I looked at the IB API and was (unpleasantly) surprised. I have to have their TWS (which is written in Java) to run all the time on my machine; I'm not making direct socket calls, I'm making calls to that TWS layer. Well, this doesn't sound like a good design for 24/7 fully automated (with no human supervision) trading software. I checked few other companies and it looks like this is very wide spread design - they want you to run their junk on your machine instead of doing direct socket calls. Some of them offer FIX connectivity instead of API. But, for example, IB has FIX for $100/mo with $500 setup fee which is plain stupid - FIX is much simpler to use and it makes much less load on the server, so I don't understand why that POS API costs 10 times less than normal technology. I went onto the search for companies that offer FIX and are discount brokers. I found these: http://www.just2trade.com/ http://www.ecnbroker.com/en/ http://www.mbtrading.com/ Are there any other companies that will give FIX access with strait forward fee structure and low commissions? I'm looking for retail broker, not the institution one. I need US stocks only, I don't do options etc. Which one of these three (and may be others) are the most reliable? Thanks in advance!
If you actually trade stock in volume... Say millions of shares/month... Then your annual IB fees might run into 6 figures... And a $5/day charge for FIX connectivity is trivial... and silly to complain about. At these volume levels... IB really has no direct competition at the retail level... In terms of the total package... So you might as well accept it. If you are not doing volume... then this whole thread is moot.
>>If you are not doing volume... then this whole thread is moot. Please elaborate on this one. I need every % of CPU power on my machine because the logic that runs show is very resource consuming. The more resources I can free up, the better my final outcome is. Having TWS run on the same machine eats up resources, plus with TWS being 3-rd party Java junk it is given that I'll need to reboot almost every day, which again is not desirable. What all this has to do with the volume or how much I spend in a month for the various fees?
Thanks! I've checked http://www.limebrokerage.com What are their fees? I don't see them on the webpage. Looks like I need to email for the pricing, at this is sure sign for the rip-off price.
I'm still searching for that too. I need a direct access futures broker though. Limebrokerage seems fine but doesn't do futures. I'm really disappointed with the Windows crap most brokers make you run as well.