IB's charting sucks too. IB is only discount brokerage in quality but not really in cost. At least before IB pays interest on idle cash now it doesn't even pay interest anymore so it seriously questions the need to have an account open with IB especially now you have zero-commission brokers like Robinhood around.
The free brokers charging $.40 per contract with your routing choice when you sell has been a better value for me. I don’t remember the last negative commission I got or fills beating my brokers price enhancement. After trading an embarrassing large amount of shares no rebates. Not complaining just stating my experiences.
Not for nothing but I wouldn't trust Robinhood with 1% of my net worth. TD Ameritrade, eTrade, Schwab are the real alternatives for retail, and lightspeed where execution is crucial.
The bid x ask on on BABA puts was $.85 x $.99 my full price broker filled at $.99 while the $.40 per contract filled at $.94.On 10 contracts thats a $50 improvement. If I sent a 50 contract market Citadel often fills at $.97 if 100 exist at .$99. More often than not, the Direct Access market orders pass through levels Schwab and Etrade don’t in the name of a fast fill? $85 to sell 50 contracts that were sitting on the offer two minutes while the 100 using the .40 commission got taken out quick today? How did I benefit paying $85-$21($64) more if the route they used is not popular with RH traders? If you change your route its a $1.30+ like the 1990s rates. Edit 100 contracts $41 vs $175, gee which is better?
Robinhood is trash, when UBSS and Citadel was the MM I did a test. When MVIS and NNDM was trading at $1-$2 there were offers of 700,000 at various price points. I bought 250,000 shares quick enough that would cost $2,500 for a round trip. The MM took the 250,000 shares off the 700,000 offer instantly instead of trying to work it till price collapsed. DA is good for younger guys playing crazy stocks. For traders like us who know the tape and impact our size will have certain free brokers have benefits.
Well, here is my take on Level 1 vs Level 2 data feeds. Unless you are using Jigsaw or Bookmap or your own home-grown Level 2 software, Level 1 should be adequate. However, there are issues/caveats to Level 1 data feeds based on my experience: 1) You can plot in realtime (and use within custom indicators) the Inside Bid, Inside Ask prices 2) You can also plot in realtime (and use within custom indicators) the Bidsize and Asksize...which are the bid/ask volumes on the inside. 3) Unfortunately, the above #1 and #2 are NOT RETAINED in history. In other words, you can't BACKTEST this data...unless you create your own data repository. I've done a lot of work lately on this, and all I can say: The jury is still out regarding the ability to effectively use this data. One observation: It's very volatile data. I've attempted to use dampening techniques to have the ability to plot this data or indicators derived from this data. Otherwise, the data paints like a big zorro movement....violent moves up and down....with non-discernible trends. Of course my reference points are all regarding the E-Mini futures market....ES, NQ, RTY.
I see.. so for backtesting it won't work properly. But for trading and using the Level 1 for real-time data/order fills, it should do the trick I suppose