Let's just keep this simple then. Assuming you are a US citizen, the best futures brokers are AMP, NinjaBroker and Lightspeed. Full disclosure, they are also sponsors of this site. I cannot recommend IB, also a sponsor of this site, because of their lofty margin requirements, but they do offer a great range of services. So as I said, it depends on what you want or need to do with futures.
IB is ridiculous with margins as there is no differentiation between intraday and overnight trading. This is patently stupid on their part. As a result, I moved my IB account to Ironbeam.... Great service, great execution.... My only complaint is their $40 fee for wire transfers...and then account for at least a $15 fee at your receiving bank... ridiculous. These fees have little costs associated with them....making them hugely profitable for the institutions.
Subscribed. I'm a long term customer of Ninjatrader (software) and lately their own brokerage. I used to trade with Ninjatrader through Dorman futures and have been very happy. After they launched their own brokerage I moved on to that and haven't had any issues to speak of either. Except for a brief period with IB back in the day I haven't really had any other brokers, so it's hard for me to make a comparative review. Trading wise, my fills with Ninjatrader seems excellent. Support seems pretty good. I usually always get a quick reply on e-mail. Never had to call them so far. Wiring money from Norway to US is very fast. Ranging from one day to maybe 2-3 days at worst. Last few times was 1 day. Their rates are good as well. At least if you have a lifetime license. Now, even after all that praise I'm considering making changes for two main reasons: 1. Their software have been a bit unstable lately. Had no problems for years, but lately I've had some issues. I also read reports on the forums from other guys complaining about both lags and crashes. 2. No online/electronic portal for tracking net performance. Pretty much all they will provide you is a PDF report by end of day. If you want to track your net performance you need to compute it yourself as far as I understand. Regarding point 1. The question is how the competition fares. Maybe it's unrealistic to never have any issues? Maybe NT is even better than the competition? That said, the software seems very computer/resource intensive... Personally, I'm considering moving on to Tradovate as their rates are competitive and they offer a seemingly very good online portal (performance center) for keeping track of my performance. I've pretty much heard only great stuff about Tradovate, but I did read some poor reviews as well and some complaints about lagging charts and so on. The main attraction for me is the performance center.
Both AMP and Advantage respect SPAN margin. AMP doesn't charge overnight interest on margins while Advantage does. As a simple nat gas calendar spread trader, I prefer AMP. The only potential concern if you have a big fund, AMP is quite a small broker in size.
Like many said on these thread, depends on what exactly you looking to trade, how, your location etc. I think when it comes to personal service very few if any can beat our services at Cannon Trading and surprisingly we compete with commissions with ANYONE. We are one of few Independent Introducing brokers so can help clients choose the best set up for them rather than if you go directly with an FCM or guaranteed IB. Our longevity ( since 1988) and our reviews speaks louder than my words.