New Futures Account: RCG (Sweet Futures), Velocity, or Global?

Discussion in 'Retail Brokers' started by JangoFolly, Apr 16, 2007.

  1. Opinions please.

    I'm shopping for a new broker. The three finalists are Rosenthal Collins Group (RCG -- their retail division is called Sweet Futures), Velocity Futures and Global Futures.

    I'm only trading electronic CL lately, so the commission comparisons are pretty straightforward. I'm basing the price comparisons on 50 RTs per day.

    RCG is currently winning the price side, with $650/mo. for XTrader and $0.50/side plus exchange fees (works out to $3.94/RT). My only issue with them is that although RCG is a big name in the futures world, I can't find out much about the quality of their retail operations.

    Velocity is $500/mo. for XTrader and $4.54/RT. There are plenty of reviews of Velocity, and they all seem to be glowing. Another plus is that their intraday margin on the CL is only $1000. I don't risk more than $200/contract on my trades, and I hate to tie up capital in my trading account unnecessarily.

    Global is currently bringing the rear with mixed reviews, $650/mo. for XTrader, and as-of-yet unspecified commissions (it sounds like it will be around $0.65/side plus fees, which works out to $4.24.

    Also, I'm assuming that XTrader is going to run just the same, regardless of who my broker is. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

    Any and all opinions are welcome and appreciated. Thank you.


    Regards,
     
  2. Global Futures Clears through RCG, so I say cut out the middle man.....
     
  3. bump
     
  4. Hey Jango ! Good to see you are still movin and shakin....

    care to enumerate any problems and quirks you've encountered over at IB with regards to their platform or their service ?

    As you know, IB is going public soon...and this could be a scary thing for them....Sarbox, compliance, scrutiny, boards, etc.
    Going public ain't what it used to be.
     
  5. I hope you have been well.

    This explains everything...

    http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=92089


    Regards,
     
  6. Ugh....server problems = disaster.
    This should not have persisted for more than a few days or so.
    TOS's servers were flattened in the Feb market debacle which caused an enormous increase of the volume of derivative's trading.
    They upgraded their servers within 2 weeks of that event.
     
  7. One more bump for input on this thread.

    Thanks.
     
  8. I can't speak about XT or IB, but as far as RCG goes, I never had a trade issue with them. I no longer use them, and my experience ended only recently.

    Although I didn't have issue with them, I never liked them... more an ethereal issue, nothing I can specifically pinpoint.

    I will also say, the RCG PATS feed is extremely stable. Likely the best PATS feed out there.

    Good luck,
    Osorico
     
  9. I am going to be giving iepstein a try. The platfor cost is MUCH lower than Xtrader and QST is a nice platform (though I think I recall you saying you hated Java apps, if not it was someone..)

    I would check out QST (or OT as it is branded over there) May or may not work for you. Just a suggestion. They do offer a full live 14 day platform demo so you can see if you like it. I cant recall it ever disconnecting or pinking out on me during my demo. The News was awesome.. Charting is Way better than IB, etc....

    With their current advertised promo, you would have to trade OVER 500 RT's per month to make it NOT a good deal compared to what RCG offered you.

    www.iepstein.com
     
  10. Were you with their Sweet Futures group, or did you have an RCG account through another broker?

    Thanks.
     
    #10     Apr 19, 2007