Scratch that. Wrote too soon after being outside with a beer. there are only a couple of annual fees on that list, and they make sense. Those fees are part of the game. You don't expect some to pay for your fingerprinting, do you? And are you really concerned about a returned check?
Oh. Understood. BTW, as far as I know, most top notch firms won't have any lock up period. Echo doesn't. I don't think Bright does either. Not sure about Broad Street.
If you are a complete "newbie", as you say, find any platform that uses real time data to paper trade, and stick with that for at least 6 months. If after six months your equity curve has a positive slope start thinking about platforms.
EvOTrAdEr, thanks for your input! so I will have to take the exams (series 56 or 7) after all I was really hoping to avoid it! I was reading through the forums and it looks like the series 56 has just been updated, and looks really hard!! just my luck lol! Any idea how long I can day trade for before I have to take the exam? Thanks Also thanks for giving me the vote of confidence on CTG, specially after looking at all the other fees broadstreet makes you pay (the background checks, fingerprints etc), theres no mention of any of this in the agreement that CTG emailed me jnbadger, I guess your right, its better to study and might as well get a license yeh, hopefully the studying will even help me out, and the license, well maybe CTG will reduce my rates lol who knws hehe, but once again, any idea how long they will let me trade for until I HAVE to take the exam? Thanks Billsafari! Thanks for posting all the fees from Broadstreet! That is a lot of fees! I'm surprised because the agreement forms that CTG mailed me had none of these fees of any sort, its just a bit scary! I have emailed them again to make sure there aren't any fees they aren't telling me about that weren't mentioned in the agreement forms. I'm going to sound like a total noob, but why would you want to pay for extra services like level 2 nasdaq quotes and level 1 NYSE? Don't the trading platforms offer you all level 2 quotes? piezoe, thanks for your input! I have been trading stocks for the past year using optionshouse as my broker.... within that, once you deposit cash into the account, they also give you access to virtual funds and give you access to live market feeds. I recently started making use of it, funding my account with 50k to get some experience with day trading, my strategy would probably be best described as scalping, profiting from little movement in prices over a short time frame (2-3 minutes). it looks easy when dealing with fake money lol, but of course its gonna be a whole new ball game with real money!! Thanks guys for your input, also was wondering if anyone could give me experiences on their platforms please Someone Pm'd to tell me laser is a free platform and that the fact the firm is charging me 250 is a markup! I honestly thought laser was more stable and better then sterling pro (specially after reading about the issues people had with sterling this past week!!), and DAS trader (which looks really good) is only available for international clients! but my whole view has changed! I guess I'm really leaning towards sterling pro now Lightspeed from reviews doesn't look stable! is that true? unless anyone thinks laser is better then sterling and light speed? Thanks for all your help and input guys!
Sorry, I missed the part in your original post whee you said you were looking into proprietary trading firms. That changes the learning path somewhat, though the advice I gave to paper trade at first is still good.
Warren, You're going to have to pay the fees for the exams and registration no matter where you go. The trading agreements don't reflect licensing fees. You have to pay for licensing and maintaining your licenses. I highly doubt ctg is going to cover it for you. Most firms charge $300-$500 for the registration/licensing and all the other useless big brother government fees. the 56 license is $200 and it's something like 150 for filing the u4 and other endless paperwork (i've worked in compliance for a nyse firm). Uncle Sam needs to collect his fees and approve your application before you can trade. also, laser sucks and the charts are terrible. stick to sterling or lightspeed. sterling + e-signal is an amazing execution platform. it's what I use and recommend.
While we're talking about "stuff" (tools, esignal etc.)... one big advantage of having GS Redi, and yes, it used to be a problem, but is constantly being improved upon, and my people swear by it.... Our traders get a large DDE link feed that allows them things as simple as an "Excel Add In" to make their own spreadsheets, charts, record keeping, etc. With Google Chrome, and Cloud computing, many have set up joint access for specific purposes... saves a bunch of money, no fees for DDE. Just a comment..... Don