Hi wallaby, you're right, I'm aware of the performance of some of those funds. However, I care little since I now have almost no money in my cash trust, and yes it's with CBA, but who cares? I can certainly make a lot more than 5% a year. More like 5%+ a week, and I'll be more than doubling that soon (once I get a seat). That's the beauty of looking after your own money. Who needs hedge funds or banks? My US brokers giving me high interest on AUD is very nice, but that's about it. 3%, 5%, 15% p.a, I hardly care. I only brought this up here regarding the "who's the cheapest broker debate", where people were talking about a few hundred dollars difference... But hey - isn't it great to know we're still outperforming the yankees? AUD->USD went up over 25% this year! Scientist.
Dear Trading Brethren, I was just told in a conversation with MarkHyman that AdvancedFutures will soon offer EliteTrader Members the X-Trader platform at their institutional pricing with no volume quotas. There will be the monthly charge of $650 for X-Trader, as well as the pretty competitive rate of $3.30 /RT total! Now we're starting to pour some oil into the brokerage fire here. IB move over! $3.30 /RT is AFAIK the lowest rate in the industry now, with just 2c below FFastTrade's $3.32! However, FFastTrade give access via a Citrix solution, supposedly much faster than an internet-only based solution, as well as for $550, being $100 cheaper still than AdvancedFutures' X-Trader offer, by using their self-developed proprietary platform. So we have some competition now. VelocityFutures, for example, offers the X-Trader platform for only $500 a month and will drop their rate to $3.32 with 10,000 RT/month and $3.00 /RT after 15,000 RT, and then waive the fee for X-Trader fee on top of that. And all of these brokers might be inclined to become still more competitive. Of course it would also be nice to hear AdvancedFuture's rates for exchange seat clients. Regards, Scientist.
I'll have to ask again WHY AF doesn't advertise commission rates for Eurex & LIFFE futures on the website? Is there any particular reason? Why there's no information on your website that Strategy Runner accounts are served through Daytrade4Less?
So basically you can get X-Trader with no monthly volume quotas and you breakeven with their free J-Trader offer at 20 RT's per day. Sounds good!
These rates are only going lower. When Eurex gets going the rates you see now will seem expensive. Think about what FX firms are charging to trade and translate that model into a complete electronic futures exchange that does not require firms to be members to receive traditional member rates....the reality is when it comes to accomedating online traders that do not require any support.....the only real downside risk to firms is debit risk. So as long as you require a certain level of margin and account min, brokerages oughta just give the wholesale cost to bring in equity. The brokerage biz in the future is going to be compensated not by commission but by Eurex paying firms for order flow...much like forex....do you see it, I do....At the FIA show in Chicago yesterday, the Eurex had lines and lines of people surrounding the booth b/c they were literally giving free massages and martinis. These guys know what they are doing....they are luring em all in. I do think it will be sometime if ever that they'll be able to compete with the liquidity the CME emini SP offers, but they'll dominate the interest rate market...very soon. Jeff Gil
fellow expert traders.... i trade decent volume on the bonds thru a/c/e exchange..... is europe gonna offer a much cheaper product??? think i heard something about that.
Jeff Gil, fantastic post! You were almost reading my mind here, I have a very similar vision of the futures future. Let's see what it will bring. Now, with all the competition on the market, it can only get better for the end-user... Scientist.
Jeff, I agree that the threat Eurex poses to the U.S. Exchanges portends lower electronic clearing fees. Whether the competition is ultimately short lived though, remains to be seen. Because of licensing agreements between the NASDQ and Standard & Poors with the CME, and Dow Jones's contract with the CBOT, it's doubtful that any successful index contract will be launched here by Eurex. If you look at Europe, the LIFFE still has the FTSE while the MATIF held on to the CAC-40. Also the dynamics behind Eurex's domination of European debt futures is quite different than the situation here in the States. The old German Bund contract at the LIFFE was supported by German institutions who needed little prodding to move their business to Frankfort. American banks and dealers will doubtfully be as eager to leave the exchanges in Chicago. Even with Bund trading exiting London, the LIFFE still remained viable with various debt products from the U.K., Italy, Spain, and Switzerland. However, voila', the E.U. was born, making virtually every product outside of the U.K.'s Long Guild and Short Sterling obsolete. Thus the German Bund became the Euro Bund and along with the rest of the curve, BOBL ect., Eurex was king by default. There was a time when the MATIF's 10yr. Notional was one of the most volumous futures contracts in the world. Now it doesn't even exist. Afterall, no French Franc, no French domestic debt, hence no Notional. So the magic of Eurex was both situational and lucky. Over the years I've seen many new contracts fail (i.e. look at the CME's Naz Comp.), and many exchanges try to steal away another's franchise. Rarely does it work out. At best we can hope that the competition continues, and that fee's are pressured lower. But the utopian idea of trading for pennies a contract is a long way off.