Suppose all retail firms from now on were "average" in their attributes (above) and could only excel in one. Which would you choose (if those were the choices). Also post any retail shops that you feel best cover a certain aspect. Your Choices: Execution Speed Data Commissions Charting Research Customer Service. Also give suggestions for other possibilites, maybe the moderator will add them in? Thanks
what zero commissions with bad executions, what good is great executions with exorbitant fees. IMO, the poll should be a ranking of importance as any active trader will require a combination of items. I'll also add that I believe you left off the most important criteria - financial security. FWIW, I am restricted from having a personal account at IB for compliance reasons and thus need to invest elsewhere. The first thing I'll look at before anything else is a firms finances and capital. I want to know that I'll get my money back, the firm will have ample resources for R&D and that they'll remain in business for many years to come.
Well, yes that is Def, and many other traders here. But for the Gordon Gekko's of the world with a 5K account (am I being too generous?) and a fly's chance in hell of being liquid six months out, solvency of the firm may be the least of a trader's concerns. Thus, the hypothetical poll should only allow certain traders to vote - otherwise the results will be misleading.
Def: I think Execution FAR outweighs commissions....If you playing with 100 share lots, yeah $5 vs $10.00 per trade will make a difference...but if your throwing down 1000 share orders or more....a fill thats 3 cents off will cost you a lot more in and out and will not be with 1.00 per trade commission... Interesting about your compliance system...i did Compliance for 10 years and made ALL my employees have accounts IN HOUSE....so i can watch them and make sure they are not front running....what's their rationale in that?
I agree with TM. Too many people focus on commissions as the key factor. The real money is made when you are able to efficiently get in and out of a stock, with great speed and reliablility. Missed opportunities due to a slow system or down time will eventually ruin any trader. Volume
2 things: For the sake of the poll, commissions mean total costs to trade, including fees. Also, we are keeping everything else at a constant average. Meaning, If you select "Customer Service" - What you are really saying is: I would prefer a firm , if I had to pick one that has only one high attribute that has: Avg Commissions Avg Executions Avg Data AVg Charting High Customer Service. I am not implying that the rest is bad!!!!
I'm with def. But for a retail customer, should you be concerned only about the clearing firm's security, since they hold your funds, or do you need to worry about the broker too? My answer to the original poll is low costs. There is virtually no difference in executions with any half way decent direct access broker. And there ar eplenty of decent charting programs available. Another factor is inertia. Once you learn something like RT, you don't want to spend a few days or weeks setting up pages and learning how to operate a different system.