Hey guys, is Mirus futures a good broker to use with Ninjatrader? Was wondering about execution speed. Mirus offers a ridiculous amount of leverage for intraday ES contracts at $500 per contract whereas, IB is $2375 I think.
Sorry, ET_NYC, but this one gets a big ol' "+1"...... FWIW, Mirus commissions are comparable to IB, but the fees in account management are killer. AND, (and most importantly) choosing a platform because of high leverage (on a highly-leveraged asset anyway!) is a formula for death/destruction, as per Stock777...
Utilizing that type of leverage is of course not a good idea, unless you've got extra money parked somewhere else or it's gambling money. I have no experience with Mirus, but I chose IB over them when I was deciding since: 1) It's a reputable firm; 2) More than enough leverage (never use more than overnight margin); 3) Access to more data; 4) Better back-up solution, i.e., you have IB's TWS if Ninja which I used as a front-end would fail in addition to Mobile TWS on my iPhone. Not sure what back-up solution Mirus would offer except direct phone calls which would not be acceptable as the only solution for me. Good luck.
It seems to get good reviews here: http://www.elitetrader.com/br/index.cfm?action=view&R_FirmID=237&start=6
I've heard good things also. But I don't see their edge over IB other than the free NT license and the intraday margin provided you actually have a good reason for needing it.
My experience with that is, when problems did occur, their emergency lines were swamped so bad you couldn't get through for over an hour.
During flash crash mirus zenfire worked flawless, IB bogged down . Called mirus minutes after crash, they answered first ring of the phone. When the most money can be made or lost is when it really counts IMO. I am not affiliated with either one, I have accounts with both.
I've never quite understood the fixation/fear of blowing out an account. If a young guy only has say $5000 plus a job and he wants to speculate intraday while it would be foolish/stupid of him to put seven or eight contracts on utilizing his $500 emini margin it would be a lot less foolish to trade a three lot. Incredibly aggresive and still foolish but not -- where is the straight jacket crazy. But lets suppose he is a profitable trader -- unlikely but possible -- works with a max stop of six or eight ticks and, except for abberant slippage -- rare in ES -- even a full stop out of a three lot will typicaly cost him a $300 loss or less. Aggresive on $5000? Of course ... nothing less than incredibly aggresive yet not the doomsday most seem to pretend. With a two losing trades and stop trading for the day policy (which I use every day) he is no bigger an underdog then in many other of life's challanges. Would I reccomend it? Never. Would I think he was among the biggest clowns I'd ever encountered? Certainly not. There are a zillion guys playing it conservative -- never risking more than 1% of their capital on a trade etc. -- yet they never took the time to really dig deep and learn to trade. I'd rather be overleveraged with a two lot -- I can't actually bear the thought of me putting on a three lot on that tiny stake -- with some trading ability and screen time than properly capitalized and know very little. BTW, I frequently keep tiny amounts of money with brokers with low margin requirement and wouldn't hesitate to do a three lot of CL in a $5000 account. Why not? ... the only number that counts is my liquid net worth, not what's in THAT account. As Laizze Faire (sp?) touched on if I can wire in $20,000 or $50,000 in the morning why would I worry about having only $5000 there? I like having the option of low margin brokers. They service a few niches and work well for lots of people. That said, IB is a fine place for six figure money to sit and some, not all, low margin operations ae not so fine to leave significant sum with. BTW, never used Mirus so I have no opinion of them. Is blowing up a $5000 account the end of the world for a young guy with a job? It depends how he views the 5G. If he get's the risk up front ... go at it!