You are proving yourself to be a little short of any intellectual capacity. A valuation of $25B is not $25 billion in commission. Any valuation would include growth along with income which if you were able to read financials you'd see comes from interest on margin loans - which they could easily charge a few % higher and still be less than most others - along with trades and a number of other items. Plus you should look at book value and you'd see equity capital over $6 billion. For me, they have always been straight shooters, great pricing, even better execution and the ability to trade around the world (and hedge with spot FX where you can work orders and if have to pay up, can often get a fill at less than 1/10 of a pip). Guys like you who bash them normally have a commonality of what I'd call "the common piker" or work for a competitor. The charts for me are fine for what I need but if I traded off of charts I would certainly look at the numerous 3rd party services specializing in charting.