Listening to the CEO of Ameritrade talking about Day Traders is like listening to Henry Ford, Sr. talk about cars having glass windows one day, and sound insulation to the point where you can actually have a conversation despite the motor running.
andy62279 said it best, but since i haven't seen AMTD's setup in a couple years, i can't answer definitively. if it's as it used to be: the datek arm was giving better prices than AMTD, and wouldn't sell your order to 3rd parties. that slows it down, and doesn't always result in you getting the price you should get. if you make 1 daytrade a day, you can avoid most problems with AMTD. but there will be some point, where you want to enter a hot moving stock, and you place an order above the ask... and that's the one that's 'sold' to a 3rd party, who may not have to get you the price in a fast moving market... and you either won't get the trade (on an entry), or if you're trying to exit, won't get out and watch money disappear. then you'll want to move.
I think he meant to say "the ma and pa sheeple daytraders who use crappy online brokers like Ameritrade are dead"
Thanks gajl! I'm looking at someother brokers (IB, Xoom and MB). So far Ameritrade had been OK (at least from my limited prospective). I pay 10 bucks a trade and I get filled in a few seconds (2 to 4 seconds generally). Is that slow by your standards? They do have deals with some market makers that pay them a small % to get the order flow but I think (?) you get "National Best" for your market order. Anyways, I don't think the CEO is very connected with what's going on. Have a Properous New Year---Daytrading, Davo
- 10 bucks a trade. Flat? IB will charge 1c per share, or 0.5c per share if the order is >500 shares of stock. Do you trade 2,000+ shares per click? - Filled in a few seconds? You mean ... Milliseconds? Is that slow by my standards... Umm... Well... If you're hitting the bid or ask, then it is very slow. If you're entering limit-order it may not be. If you're entering at market, it shouldn't take more than about 200ms to get a fill, depending on where on earth you are. If you're trading <2,000 shares, I don't recommend $10 per ticket. I wouldn't recommend Ameritrade unless under torture. Scientist. PS: IB is far from the cheapest for active intraday stock traders.
Thanks Scientist, your the reason I joined ET. I'm new to trading and I don't know very much. The reason I post is to get feed back from guys like you. Thanks for your response!!
Don't say this too loud, or you will have d*ph*enix, L*ngSh*t, El*ctricS*avant and their like on your case in no time. They really hate me. Take care and take it easy on Ameritrade!
Scientist, I'm going to switch brokers, I'd rather have the speed you described. Where can I learn about how & when to "hit the bid" or "hit the ask"? Right now I just enter a market order and keep my fingers crossed. Thanks, Davo