From here: Starting on September 1, 2010 OEC will be offering all Direct Live Accounts free access to our Simulation Environment. Details on how to access will follow. I know that is something many on here and other boards have asked for, so good to see that OEC has listened!
and chopping people off after 2 weeks. Seems they would want to allow people ample time and access to make informed decisions about the interface and trading in general. I don't know why all brokers don't do this. Are they afraid people might find out that trading is not for them?
I think it's also a function of costs and server usage. Do you want some guys that will never trade clogging up your sim servers for months at a time? I understand what you are saying and if you ask nicely, OEC may just extend that out for you but if you have a live account with just $5k in it, you will get that demo for free going forward.
I couldn't find their rates on their site. Does anyone know what they are and do they have publicly traded stock? Thanks for a reply.
http://www.openecry.com/openaccount/ratestable.cfm That's the 'standard' rates; however I would strongly recommend you talk to a broker there about the best rates you can get. OEC is now owned by Options Xpress. https://investor.shareholder.com/oxps/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=318315 So you can 'trade' OEC via OXPS. http://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:OXPS