Thanks again Dodger. I looked at Genesis and they said to call to discuss commissions. can you please tell me what Genesis' commissions are for stocks and options?
No problem Bandit. BTW, another neat MB trick is no addition cost to place trades over the phone ... in case your connection goes down or the like. They even link checking writing and a debit card to your account upon request and roll all available $$$ (not just 10k+) into a 3% sweep account which for me, combined with the free data feed, more than justifies the extra buck per emini RT. YMMV. Frank
looks like they don't offer option trading? which is a deal breaker because half my trades are options. too bad, looked promising.
Noting that bigmrfranks first post was this month and was asking about possible futures brokers one might question how much experience he has with brokers. I don't know about the artful dodger. FWIW, if you don't need handholding (maybe bmf doesn't but I wonder from checking his earlier posts - I cant actually tell but make your own decision) I suspect that IB's US Customer phone service (HK and Europe are actually good) isn't a good enough reason to avoid them. If it was you wouldn't find so many IB customers here and at T2W. Also, FWIW, my own experience (I've had maybe 10 brokers including 4 supporting futures) has been that, for someone who knows what they're doing IB can be an excellent choice. If you've got tools that you want to use with MB that you cant emulate with IB though, then you'll probably need to go down that path. Personally I use Sierrachart and ZerolineTrader with IB. ButtonTrader and NinjaTrader may give you the level of integration you are looking for. Best of luck.
I have been with IB for over 4 yrs with no problems at all. If one does need hand holding, I am sure IB is not for them. When I have called them, they have always solved any probelms. Yes it might take a day or two, but it has worked for me. Hope this helps. Keith
tough choice indeed. I'm weighing the commission savings at IB. I probably trade 700-1000 option contracts a month. which would be a savings of $175 to $250 difference in commission savings a month at IB vs MB trading. That would buy pretty much any data feed/platform out there. I'm leaning toward IB, with MB second.
If u try to switch to Europe help-desk u might solve all the issues u got with IB. Every time I call them, they answer the phone after three rings and have always been very kind to me, sorting out my problems quickly and taking the time to explain things.
Another item you might want to check on is the financial position of the firm... One way to do this is find out the average number of trades per day...take their lower rates...as approximately 7% of their accounts will be doing the majority of their business... This will give you an idea of what the cash flow is to run the firm...and you will probably want to adjust the rate to IBs rate...because IB is definitely the price leader... Things can get pretty dicey in 2006-2007.....
Hopefully IB will be around for the next year eh? I've opened an account at IB and put in an initial deposit. I'll test drive them for a bit. if it's good, I'll put in the rest of my money. if not, I'll open an account with MB and try them out