Traders who pay TOO LITTLE for commissions are obnoxious. Does an extra BUCK or two a side really affect your profitability (or lack thereof)? For scalpers, I suppose. But that's a heck of a lot of work for not much pay. Think or Swim is better for equity options, in my opinion. I would never consider trading futures with them.
Hey, there's a few really good clearing firms. My favorites would be MF Global or RJO. My point was regarding commissions. With the exception of scalpers, no trader should feel much impact from a $5, $10 or even $15 r/t for futures. What's really important is if your front-end platform has technical glitches, or if you urgently need to check on a fill...WHOM CAN YOU CALL? You gotta find a good trade desk where you can speak with someone who will remember you. With phone support, I consider anything under $10 r/t to be reasonable. High volume deserves about half that rate...
yes, commissions do not bother me its just that I need better intraday margins because TOS will not give me any right now.
Commissions add up fast and I absolutely try to get mine as low as possible! I treat my trading like I business and pressuring my broker to keep my costs low is something I will always try. If they say no its fine. But I'm still gonna try. If you do couple hundred turns a month you could save hundreds of dollars easily! That's a lot of money to me!!
For futures traders TOS is OK. I have only traded with them, but I think they are decent. Their futures selection sucks though. I guess they would be alright if you had a very small account and didn't mind the lack of futures selection. For example they don't offer full size index futures, which sucks if you have a large account trading a few eminis at a time paying entirely too much in commission.