Wow..thats a lot for IB. Is there some reason why you chose Scottrade for backtesting/practicing? While it is not much Scottrade seems to ask for a 500$ deposit. It seems TD Ameritrade has real time quotes but doesnt require a deposit. Tradeking also doesnt have a minimum, but doesnt provide realtime quotes unless you fund your account. I also have an MBtrading account. I didnt even complete the application here(didnt provide SSN etc,) but got access to real time quotes through there platform. IB is indeed amazing..they seem to have everything under the sun available for trading
I am actually thinking of getting TD Ameritrade. TD Ameritrade doesnt require any initial deposits. Since thinkandswim and TD Ameritrade merged what I heard is that clients of TD ameritrade can use the thinkorswim application. I also have a nonauthorized thinkorswim account (no ssn supplied), and I really liked their platform. I will probably shut off tradeking, its almost useless trading wise. Also is it recommended to watch the webinars etc that these brokers provide. Most of the top brokers have a lot of educational material, webinars, live trading rooms. But I wonder whether they are made just to make the individual trade more to get more money into the brokers coffers? My long goal is to make a semi automated/automated trading system (not HFT), through ninjatrader and IB. To get there I am thinking of manually doing practice trades, once I come up with a swing strategy that works well. I am working on understanding C# used in ninjatrader(i have done coding before in my undergraduate years, but didnt major in CS), so that when I come up with the strategy I am able to code it into ninjatrader. Does this sound like a good way to go? Or should I try to make a semi-automated/automated strategy right from the beginning?
A few advises from me: - Learn to accept that markets (and shares as well) move at random.* - The only way to make money in such an environment is to limit your losses and let your profits run. - Don't buy anything from a vendor that claims to be able to teach you how to trade. - Trading is 10% knowledge and that bit you will learn by experience. - Trading is 90% mental and you will learn that by practicing on a SIM account and maybe do some reading about it. - Read the attachment. *Over a longer period of time, say >10 years stock markets tend to go up. Why? Because, companies tend to strive for an increase in profits and therefor increase in stockprice. But if you want to make money as an e.g. day trader or swing trader you have to accept that markets move at random. Don't think you can outsmart the markets... You can't. Shaka , Frits