First off, I've never had the volume to be able to use that in my favor so is there any other thing I can stand on to negotiate a lower rate with my firm? Right now, my commissions with fee's, trading NASDAQ, I'm paying ~.008 a share. My commissions are right around 75% of my profits. I look at the PNL thread and almost half the posts in there would be net losers if they where paying what I'm paying. So is there anything I can do or do I just have to suck it up till my volume picks up?
i would suggest that u look at the quality of ur trades and reduce the frequency of bad trades. squeezing ur broker will not help in ur case. if u pay 75% of ur profilts as commission, u need to do better quality trades.
You might want to look at NYSE stocks instead of NASDAQ it might be cheaper for you to trade if you are removing liquidity a lot.
This is why I like working at a prop firm. I pay next to 0 commission, I just have to give up a chunk of profits. Then when you save up some cash you can do both day trading prop and retail longer term. I dont know your situation obviously or life situation, but if your serious about trading being your career and your willing to give it a shot, I think prop firms are the way to go. And your dead right, if I paid .008 I would lose a lot of money everyday.
I'm always looking to improve my trading, but that's easier said then done. I'm just always stuck at this point where lower commissions would help me more then more buying power, but it seems firms are more willing to give you more BP then lower commissions. I have never been a trader that does big volume so I'm not at the point where I can qualify for these deals with firms when you show them you do 1M+ shares a month.
I see the fees for NYSE are cheaper to trade but I'm having better success trading NASDAQ exclusively. I haven't touched a listed stock in 3 months. Maybe it's just coincidence but I want to stick with what is working for me. Your suggestion has crossed my mind though.
With the volume you are doing (50-100k per month at .008 per share), commissions should NOT even be an issue. You could cut your commissions in half and it would only save you $10-$20 dollars a day. DO NOT adjust your profitable trading just to try to save a few measly dollars on commissions. Step up your size (slowly). Just concentrate on making money, not on commissions. Everything else will work itself out with time.