i *have* an IB account. i trade on it frequently. i "have" a TD account - have, as in i withdrew most of my funds from it. i think there's $100 still in it, most likely less. i haven't traded on their platform in months. i had some extra charges on TD. no biggie. what WAS a big deal was the selling of order flow, so i'd watch as tons of trades were executed in front of mine - then a miniscule partial fill...other times, having a low priced stock not being offered at "my" price, but 1/100th or 1/1000th above my price, so i couldn't hit the bid. i was told tough luck by TD...and this happened a few times. and IB is direct access, which is the MAIN difference. i've posted about some of my experiences elsewhere on here. but IB and TD aren't even close, nor are their target audiences the same.
Not sure when you last used Ameritrade. Your post did not say. I currently use Ameritrade via the Quoteracker trading platform ( which is FREE ) on one of my workstations and have Level-II direct access. Can easily negotiate commissions lower given certain levels of trading activity. http://www.quotetracker.com/
NICE! I don't scalp so the whole speed thing doesn't really play that big a part for me, but I'm glad that it's more up-to-date/par. I just wonder when their option software is going to get updated, the thing is confusing to use and border line retarded. I still haven't figured out how to use it properly...and all I need is the theoretical price of the option, not these complex butterfly etc. strategy "outcomes". geez. Oh well, one foot before the other. Hope they keep it up.
I use just2trade.com , and very happy with them , 2.50 commissions for any amount of shares , 3.5% margin , and very fast executions , now you tell me is it good or what?
gaj: I posted this earlier in the same thread: Didn't TDAmeritrade acquire TradeCast in 2001 to offer direct access services or am I missing something? Source: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Ameri...cast-a070459290
ok. i've got 10k of a cheap stock i want to sell. the price is .76 * .77. lots to buy at .76, not so much below there. i place an order to sell 10k @ .76. my order is *shown* at something like .7603, which doesn't hit the bid. i wait. i get frustrated, cancel, and see the .7603 offer disappears. do this several times, it appears/disappears with my placing/cancels. never actually hitting the bid, which is at .76. i see an earlier post of mine where i detail another example: -> one of the things i do is trade some of the cheapie stocks. so i've got a large position (12k), and want to cover my short. there's 25 or 30k on the offer, i put my buy cover in - let's say at 76c, which is where the offer is - and level 2 pops up with my size (12k) buying at .75. i cancel, it disappears. i do it a couple more times, same thing. other people start lifting the offer, i have to eventually put in an order with limit 5c away (.83) and get filled at like .81 eventually. the process took 30+ minutes of a stock that had volume. when i called and complained, they said on cheapies, AMTD doesn't guarantee your order will be shown. -> placed a market order to fill on an NYSE stock which was active. watched as 40-50k worth of trades were done. i only had a few hundred shares. my order took 5 minutes to be filled, in 100 share increments, about 20-30 seconds apart. one time, they offered me free trades; the other time, since the trade actually went in my direction (!) they said nothing could be done. variations on this theme happened multiple times.
GAJ.....is TD placing a limit order of .76 at .7603 actually legal ??? if it is you have opened by eyes to a totally devious broker tactic which very few people (including myself) are aware even exists???
Are you sure that the .7603 order is yours? The reason I ask is that many a times I have seen bots that will front-run your orders - you place an order at .76, it places an order at .7603; you cancel your order - it cancels its order, rinse and repeat.