Hey all. I am currently using Interactive Brokers for stocks and am reasonably happy with them. They are cheap for trading at my level of business so that's fine. However, I would like to try another broker. Preferably someone with a more "modernised" platform. Happy to pay a little more for something modern. TWS looks and behaves like it was designed by committee sometime in the 90's. Don't get me wrong, it does stuff ... lots of stuff. But it has a 1500 page manual for a reason and even though I have been using it for a few years it's still painful to use. Looking for a big name ... large cap ... 15B+ broker.
Have you ever thought about developing some custom software for just your specific use cases using the TWS api? I been running TWS daily since 2004 but never use it directly. Have my own simple GUIs that sit in front of TWS and do exactly what i want and no more. But TWS is still there if needed as well.
I have. I then thought better of it. I looked at attaching Ninja trader to it for a while. Not really ideal. Would rather just have a platform that worked right out of the box.
We can. I have Australian clients. We only offer access to US listed Equities, Options and Futures traded in USD. https://www.lightspeed.com/ How can I help? Email or call me directly. Bob
Thanks for giving me the heads up for Lightspeed. Will do some checking. I had a PM for Charles Schwab ... so am looking at them also and they do take Aussies which is good. 25k Min .. which is fine. For anyone that needs to know. Brokers that do NOT take on Aussie clients. E*Trade (US not ANZ's Version) TD Ameritrade. Think or Swim Brokers that are unknown Fidelity (claim to but don't pick up the phone). Will update this post as I investigate more.
At the risk of appearing stupid. PMA ? As for 175k .. is that a continuous account size including holdings ? If it goes down what happens ?
Portfolio Margin- risk based margin Must maintain liquidating equity of $150k not cash. Below $150k if regulatory call not met in one day, the account reverts to Reg-T margin.
Yes, we offer cash accounts start at $10,000 using LS Web Trader and $25,000 using any Direct Market Access software. This is Web Trader, an web browser based platform that requires Microsoft Silverlight. https://www.lightspeed.com/trading-platforms/lightspeed-web-trader/