Is that true? I've been told by someone worked at the company, they said it is for option traders, not equities traders. Can anyone here confirm this? TIA
No. They have good equities and futures trading facilitation. Their platform is needlessly complicated but they have other offerings via tdameritrade. And, they have excellent educational content. if your capital, trading volume, or analytical resources does not justify interactive Brokers, then it might be the best place to go.
Their analytics is top of the line for retail traders, especially for options and equity traders, commissions are a bit high however, but you can negotiate a better deal. No charge for using platform and no data fees, which is pretty good. IB has API - ToS doesn't. I've been using both ToS and IB for years, and pretty happy with this combination.
What are the prerequisites for getting access to it? They don't have much on their site. How far back does the historical data go? IB API is available to any account holder...
I've been trading equities and options w/TOS and it's ok for that (if you're not an active trader). It does have great options analytics. And lots of scanning and charting features. However, if you're an active trader or day trader, I don't recommend it, there are some nasty issues with the TOS platform that will cost you money and lost opportunities.
I would think any one with an account can get access. I have used it since 2007. I emailed their API team to get access. They required me to sign a NDA agreement and asked a few questions about how I would use it.