Any opinions on Etrade futures ($2.99+fees) per side? How is their platform? Also will I get flagged for day trading if I round trip a futures contract in a day with less than $25,000? Thanks
STEP ONE - Research what you plan to trade so you understand how the instruments work. Take some time and go over to www.cme.com and www.cbot.com and research how futures work.
1st, that Etrade figure is $2.99 per side + fees. Not Flat rate $2.99 2nd Etrade uses Trading Technologies Platform (xtrader) vs xpresstrade being browser based. 3rd, Etrade is 10K to open the account, Xpresstrade is No minimum to open the account. Personally I don't like anything Etrade. If I was looking at opening an Etrade Futures account, I'd go with Interactive Brokers Instead. If the issue is starting capital, then I'd start with Xpresstrade, till I got my account up to a decent size and move to IB. IB, is flat 4.80 round trip (on avg) versus Etrade at $5.98 + fees round trip. Xpresstrade varies based on instrument... Grains $9.50 round trip unless you are trading more than 250 contracts/ month. *** From Etrades website - In addition to the $2.99 per contract per side commission, futures customers will be assessed certain fees including applicable futures exchange and NFA fees, as well as Man Financial floor brokerage charges for execution of non-electronically traded futures and futures options contracts. These fees are not established by E*TRADE Securities and will vary by exchange. *** From Xpresstrades website - Commission rates depicted in the table above are quoted on a per-contract, per-side basis. Trades at some foreign exchanges may be subject to additional fees. All customers add $10 per contract, per side for broker-assisted trades entered by telephone. The table above does not include NFA, exchange, and transaction fees. Commission rebate offer not valid for IRA accounts. Futures trading involves risk and is not suitable for all investors. Prices, fees, costs, rebates and terms are subject to change. *** IB's Bundle Rates - (all order types, exchange and regulatory fees included) http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/accounts/fees/commissionFutures-FOPs.php?ib_entity=llc IMO - IB is your best bet. Etrade and Xpresstrade will fee you to death in the long run. Finally... You can demo IB's TWS as well as demoing Etrade TT platform. Or just go to trading technologies and request a platform demo. http://www.tradingtechnologies.com/xtrader-demo.aspx After spending a week on TWS, i found it Quite easy to navigate, customize, etc... I don't like the charting so I Use Investor RT with a DTN.IQ data feed. Loads my futures charts right up and nice.... Not to mention can I automate a strategy with it and have it submit the order to TWS.