Trading futures without commissions - Tradovate ?

This has turned into a ridiculous discussion.

Yes, concern for "safety" of money is critical consideration. However, in the FUTURES world, there is no guarantee. Never has been. There is no SIPC, FDIC, or any other alphabet soup guarantee or protection, other than the rules set forth by the NFA and CFTC. And those rules involve "segregated" funds. Period. That is your guarantee. You start with due diligence of the FCM. Dorman is respected, and has some warts. Name one firm, and Im not talking about the broker firm, but the clearing corporation, be it futures, or stocks, or options, or bonds, or FX, or whatever, that has no warts. Of course, MF Global and PFG were respected, and with warts too. There is no guarantee for FUTURES accounts.

So that being the case, I'll flip it... Please show a FUTURES agreement, from ANY US regulated FUTURES broker offering a safety of funds guarantee beyond segregated funds, for funds used specifically for trading futures, or for funds encumbered by a regulated futures position.

It is clear, to me anyway, some people are comparing pure FUTURES accounts to IB's universal account. This is a misleading comparison, because IB DOES NOT guarantee safety of funds held in FUTURES segregation. They offer sweeps into SIPC or FDIC protected vehicles of their universal account. That sweep can occur only AFTER an exit or flatten futures trade has been completely cleared, and can only occur on whatever timetable IB chooses, if at all.

Some seem to also be concerned about platform features. And yet again, comparing to IB. I say quit with your non-informed opinion and wish list for software you haven't used. If you want to compare features, try out the platform.

My thanks to the OP for what started out as a helpful, worthwhile to investigate topic.

 

Excellent post, tiddly. Thanks for these information.

Lets just continue this thread with constructive input like this. We will all benefit from it.

 

So, as tiddly said, let Tradovate answer some questions in relation to funds lodged with them, and how they handle them.

Is that straight forward enough for you - or does it have to be worded nicely!

Fact remains, Tradovate is still not answering the important questions, so, one has to ask why?

J_S

 

1. Is my money safe if you go bust, and if so, what is the $ limit covered

Tradovate is an introducing broker (IB) and does not hold customer funds. Customer funds are held at the futures commission merchant (FCM) Dorman Trading, in customer segregated accounts. Dorman Trading, Interactive Brokers, and other FCMs are required to follow the rules set forth by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and their designated self-regulatory organization (DSRO) and the regulations defined in the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and other applicable laws, including those related to customer protection requirements. Here is a document provided by the CFTC on recent rules meant to enhance the protections afforded customers and customer funds held at FCMs and derivative clearing organizations (DCO).

2. Do my E- mini orders go directly to Globex with no intervention by Tradovate, or any other intermediary.

We do not interfere with order flow going to the exchange, direct orders to unaffiliated market makers or executing firms, and are not on the other side of the trade, like a FX or CFD dealer. Your order goes directly to the exchange to be executed in their trade execution facility (Globex for CME Group exchanges) and then sent to the exchange's clearing house (CME Clearing for CME Group exchanges) for clearing, settlement, matching, post-trade processing, margining, and marking-to-market. Again, Tradovate does not interfere with or manipulate your trade throughout this process.

3. Do you have a ladder for order entry - similiar to IB's TWS booktrader with customizable buttons, which is the best I have seen so far btw.

Yes, we have a depth of market (DOM) module and offer a free 2-week trial where you can try it out for yourself.

4. When you enter an order on the ladder (if available), does this automatically put your order criteria ( limit, stop, profit target lines) on the chart you link to your ladder - to allow you to adjust orders by either ladder or chart with customizable buttons, or by dragging the order lines on the charts.

Yes, you can display your orders and positions on the charts and enter new trades or manage existing trades directly from the charts. Tradovate offers a free 2-week trial where you can try it out for yourself.

5. Does the ladder ( if available) have the ability to add Volume by Price in histogram format - again, similar to what IB's TWS allows.

Yes, the DOM module has a histogram that can be turned on or off

 

Well, thank you for replying.

I will check out all you said, in my own time, and report back with an honest opinion.

J_S

 

The confusion is strong with this company.

 

New user here, but a long time visitor to the site and fan of the community. I just got into Futures over the past 3 years and have been using Sierra with AMP, I then most recently switched to using TradingView with the CQG Qtrader integration (love it) and tested out the Tradovate platform. I had numerous questions and I have to tell you, their customer support was fantastic. The support guy I was talking with, Baastian, was just phenomenal. In fact, his patience with my gazillion questions (when is a TSI indicator coming, Jigsaw integration questions, platform setup and customization, fee questions, are there any hidden fee questions, more fee questions, volume oscillator, etc etc etc) and his very thorough non canned responses were just a breath of fresh air. I am switching to them. Since I have been using their platform demo, they've had consistent updates to the platform.

And, OMG, you can use the middle mouse to zoom in and out like on the TradingView platform.

I am looking forward to making the switch to them in September, great platform and a very, very awesome support staff. Again, kudos to Baastian on their support staff, top notch.

 

Quenta, I have exactly the same positive experience like you.

Baastian was always ultra supportive on the chat. But also the other employees at Tradovate always answered my emails within VERY short time and always with detailed feedback. Even the Tradovate president, Mr. Ryan Hansen, answered several of my emails, and always very detailed and within a very short time.

I cannot really complain about other brokers/ FCMs. I was/ am always getting along very nice with everybody, never had major problems.
But my impression is that Tradovate sets a new standard for the whole business. Their fee structure is phenomenal, the platform is great with many nice and new features and you have fantastic customer support.

 

I couldn't resist trying out Tradovate with their commission structure. I already have accounts with a variety of other brokers and thought one more wouldn't hurt lol.

I opened an account a little over a week ago and I was most curious how the platform would handle the Fed day today. I did about 40 rts in ES during the release and throughout the rest of the day and felt the platform performed very well. I noticed zero lag in quotes and had very little slippage which is not what I can say about some of the other futures brokers (will not name names)..

I did the $1188/year active membership to try it out and can't find much to complain about so far. I will save ~$1000/month in commissions over my next best option so the membership fee was not an issue. Hopefully they will allow 3rd party applications/API in the future.

 

So I've still been thinking about ol tradovate. Does any1 know which data providor / routing they are using?