This. You need a creative strategy to make money in 2011... This virtually always implies building custom software systems. At the very least... You will have to get a high-end solution with a 1st class data warehouse... You're talking 5 figures/month... And then add extensive custom features via their API. There are NO successful trading firms running off-the-shelf software... This is a myth believed by people with $10K accounts.
I never maid any claims about my trading. I simply found this thread interesting as it has to do with an area I am familiar with. So regardless of the time I answered it I gave you valuable information. You can get defensive if you must, but I am giving you advice comes direct from experience. You can take it or leave it. Here's another tip: Work on your abstract thinking skills. You'll probably leave that advice as well, at your own peril.
Why would someone making markets use a broker that crappy? Charging extra for directed orders is an almost certain sign that the broker is shaving $ from their customers via either internalization or payment-for-order-flow, both of which I'm pretty sure will cost you far more, on average, than the extra fractions of a penny required to send the order to a legit exchange. Of course, most retail customers don't know about this, so it's more or less tolerated, despite the misgivings of many in the SEC.
Trying to get a view on the algo/ black box trading landscape. Does anyone have an updated view on how the Orc liquidator compares to competitors in terms of technology, user friendliness, connectivity speed etc.?