Also, what is the likelihood of Velocity Futures getting into such financial trouble that they have to shut down --- such as Tuco Trading...... I'm very interested in Velocity due to their $500 intraday margin which would allow me to trade 10 contracts (which I probably never would - but would trade maximum 2 contracts) ---- although TradeStation allows me $1,150 intraday margin.....so the difference isn't really that big EXCEPT I would never be concerned about the financial health of TradeStation....... Any suggestions?
I had the same issue yesterday: CME went down and I couldn't log in (I could enter my pw and got the check mark in the box, but couldn't open a workspace). Closed and restarted Guardian - didn't help. Tried on my newly built computer with a newer version of X-trader...no problems. Tried again on the orig. rig and failed. Installed latest version of X-Trader and all was fine.
I think Tuco was a prop firm and Velocity is an FCM, so its not really fair to compare the two of them. The bottom line with FCM's is that there are two types: clearing and non-clearing. Capital requirements are much higher for clearing members than for non-clearing members, so by definition they're going to be more solvent and less likely to go out of business. However, all FCM's must meet ongoing capital requirements and are monitored regularly by the NFA, so theoretically that should provide a little peace of mind. In my opinion, it really depends on how much money you're going to keep on deposit with them and what percentage your money represents of their overall capital requirements. Typically, you don't want to keep $500k with a firm that only has $1 miliion excess capital because your money would represent 50% of their excess capital. But if you only kept $5k on deposit, your money would represent only 1/2 of 1 percent. In terms of what I normally do... I typically keep the bulk of my trading capital with firms that are full clearing members and that typically rank near the top 30 of the CFTC's FCM Capitalization list (http://www.cftc.gov/marketreports/financialdataforfcms/index.htm)... Specifically, I feel the most comfortable with MF Global (which is typically 3rd on the list), Interactive Brokers (which is typically around 14th on the list)... and Advantage Futures (which is typically somewhere around 24th on the list). Now part of the reason that these firms are so much "safer" so to speak is that they typically take a lot less risk in regards to margin. Most of the firms that I listed typically will only offer 1/2 of the overnight exchange rate for daytrading (Advantage starts you out at 1/2 but once you've been with them a while they'll drop you down to 1/4). Now the non-clearing FCM's have to be able to offer something, since they can't really offer the same kind of "stability" so to speak, so they typically will offer lower daytrading margins or proprietary trading technology (or both)... thats their appeal. The bottom line is what is it that you're looking for? If you're looking for aggressive margins, then most likely you're going to have to sacrifice a little bit of financial stability. If you're going to want financial stability, most likely you're going to have to deal with less aggressive margins. General rule of thumb is to not keep all your eggs in one basket and not keep more at any one firm than what you'd feel comfortable not having access to for up to a year if the firm ever did have problems. Would I feel comfortable keeping a $10k -$20k account at a non-clearing FCM like Velocity?.... sure. Would I feel comfortable keeping a $100k account there?.... not really. Would I feel comfortable keeping a $100k account at Advantage Futures?... Probably, because look at how much excess capital they have compared to Velocity. Would I feel comfortable keeping $5 million dollars at Advantage?... probably not, but I wouldn't have any problems keeping it at MF Global because look at their excess capital compared to Advantage. So it really just all depends on how much money you're talking about and what percentage of your entire capital base that account represents. Now if you're just starting out with a small account, I think Velocity is a fine choice. But another great use for them, which is what I use them for, is a backup account. Because they have such low margins, and because they offer X_TRADER for free, I think its an ideal candidate for a backup account, because you only need to keep a fraction of the money in that account that you would in your regular trading account. So for instance, if you had a $50k trading account at a place that only offered you daytrading margins of 1/2 the exchange published overnight rate, you might only need $10k in your Velocity backup account in order to trade the same amount of size, which in this case would only be when you were in a position and lost connectivity to your primary clearing firm. Having said all that, I would definitely not recommend Tradestation. If I were you, I wouldn't be debating between Velocity or Tradestation, I would be debating between Velocity and anybody else other than Tradestation. BTW, Trademaven, who up until today was also a non-clearing FCM that typically ranked near the bottom of the CFTC's list, is now placing accounts with Penson GHCO, which is another fine clearing firm. I also believe that their margins are fairly similar to Velocity's. If you like their software, that may be a decent compromise for you. Thats my 2 cents (although probably worth less now due to inflation).
When VF makes available a new XT release it's always suggested to update; they usually are not in a hurry to provide customers a release just because it's 'new'... but when it's useful. It's just unfortunate that they actually do not provide an advisory to suggest the customers base to check the customer portal for software updates. That's why receiving TT Advisories is good idea.
Which are FCMs or brokers that currently offer such a 'transactional' access to X_Trader ( only comissions per trade, no minimum volume quota and no TT monthly fee w/ 1 exchange)?...