No bill pay - IB isn't a bank. No DRIP - All stocks are held in street name. You'd only have a DRIP if you owned stock with direct registration. i.e. you bought the stock from the company like IBM, etc.
Well, I can't tell if I'm all wet or not. I don't have time for a big search, but I did uncover the Barron's 2015 ranking: http://www.barrons.com/articles/barrons-2015-ranking-of-online-brokers-1425705011 and pulled this: "We decided not to include any of the 100 or so firms that utilize the Interactive Brokers platform as-is, a practice known as white labeling, which meant we had to say goodbye to Place Trade and could not include newcomer ZacksTrade." Only to be followed by this: "We remain confused by Scottrade’s approach to complex options trading, however. For the last few years, those who wanted to trade multi-leg strategies had to use a separate platform powered by OptionsHouse. That deal is being phased out in favor of a white-label implementation of the Interactive Brokers platform. We have not seen this live yet, but find it a little strange to require a separate account for multi-leg options trades." So.... "I dunno." At any event, 10+ years ago, I went from ScotTrade to OptionsExpress to IB, with a side-shot at the then-new TradeKing. I'm only at IB, with multiple accounts, and have little cause to stroll. (I have sometimes peeled off a month's worth of trading in a 24 hour period.... and when I look at Broker Commissions column and think of (most of) the others available, I remain a happy IB camper. Toady. Whatever.
I made many attempts to leave etrade. Tried plenty different platforms, they all have their quarks. I find etrade with the most features i use and the others just don't.
I do not buy stock from companies. Although, my Etrade account has drip. Like i said, Etrade has all the features I use and the others just don't...
Whatever, not everyone understands compound interest. Although, some prefer the cash, and if you really do need the cash from DRIP to trade, your account could be slightly under funded. But if your broker doesn't offer DRIP, you'll never miss the source of revenue.
I've used IB for over a decade. Their platform is very good for executing trades. It seems to be geared more towards long term investors (buy & hold positions), as well as options traders. It has support for quick action traders as well (although I do not do this). It is quite weak on the charting... and I'm not a technical analyst or need much in the way of charting yet it is *still* pretty weak. But aside from charting it should have you mostly covered. So far I've had no problems with customer support. Always great on e-mail, and on chat. I do not talk to them much about technical issues but their back-office people are really awesome when it came to shifting assets between brokers. Plus, them having offices around the planet make it so I can reach a human voice pretty much whenever I want ^.^b I do not plan to ever give up IB. I just wished there were more people like them (and/or some way to insure deposits over 500k better)
That’s because their old software is,32 bit. The new Tradestation 10 has 32 bit and 64 bit version I believe. I have a GA version and it ism64 bit, but I doubt they would alienate current customers who have old hardware which doesn’t support 64 bit software. I know a lot of people who are thrilled with Tradestation. I also have IB and access it using MultiCharts for Futures Ninja Trader for Forex, OmniTrader for Stocks and Visual Trader for,ETFs and Stocks.
I like TradeStation, but the new version (TradeStation 10.0) is still very much 32-bit - sad to say. You say you have a 64-bit version? That would please me greatly, if true. Post a screen shot showing TS in your 64-bit Programs file (not Program Files (x86)) and I will believe you. What full-time trader uses hardware old enough to not support 64-bit these days? 64-bit CPUs have been out for PCs since 2003, approx. 15 years ago.
Dude - isn't that kinda crazy having all of those separate platforms ? How in the heck to you get an integrate P&L and performance stats ?