They bought TOS in 2009 and they are still in the process of registering as an FCM? i don't think it takes 2 year to register, especially not for a big broker like TD.
TDAT was telling me 2 years ago that they were working on becoming a FCM. Fast forward to now, it seems if TDAT is expecting to be a FCM in the near future they would have waited on the integration of TOS until after becoming a FCM.
I recall another thread regarding per share commission, and Lightspeed and Speedtrader were mentioned as alternatives to flat rate commissions, however I believe Lightspeed has a $1 minimum, but Speedtrader does not. Hope that helps.
TOS is the only broker I've found that gives you futures data without charge, even if one doesn't trade futures but still wants the data, so hopefully you're right and TDAT will keep offering the data even to its equity and options customers.
I talked to Scott about them wanting to keep futures traders or not, and they are unequivocally interested in keeping them and getting new ones. Well that is a nice idea, but if they continue to put out quotes that are behind and overreact with their very high margins then it will be hard to get anyone. The problem is that IB and TOS donât really have any competition, if they did they would both be better. What other firms give you one platform to trade everything?
I think if you don't need tick-by-tick entries on futs (ie swing trading) you could be fine at TDOS / TDA / whatever. However, if you're scalping for ticks or in-and-out gunning for 2 /ES points with tight stops, it's prolly not the platform you want.
confirmed with a TD rep today, the servers that host TOS's data feed will remain the same. I use the platform to scalp for ticks and it hasn't interfered with my trading. Although I'm aware the data feed lags .5 to 1.5 seconds.
Download a copy of Ninja and put in Zenfire or CQG â you can get a trial for free from Amp or Dorman â then put up the time and sales window for the /ES from TOS next to Ninja. Just watch what happens during a few big, fast, high volume moves. I think you may reconsider scalping when you see that your quote can be quite far off sometimes. I know TOS will never have true tick data, but how far they fall behind during busy times is not acceptable and I am hoping they address it someday.