If you trade with a Series 7/55 are you considered a professional user with eSignal (and other packages)? If so has anoyne here signed up as a professional? Cost difference...?
Yes, any NASD license makes you a professional. Doesn't your brother/sister/girlfriend/insertfavoritenonprofessionalhere need realtime quotes?
http://www.esignal.com/esignal/sign/default.asp#type_trader Would a securities license qualify you under criteria #4? If you have a Series 7 license, does that make you a registered rep? If you're with a pro firm, are you a member of the Securities Exchange? If the answer to these is no, I would assume you wouldn't have to pay pro fees. I have a license, and I just assumed I had to pay pro fees. But maybe not... If you have an account with eSignal already, you have to call them up and create a totally different (professional) account. If you sign up for NYSE quotes, you have to send in paperwork to eSignal with signatures. For Nasdaq only, there is no paperwork to sign. Nasdaq is $20/mo. NYSE $127/mo. I forget what Amex is...I think maybe $40 or so. Nasdaq level 2 is $50/mo (including level 1) PLUS $50/mo that eSignal charges only if you are a month to month subscriber. What's confusing is, if you have a pro account and only subscribe to Nasdaq, then you want to add NYSE...you go to the account maintenance screen, and it says "0.00 per month" for NYSE. But it's still $127/mo; you would pay the exchange directly.
Having the series 7 makes you a "Registered Representative", so you have to sign up as a professional. I think its a stupid rule since you are not providing services to others like a broker would and you are really just using the quotes for personal use. Anyway, I assume if you try to sign up as a non-professional and you are really on the books as a pro, some pencil pusher in the NASD data compliance office will figure it out eventually and could cause you some trouble. I have never talked with anyone who did this though.
I don't think just having the series 7 makes you a registered rep. You have to have your license hung with a firm ( don't know 100%).....besides in the end even if you are licensed you are only using it for personal investing, if you are not providing quotes to other people ( clients ) you should be ok......
Hi All, Just to clarify, if you have a series 7 license, you are considered a pro, regardless if you are currently working for a brokerage company. For the one questioning the intelligence of the rule, I want to make clear that this is an SEC rule, not eSignal. On the note about having zero pricing in Account Maintenance, this is due to the fact that we don't bill professionals for NYSE, they bill the client directly. NYSE, AMEX, OPRA, & the Canadian exchange bill professionals directly. All others we bill & then pay the exchanges. Future exchanges have no difference between pro and non-pro. Hope this helps. Regards, Andy S. eSignal Support
Yes, I am aware that it is not Esignal's rule, I was referring to the SEC. Thanks for the clarification on the 7.