OP: Have you noticed both firms (CTG and Broad Streeet) have the exact same address? Out of all the office space in New York, these 2 share a spot? Seems like a little too much of a coincidence to not have a story behind it. Broad Street trading says they are a Broker Dealer, however, I can not find their financials on http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html Before you do anything with them, you should ask them if they are still a BD and check their financials (compare them to other prop broker dealers). If CTG trades through a broker dealer, they are subject to similar fees (and I would ask them to put in writing if they are going to cover some of them for you, or hit you for them). If they are not a BD, drop them from consideration. Maybe they are a subgroup of Broad Street since they share an office (this would bring up other questions). Please enlighten us with the answer. Regarding the fee list, the following fees are made up. The others on the list exist. A higher quality firm would not charge some of the made up fees (eg $10 for an incoming wire - come on). Regarding the rest of them, I'm not saying the firm should not charge them, they are just not actual fees charged by any regulatory, tax or gov't entity. So the firm is either covering some of its costs or it is a profit center... (I may be off on the outside brokerage fee but I think it is invented. The rest I am sure on.) K1 annual filing fee. 100.00 (invented) Outside brokerage account fee FINRA monthly 25.00 (believe to be invented) CBSX inactivity fee. 100.00 monthly (this is ridiculous. there is no individual fee anything like this from the CBSX. There is a firm fee that the firm pays, but what if they hit a threshold the fee isn't there, however, you still get charged.) These guys need a better bank. This is a joke: incoming wire 10.00 outgoing wire 25.00 returned check 50.00 Good luck finding out why they have the same address...
I'll take a moment to share my experience. I have been with both Broadstreet and am now with Capital Traders Group. Hands down, I like CTG better. From my understanding, the address is the same for CTG and Broadstreet as they used be the same thing. I asked if they were part of Broadstreet when I first signed up with CTG and I was told that CTG broke off from Broadstreet but they are not the same group anymore. Hence the same address and different pricing structure. Broadstreet seemed to be a little more strick on how you traded and seemed to come down on you a bit if you took a loss larger than usual -- I understand the need for risk controls, but it just seems CTG is more flexible on this front. I don't seem to get the same thing from CTG. You should also look at the ECN routes offered by both firms. CTG has a ton of routes you can use for your orders. Broadstreet doesn't seem to have as many and they don't seem to have any routes that pay rebates for removing liquidity like CTG does (e.g. BYXONLY and NSDQBX) http://www.broadstreettrading.com/ecn. Broadstreet doesn't seem to have any darkpool routes either. You can contact CTG to get their most up-to-date ECN Fee Schedule and route list. Support has always been excellent at CTG. I often Skype or chat with the support folks if I need anything. In addition, CTG often reviews my trading volume and adjusts my commissions downward when I meet the volume thresholds. Broadstreet never did this for me (but I'm not sure if I just never met their volume thresholds or not). There is a number you can call that always gets answered too if your network is down, or whatever, and need to have someone else close your positions, etc. When I first signed on with CTG, I also believe I was told CTG was a broker-dealer -- you should verify with a simple call to them. You will be required to register and complete the Series 56 before trading. Your money will be locked for a year -- I believe this is an SEC requirement for prop firms. The other nice thing about CTG is they always offer to help me with one-on-one sessions to improve my trading at no additional charge. This is done as a courtesy. They have been helpful in making me more profitable. In addition, they have free classes from time to time that show you how to improve your trading or do midpoint scalping, etc. As far as platforms are concerned, I don't particulary care for the Sterling Platforms charting capabilities (I've used DAS, Thinkorswim, and QuoteTracker in the past). There are very few studies/indicators available for applying to your charts in Sterling. The rest of the platform works well however, and it even has an API that you can use to perform autoamted trading (e.g. with Cyborg Trader or your own custom built strategies). I would agree with the previous poster that if you can afford to add on e-signal with Sterling, that would be the way to go to get you the best charts and trading platform. Whatever you decide, I wish you the best of luck.