thanks for passing that on, that was insightful. i didn't realize the degree to which interest income is one of the fastest growing profit centers for the company. the analyst that asked the question really hit the nail on the head as he phrased it in the context of a rising interest rate environment. if i worked for tradestation, i would measure the elasticity of balance attrition to rate hikes over say the last 2 years (simplified by these quarter hikes), and probably begin some sort of money market sweeping if the attrition is high enough to break even, which eventually it will have to be - might as well preempt it. it's tough, because it sounds like interest income is their fastest growing profit center, but i didn't really agree with the notion that TS accounts are different in terms of some sort of round-the-clock or continuous capital utilization. nobody really has a choice, either customers are small and consider the interest negligible, or are feeling the opportunity cost (in relative terms, everyone is equally exposed regardless of size). I'm not sure I have the energy to go through what a few users documented on the TS forum with loose confirmations, incorrect bills, several call backs, customers forgotten, etc when every other account i own voluntarily pays interest i want to see TS continue to be great, but I also want to earn the interest
to be fair, and this may sound conspiratorial, one reason i haven't moved cash so far is that my TS futures positions generally feel like they have noticably less adverse excursion than my IB positions. I've assumed it's some sort of bulk hedging or algorithmic sophistication on the Timber end compared to RJ who has no mm affiliate as far as i'm aware... is that crazy? Anyone noticed the same thing over time? it's probably just me it's tempting to let the balances compete unimpeded
i think i looked into neoticker a few years ago when i was choosing a charting platform. its advantage as i recall was language flexibility, but aside from that no i haven't given it serious consideration. what do you like about it? i'm really comfortable with ts at this point, all in all it gives a lot of power to a retail spec as long as you're not trying to push the frequency barrier too hard. if they brought a universal acct, interest, and really dove into the intl mkts, that would be incredible in the absence of an MM affiliate which just causes me a lot of paranoia, esp since it's the vast majority of IBGs profit (but i realize the range of services and the broker side likely wouldn't exist at all without the timber foundation) i've had great experiences with IB and TS both. essential tools
Main advantage with Neo is an id scanner for equities and they seem more responsive to clients desires and wants for software. Agree TS needs to address universal account and interest issues. ID scanner too without charging a big fee for it like they did with radarscreen. They also need to be more responsive to needs of clients re software and brokerage side. Overall happy but always looking for better options. Major drawbacks with neo are costs of parts for the system to work and relying on several different vendors for the system to work.
I wonder if there are other traders who notice how much money TS is robbing them by paying 1.125% interest when Fed funds rates are at 5% and rising. Not to mention the fees for the software if you don't trade 25,000 shares/month or 10 futures contracts/month. Also, commissions are higher than most other daytrading firms. I guess there really is trader inertia in moving accounts even when they are donating to Cruz's pockets by letting him get away with such credit interest robbery. If we do hit a bear market and people are feeling more of a pinch, I wonder if TS can keep all those accounts considering how much money they are taking with the low credit interest payouts. I guess its worth it for them to risk losing a few accounts while bilking from the rest rather than giving a fairer credit interest rate.
Actually, Ameritrade offers a money market sweep, you just have to inquire about it and sign up for it. I don't know of any brokerage firm that offers less credit interest than Tradestation, and Tradestation has many of the most sought after accounts because they have mostly active traders! Funny how the most attractive brokerage accounts are going to the firm with the lowest credit interest offered.
detective Many brokers not paying the 4+ rates. TS isnt alone there. But they all arent right with this. I think TS looks at it like your not with us to collect interest.
Evert single one of them should have a daily sweep and be paying the current rates AND not exclude the first 10k. But this is how they keep costs down; using our money for nothing.