You should consider all of those firms, but I think you should add us to the list as well. We can compete with any of those firms on rates, we have the $500 intraday margin on the Emini SP, Emini NQ, Emini Russell, Emini DOW. We have a few platforms you should consider, and I think you'd appreciate the level of live service we provide as well. I invite you to check out our website and give me a call if you want to see what we can do for you. I recommend starting with free live demo of one or more of the platforms. I'll help you narrow your search down based on the features you're looking for. I'm in the office between 6 am and 2:30 pm Pacific. I promise I'm not a high pressure salesman. I'll tell what we have to offer and answer questions to the best of my ability. I think we have a good product here and should be a strong candidate to earn your business. Best regards,
Hello Dana, I saw your post and wanted to give you some recommendations. If you want DOM and $500 day trading margins for eminis, then try this demo: https://www.t4login.com/register/default.aspx?firm=lotus&salesman=default If you are having problems with disconnects and lag, then this platform is ideal for you. The execution speed is impressive, as are the available features. You even can see the complete trading volume for the entire session for each traded price. We decided to offer this platform after one of our floor traders recommended it. Lastly, with lag and disconnection in mind, I'd avoid ANY platform on the Patsystems feed. It's an OK network for some traders, but my observation has always been that it is slower and less reliable than networks such as TT or CQG. Also keep in mind that some platforms do not send orders directly to the exchange. Instead, they rest on the platform itself until a price is reported from the exchange, at which point the order is THEN sent to the exchange. Of course, that means that you get in more often towards the end of the line, not the front! I hope this helps. Best Regards, Mike Patton www.lotusbrokerage.com 312-384-4779
I second increasnow and their sponsor. Their platform is great and has no minimum account size. Definately look into globalfutures.com. Good Trading
Amp & Mirus are great but expensive! The best rate in the industry right now is $3.20 + platform+feed & exchange. The trick is to get $3.20 all in, any broker out there could offer that for a 30k account and a minimum 2k trades a month? I'll open immediately, same today. Let me know...
In my opinion, if you are just starting, and trying to build your account, a $500 daytrading margin is not a good idea. The over leverage will kill you. One little mistake and your account is a history. Unless you have 3-5k of cash in the account and trade 1 contract with $500 margin. Also, in my opinion, stay away from Global Futures. Regardless of what they advertise here, they have serious problems with accounting, obsolete account interface that doesn't update real-time, and their attitude is just rude. I have been a client at GF for about a year. I had ignored the warnings some other users posted here at ET about Global Futures, and I oppened an account. Hey, you can't beat no-minimum, $500 margin deal, right? It was a disaster, a one year of pain. Meanwhile I'm pretty successful with another broker, building my account one step at a time. JR futures has a pretty interesting deal, they seem nice, although I never traded with them. best of luck to you, feel free to PM me if you need any help or info. J
That's another discussion in itself. Some people just see the $500 margins and think.... I have $2000 and can trade FOUR contracts! YES!!! Little do they realize that 2 grand will be gone quicker than they realize.
Been trading with you guys for a while Doug. Can't say enough good things about your company. Reasonable fees on platforms, will negotiate commissions, say they'll pick up the phone on the second ring and actually do, brokers respond to emails within an hour, and so on...... No, I won't get a dime from Doug or Global, I'm saying all this because it's actually true.