I've heard the anecdotes about poor fills, lags in execution, etc... also, I trade 50% of my volume in foreign markets. I am very happy with IB on the retail-end. Is the platform free with a $5,000 deposit?
Unless things have changed, without an account TS will set you back $200 per month + xchange fees, probably around the same value of the eSignal premier package (as you can't even scratch your buttocks without an add-on service from eSignal for an extra fee or surcharge for this and that - of course). With an account, its $100 per month + exchange fees. $5000 and you can open a bog standard futures account. If you do 10+ round turns, then the platform is free. HTH.
So put a $5,000 deposit in a T Bill and save $99/month at TS. I doubt RJ O'Brien is following in REFCO's footsteps, but you never know one of your 2 lots might get stuck on the platform! Just kidding, I have not had any problems with their US or ES executions. I have another account as well, but rely on TS primarily for TA.
No foreign markets from TS as yet. They are taking their sweet time with the Eurex feed that was supposed to be available last month. I bet they will not be offering a Eurex feed until they offer brokerage on their products as well - otherwise they'll have people using their data and trading with IB - and they wouldn't want that now would they?
There is a pretty neat deal with the CME if you trade the ES etc. Last time i looked it was $80 a month, you get all the Globex stuff, 24 hours, you get the top level of 3 different charting packages with the usual indicators. Check out the website at the Merc. http://www.cme.com/trading/dta/real/equotes/multipack2395.html
Aside of those mentioned in the discussion. Just wondering if anyone uses Yahoo, QCharts, Ameritrade, Nasdaq or any other charting software and real time data? uservirgo