I'm about to open an IB account, and they're asking me if I'm a professional subscriber. I hold a series 6 license. Does that mean I must register as a professional ? B/c I did register at scottrade a while back to be safe, but I can't say I have any idea on what to do. Help ?
If you hold a securities license then you are considered a professional. Unfortuantely, this means you pay more for data. I think the reason for this is because the exchanges believe you are going to use this data on behalf of your clients, and they are looking for ways to charge you for that because your clients are unlikely to pay for it themselves if they are doing business through you.
A LOT more for data. I've been primarily swing trading through scottrade, and haven't needed real-time data feed. Real-time quotes are all I've needed. For level 1 amex, nyse, nasdaq would cost me $180 at IB.
If $180 is going to break the bank, I would suggest you trade with these guys, they offer a discount. http://www.pikertrading.com
even not being cheap, it starts to add up. I have my s7, and trade a pro acct. I have two logins to my platform and I have to pay pro exchange fees for both. why? they know it's the same person. then I use two real time data services, realtick and esignal. And I'm supposed to pay pro fees again on both? I know I'm supposed to, but I'm not going to. I already pay the exchanges the pro fees twice for m two logins. So I lie and sign up as non pro. been doing it for years and haven't run into a problem yet. If I was using the data for customer purposes, I would pay up, but I'm not so I won't. even though I already do twice. So I think if you are already paying pro exchange fees once, I don't feel bad at all lying. so I'm sure as shit not going to pay pro fees four times for the same thing. If caught I will claim I thought I was OK since I was already paying the pro fees through my propshop. And I also just use my wife's name. who's to say she does't trade too?