From 1994-1997 I traded stock index futures. My broker was First American Discount Corporation (purchased by Man Financial, now called MF Global Futures). I paid about $33 per roundturn including exchange fees back then. I plan to open a Futures account soon with $20K to trade the eMini S&P 500 futures and am interested in your recommended broker for me. I will not be actively trading as my strategy is long term trend following and I will have decided my orders for the day before the trading day starts. For example, if I'm long 1 ES, I'll place my sell stop for the day to make me flat if ES goes down. If ES goes up, I'll have a buy stop to add to my long position. These 2 orders will be about 128 points apart, so the likelihood of both executing in the same day is small. Services, I'd like to have are 1) front end software 2) ability to access static realtime quotes and enter orders on a webbased system as a backup 3) competitive commissions I've looked at Velocity Futures (using Free X-Trader) and Lind-Waldock. Velocity Futures doesn't have a webbased order entry system and Lind-Waldock is a little higher on commissions. Between the 2, I'm leaning toward Velocity Futures. Which broker would you recommend for my situation? Voodoo
Click on "brokers" at the top of the page to see a lot of brokers and reviews. Don't rely on a handful of people responding to your thread. Secondly, don't put all your money at one broker. Remember Refco. Pick 2 or 3...
Take a look at Global Futures. I pay about $2.40 per side for ES contracts. This includes all fees. The J-Trader (free platform) has streaming quotes, and the orders are executed fast and accurately.
Don't go to Lind. They have been the over priced FCM for at least 20 years. I used them in the 80's, and would never do so again. Don't pay more than $5 RT. Most brokers do it for this or less, even with small volume. If you use an IB (introducing broker, not to be confused with Interactive Brokers), be sure to ask who they clear through, and then go to the NFA site to check up on the clearing firm.
Futures accounts did not lose their money with the Refco demise. FX accounts had the problems. I believe another firm just took over the futures accounts. If they are segregated as they are supposed to be, there is little chance of losing funds. If there is fraud in using these funds , then you are shit out of luck until settled by the courts, which can take years (Look up FuturesWise trading for an example). As far as I know, no large FCM has lost futures funds. At least according to an interview with the CME chairman in the latest SFO magazine.
Dorman Velocity Advantage Transact My favorites list - have dealt with all personally and they are very good imo.
MB Trading. $4.50 per round trip for ES. Great customer service. They answer on the first ring. No snotty attitudes like somebody else.
I've tried Optionsxpress(Xpresstrade), Lind-waldock and Interactive Brokers over the last 20 years. Interactive Brokers is the best bar none.
Correct, but most were prevented from using their money for a very long time. It is better not to put all your funds with one broker.