My clients have had good luck with Advantage, Crossland, Kottke, Dorman, RCG, RJ O'Brien. The big Chicago firms that do not prop trade and know how to correctly margin a spread position. Because you should be spreading stock index futures.
Hi, Which one of these firms have a platform that would enable one to chart spreads ? Is there any advantage to their platforms over esignal ....
Your charting services provider is different than your clearing firm which is ( typically ) different than your execution platform in the world of futures. In other words, it might be possible to clear Advantage Futures, chart your spreads with eSignal, and execute them using CTS T4.
Ok I see.... Thanks for the info... I'm actually using esignal and ib right now and spreading some index futures but was thinking of switching to a futures broker and keeping ib for equities. Thinks again....
I use Vision Financial Markets and Sierra Charts. Do you have any issues trading futures with IB? The reason I ask is I am considering opening an account there for the diversity of products and exchanges offered (specifically options on equities and futures, spot forex, ETFs, and international exchanges). Unfortunately IB seems to be the broker everyone loves to bash so I have been thinking long and hard.
That's mainly because more people here are using IB than anyone else so every tiny thing about them is discussed at enormous length. It is mainly a statistical thing - the faults will be found, no matter how limited they are, because it is so widely used.
comintel, in May you said you closed your IB account. Did you reopen with them or did you go with another broker? Thanks in advance. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3534834#post3534834
I myself am using CTS T4 via Cunningham Commodities now and they are good. Well, they have their issues too such as no accurate real time SPAN margining so you have to negotiate the margin/risk parameters and the details of that can be awkward and complex. In the end, they have been extremely accommodating to me but I have to sort of guess at the margin status in my head during the day. They do not support requesting new user defined spreads via their API but you can call up Globex and have Globex add them, and then T4 will pick them up right away if you refresh. I do not have an IB account any more but I am still very familiar with IB from having used it for many years. I still try to give IB credit where it is due. I might not use them again for futures options, which I trade, but would go back to them if I were trading stocks. I may open a secondary account with them again for stocks later on. I also had an account with PFG. Oh well.