Is it possible to trade E-minis only at ECHOtrade? What other fees, if any, in addition to this $2.99 per side? Are there any advantages to trade via ECHOtrade compared to retail with IB, Advanced, etc.?
I see prop futures trading is a subject asked by many. Thanks to everyone who responded. I'd like to learn more about Echo: commish, desk fees, capital reqmnt...u guys know the rest...
I'm just not seeing it. If you guys can't significantly lower your commissions under the best price that any joe shmoe can get from IB, what advantage are you providing? We can get the leverage with a decent commish rate on our own, could you provide details in which it would be beneficial for someone to trade through you. An office work environment with good traders would be a big reason but lower commissions is the ultimate and probably the biggest factor in my opinion.
According to this CME page, maint is $2850 (ES) and $1800 (NQ). Per this IB page, minimum initial is 125% of maint, which would be $3562 (ES) and $2250 (NQ) -- and IB's 50% intraday rates would therefore be $1781 (ES) and $1125 (NQ). Compared to ECHO's $1000 (ES) and $750 (NQ), at least a third less than IB's, right?
Yes. It is possible to trade only futures at ECHOtrade. None. For futures only traders, there are NO other fees. Yes. Advantages to being with ECHOtrade over retail would be: 1. Greater leverage. Double the leverage of most of the retail firms. 2. Easier accounting. K-1 vs. Sched D. 3. Trade Support desk that answers the phone in person immediately. 4. Easy access to trade anything else if you should ever choose to. Equities, options, etc.
Bronks- IB is cheaper than we are. But lets do some math....Lets say that our increased leverage gave Trader X the ability to trade twice his average size of say 5 cars. Lets say then that Trader X makes then makes 5 round turns in a day for a gross profit of 2 points. Trading with ECHO, Trader X makes $701 net. Trading with IB, Trader X makes $380 net. This is assuming that trader X never needs to pick up the phone for assistance, in which case the second scenario's results may vary widely. So while IB is the cheapest, how much is the less-than-1/20-of-a-tick difference in commission really worth?