otc bb brokers

Knight Securities

 

i am a small lot trader with IB.

my small bankroll requires this.

IB is great because the commissions are so cheap for small lots (such as 100 shares or less) -- usually $1 each way. Affordable!

Trouble is, a lot of times I have an OTC or bulletin board stock in mind that I'd like to buy, and IB doesn't handle these.

So far, I can't find a broker that handles OTC or bulletin board stocks in small lots for anything near IB-type prices.



MyTrack so for is the best candidatate I have come across, but shelling out $12.95 to buy, say, 50 shares of a stock trading at, say $8, menas giving up to much for commisisons.

(With IB, on the other hand, I would spending only $1, which is a manageable bite.)

So, whare are the cheap brokers of OTC-BB stocks for small fry investors like me?

Thanks in advance

 

Freetrade. Free for the first 20 tickets, $3/ticket after that - unlimited number of shares. The 2 or 3 times I've traded BB stocks with them I've gotten fairly quick fills.

 

I've used MyTrack since it's beginning, and have had few problems. Last summer I spent a lot of time seeing if there was another online broker offering a better package, and I found none.
And for what it's worth, their "gold" package includes L2 for bb stocks along with intraday charting for about 40 bucks. If there was any change I'd like, it would be for better rebate pricing towards their software package.
If anyone does open an account with MyTrack, check out Channel 17.

 

Thanks y'all for your info about how I, a small fry investor trading small lots, can work toward trading OTC and BB stocks with a small bankroll, without get disemboweled by the commissions. (I have been spoiled with the tiny commissions and rich feature set of IB.)

Questions regarding Freetrade:

1) Do they sell order flow?
2) Do they front run?

In general, are they fair and square in the handling of orders? What's the CW (Conventional Wisdom)?

Thanks in advance for any input.

Also, can anyone recommend a book or body of writing (perhaps online) that can give me a more detailed overview of the world of OTC and BB stocks, and ADRs, and market making in general, and whatever else is up those alleys - especially the pitfalls and traps to look out for? For example, I would love to run into a book considered a classic in its field, sort of like running into a Larry McMillan book on option trading, but in this case the book would be about market making and OTC and BB stocks, etc.

I know not much; I know only various rumors and impressions I have picked up in my reading.

For example, I've heard that in many cases NITE trading can get the job done for you when you want to buy and sell OTC and BB, but I've ALSO heard that you can get hurt trading with NITE because they are very competent and very aggressive, and you might be in the wrong place at the wrong time and windup being a pawn in a larger self-serving plan they happen to have going at the time.

Disclaimer: Note that I am NOT saying the above is true about NITE; just that this is a general vague impression I formed from reading others' comments. I certainly do not want to "dis" NITE because I am utterly unqualified to do so; I am not knowledgeable enough about the subject. What I am doing is throwing out one thing I heard in order to check on it's accuracy, and to stimulate thought and commentary from the participants in this thread. Wanting to do some due diligence and general exploration here.

Once again, most grateful for informed input.

Ozzie

 

I was curious what you meant by Direct Access?

I have an account at www.preferredtrade.com

I can route OTCBB stocks directly to Spear for a flat 9.95, but Spear has to trade it or else 9.95

Or I can route to their trading desk, and they will lay the order off on someother market maker for more $$$.

I only trade OTCBB with them if I can get the 9.95 rate.

But I have called and asked for cust. service comm. breaks and gotten them on expensive trades with the desk.

 

1. yes
2. no


That said, I've been very happy with them. I watch my orders on level 2, and out of about 1000 RT trades, I've gotten what I considered bad fills 3 times and in each case I emailed them an annotated copy of the tape and they fixed the price to where it should have been. Other than those 3 times, I've always gotten filled at the inside, and usually within 1-2 seconds.

 

for those of us in Canada, Questrade.com using CyberTrader has $9.95 trades for an unimited amount of shares. And I see depth for most OTC BB stocks if they have depth.

It is direct access trading