You expect your broker to be responsible for your self discipline ? That's a good one. Tempting you into over trading because their commissions are too low ? Please go back to Scottrade. Now!
I am not sure if you can even open an account for $1000 or not (perhaps your thinking $5,000 as your question states) If your new to trading you may want to avoid IB. They are the lowest in many areas. They are the lowest price, but also the lowest in service. If you need any help with why something happened you will normally only be able to find out by asking here on ET ( and have to deal with all the jerks and know it alls) If you have experience and know what your doing and how the market works but just don't have a lot of money IB may be a very good choice. There are other choices as well that are in between the two in price/service. Etrade Ameritrade etc.... may have better rates and still provide a lot of 'hand holding' Tradestation is another broker (I use both TS and IB currently) that charges $1 per hundred and has great customer service and IMHO a very good platform for the price.(Not sure what the min deposit is at TS but you can find out I am sure with a phone call) Regardless of what you do if your trading 'small' amounts of shares than a move to another broker is probably going to save you money. Best of trading to you
David, I think that is a very good reason to chose one trading platform over another. I do not know what dcraig has against that. What dcraig says is equivalent to saying: "So you do not eat excessive sugar because you want to prevent diabetes? But diabetes is caused on a body and not on sugar!" Whatever means we have for building discipline. Anyway, I find your advice helpful.
Thanks, trader. I think I'll just do that. In other news, here is a snippet I've read from the book A Matematician Plays the Stock Market by John Allen Paulos, Basic Books 2003, ISBN 0465054803: Matematicians... have proved... the inevitability of some kind of order in large sets. (pg. 29) What do you think of technical analysis now?
Like I always say, thank God there are people like this out there to take the other side of my trades. What an absolute load of horseshit this truly is.