OK, I'm coming pretty close to switching from ST. Today I was getting 5 different quotes!! my two quote boxes show 37.06 charts 1 minute 37.04 5 minute 37.20 10 minute 37.06 daily 37.52 I dont have the money for direct access. Are all online broker like this? - nathan
Wow I can't remember what provider but I've seen that before. Scottrade seems to be consistent, although I've noticed their quotes are about 1/2 - 2 seconds behind say DAS trader. Big deal though I guess. But I think I'm just biting the bullet and moving to harmon group, and praying for the best. Hopefully, I'll bust or make it to 25k without the clearing house blowing out or other "partners". But as I understand it, with the 4:1 it shouldn't be that much of a risk.
If it's any consolation, with only $4K-$5K you can't do much with naked short puts/calls because of the margin requirement. 100% * option market value + maximum ( ((20% * underlying market value) - out of the money amount), 10% * underlying market value, $2.50 * multiplier * number of contracts).
Have you switched to Harmon yet? I'm looking for feedback on them. I'm in a situation very similar to yours, looking to be able to day trade with less than $25000.
Yes, actually I have. They have some quirks to work out with getting everything set up smoothly but it's really not a big deal considering that the people are extremely friendly and helpful. I had my funds wired in the afternoon and my account was ready to roll around 10am the following day. There was an issue with commission being charged at 10.95 per trade but that was quickly resolved and I got backcredited and now it's normal. I did have one problem with the das trader friday afternoon right before the close when I tried to issue a sell order that jammed. I'm not sure right now if it sold or not still. 4:1 leverage is intense, especially with only 4k or so. You really need A LOT of discipline. It's easy to be popping in and out and making 30 dollars a roundtrip after commission but it's also extremely easy to lose $300 in 5 minutes. I've been fooling with ipo's and earnings stocks and have taken a huge beating in the past week. It's all due to lack of discipline in those few trades that I wanted to get out but was optimistic that the stock would make a recovery and it basically ends up chewing you out of both a lot of money and a lot of time that could have been spent going in and out of other stocks. So that's my one huge advice. Don't hang on with optimism. Get out and move on. If it does start to come back, then go in again. If you're trading fairly volatile stocks in the 10-20 dollar range with the 4:1 leverage, there's a lot of potential even with the $20 roundtrip commissions. But harmon so far has been excellent in my book. It's got the quirks like I said of a small couple people group kind of deal but that's to be expected.
Thanks for the info ziddey. I did some more research on Harmon, and saw someone complain that Harmon doesn't have a good short list. I want to be able to short all of the stocks I watch, so this would be a problem for me. Have you had any trouble shorting?
Yes. Remember last week when palm reported earnings? That stock went down the tube. I made a few hundred at one point bouncing in and out but I got burned when it took a few shits. Ending up losing a grand. I tried to short it a few times but it wasn't valid. Too bad.
Just wanted to say that I had trouble selling 900 shares of PALM right before the closing bell on Friday. The order went in and then didn't execute for a good minute. I tried cancelling but it wouldn't let me, saying nothing to cancel. So nothing I could do, it went into afterhours and same thing. I login today and it says now that my BP for the day is 0. So I think that I can sell PALM anytime today but wouldn't be able to make any more trades until Wednesday, so I guess I'm holding on to PALM a bit longer to see if it does anything.
If you are planning to trade futures, avoid MB Trading at all cost. Neither them or their clearing firm, Penson, has a clue when it comes to 24 hour trading in the futures market. I have no knowledge on their Forex venture, but if futures trading is any clue, can't be much better..............
Who would you recommend for trading futures? I've never bothered with futures, because I've heard that they're a lot more dangerous than stocks. But is that true? Is trading an E-mini much more dangerous than trading a very volatile stock?