are not dumb they won't give you money!!! LOL funny how that works.
bottom line, it was ok for velocity to charge what the did all these years, now its not ok. notice the radio silence from our resident velocity representative. because their marketing is a joke. its not FREE anymore, stop saying its FREE.
DDT's website looks like shit though. Can't they get someone to do a better website than that if they made any money?
No, the site contains clear information that is missing with many brokers. Sure, go ahead, select a broker with a shiny website. I rather have rock bottom commissions. If you are higher volume you can get those advertised ddt commissions down even more. That's what I have at DDT and it's not even my main broker.