I have 13K to split up. I want to use two brokers. I want to use IB as a primary (and check out the fills for myself. Hopefully they're good). Who should I use for a secondary? Elocal? Refco? That Apexfutures guy? Unfortunately, I don't have enough money to offset w/ a big contract. If globex goes down, pit access isn't really relevant at this point in time. As another option, I could trade the Big contract through A/C/E and just offset w/ a pit trade. Is this a better option w/ only 13K (I know...I'd rather have 25K myself but life sucks)? Basically I'm trying to avoid the risk of a complete system failure which could be very expensive. I figure if I take care of all this little stuff, it will be a lot easier to just trade.
Fortunately and not fortunately the only times that I have had problems with IB is when I am in a position and trying to get out...I say fortunately because at least I KNEW my status...I had not even considered the possibility that some traders not only were locked out of the market, but locked out of the market without knowing whether long, short, flat...That is a scenario which has no solution...If that happens, I just quit the IB thing altogether and go to a clearing firm because I know that my trading psyche will be shattered... As it currently stands, I found myself on Thursday and Friday thinking twice about entering trades...This is NOT good...Instead of considering the risk of the trade, I was thinking of the secondary risk of being in the position and not being able to offset or even the thought of having to offset...Regardless of whether or not you have the secondary broker, the actual hassle of trying to cover your trades does not make all the problems go away...You still have the problems of giving back profits and not being able to manage positions the way you had planned... As far as finding a second broker is concerned, I do not even think it is too important about all the details...So long as you are going to use IB for 95% of your trading, your cost concerns are minimal...I think the one thing you should look for is one of those high leverage brokers that will give you $750-$1k daytrade margin so you can cover your position intra-day...With 13k, if you put 2k up with the other broker you should be able to offset a 2 lot...So even if you have a 4-5 lot with IB, you should be able to cover 1/2 off of it in a worst case scenario...
Splitting sounds like a very good idea. I really didn't think of it till now. I didn't plan to trade more than one contract anyway. I'll split it... 9 and 4. 9K for IB and 4K as the minimum needed to offset w/ a high leverage broker. Probably Apex. they offer 1/3rd margin. You're right Vulture. It's one thing to consider what the market's going to do. It's another thing to consider technical failure as well. But I guess it's just part of the game. I'm sure it was much worse in the old days anyway.
cigar girl I personally could never work with esignal charts - but if it works for you - thats all that matters
liltrdr, I pay eSignal yearly so it is $948 I believe. My rep is Scott Wilkes. He basically set me up with the Equities, E-Minis, and L2. There are surcharges for the L2 is you go month to month so it is worth it to go yearly if you want the L2. If not the month to month is about $110. eSignal has six server farms (a good friend of mine used to work for DBC) and they correct bad ticks quickly when they do get them. The outages are few and far between. I checked my journal and the last one was over 2 months ago, premarket, and it was corrected by 9:30. What I do get occasionally is "gaps" in data maybe about once or twice a month and these are corrected if I recall the symbol. I think that may have more to do with the number of charts I keep open with other programs running in the background. I have been using eSignal for many years. Some folks may not like the aesthetics of their charts but you can't beat the reliability of their data. I think with the font and color flexibility you can find a setting that will suit any trader. I use primarily 2 day, 1 min. candlestick charts on a white background and I think it's off the hook! Hope this helps. thecigargirl
Hi cigargirl, what did you write in your very first post (now deleted) ? Could you send me a PM, if you don´t mind ? TIA.
Def wrote: I do not think anybody said they got screwed with IB executions. IB had some down time over the past month. This is not the norm and overall reliability has been very good. There is no cost to opening an account (or closing one) so you might as well try for yourself. I guess if u call not being able to get out of ur trade while it went against as u watched ur profit turn into a loss NOT getting screwed.... and not being able to get someone on the phone to be able to get u out of the position as u watched ur loss get larger NOT getting screwed.....then ur 100% correct...LOL I just hope everyone has deep pockets like u Give me a break def.....I know u contribute to this forum quite a lot....usually with good posts.....but when u post something that is misleading I have to reply......You have a lot of unhappy customers.....I do believe u have the best commissions....but currently....you get what u pay for.....Until execution and service improves.....u will continue to lose customers....and for those of u who didn't know.....now u do