For the original poster. MB is very responsive to questions and issues people post, both here and on SI (Silicon Investor). Customer sevice has been great in my 3 years there. Joey: I'd disagree that IB's platform is 100 times easier to use. Each trader is unique and has to decide for himself what is best for him. The simplicity of MB's Navigator works great for me. I looked at IB's prior to moving to MB and it wasn't what I wanted. That said, that's not criticism of IB or me touting MB. Rather, just my opinion after evaluating each and seeing which was a better fit for me. IB is cheaper on the first 500 shares and doesn't charge SEC fees. On the other hand MB pays interest on all idle cash while IB only pays on amounts over $10,000. MB is currently paying around 3.20% interest. So there's tradeoffs there as well depending on the amount of trading one does.
DaWee They answer their phones quickly and try to be helpful. They clear through penson for stocks. I don't expect perfection with fast changing high tech software. Again: Customer service is excellent. I plan on reducing other brokerage accounts and sending the $ to MB trading this year. If you can adapt to the many problems of trading in the stock market , you will not have problems dealing with MB. agpilot
how can you call the navigator easy. the order entry screeen comes up at the bottom and is cumbersome. you can set ib up with hot keys. to be honest i don't know all what navigator does so i'll leave it at that. to say ib's commissions aren't better is insane. the avg retila investor does less than a 500 sh order so its 1/2 the price. even if he does 1k shares its $5 vs $$7.50 with mbt plus the huge no sec fee with ib.the difference between the interest is minisucle on 35k bal as ib's rate is higher so it will offset much of the not paying anything on the first 10k but even if it didn't its small compared to the commish savings. hey mb is good but the rates are not competitive
joeyata1 wrote: .................................................................................... how can you call the navigator easy. the order entry screen comes up at the bottom and is cumbersome. you can set ib up with hot keys. to be honest i don't know all what navigator does so i'll leave it at that. to say ib's commissions aren't better is insane. the avg retail investor does less than a 500 sh order so its 1/2 the price. even if he does 1k shares its $5 vs $$7.50 with mbt plus the huge no sec fee with ib.the difference between the interest is miniscule on 35k bal as ib's rate is higher so it will offset much of the not paying anything on the first 10k but even if it didn't its small compared to the commish savings. hey mb is good but the rates are not competitive .............................................................................................. Excellent Commentary Your comments are exactly why this is such an easy decision to use IB..GENESIS...MEDVED... With the recent change in IB commission structure....prospective retail clients will find the IB Medved combination a no brainer...in that it will be roughly half the cost of most other brokers because they have not adjusted their cost structures accordingly... If you want leverage as well...then GENESIS has the correct and best business model...they own their own software and self clear and have their own ticker plant....and are set up properly for their type of business in both NYSE and NASDAQ stocks... I cannot imagine why someone would want to pay double the cost when it is not necessary....
I was under the impression that MB paid slightly more than 1% APR on cash balances. Could you please point me to where on the site it says 3.2%? TIA
DaWee, It really depends on what you are looking for. I have used both brokers and there are strong points to both. Joey is correct IB's rates are better than MB's. That is their strong point. And lots of third-party front-end applications to choose from. But I would disagree that MB Navigator isn't easy. Enter a price, select order type, hit the Buy or Sell button. Doesn't seem very complicated to me. Plus, Navigator supports hotkeys as well. Both brokers offer Demo versions of their software, so you can see what you prefer. IB's TWS uses Java, which may be cross platform and all that, but it has always felt clunky and resource intensive to me and I just prefer to stay away from it. I have worked in the software industry and can't imagine why they built TWS as it is. If you want to trade futures all hours, MB is not an option. They close their desk overnight. It has never been an issue for me, but it would be for sure for some. I dont know why they wouldn't change this though. The big plus with MB is customer service, and it is why I use them now for my primary account instead of IB. Despite all safeguards we may put in place, inevitably things will happen where we need some assistance. When things like this happen and I have a position in the market, instead of calling IB and hoping someone answers, and then getting someone with a bad attitude who may or maynot be helpful, I prefer calling MB whose trading desk is very professional and treats customers as if they are valued, and who I can count on to work with urgency to solve any issues. On my very first correspondence with the Futures desk at MB, the guy on the desk told me, if you ever have any problems, feel free to contact me directly, and he gave me his info. That is just not going to happen at IB. Some on this forum have accused those of us who appreciate this kind of customer support as in need of hand holding. Maybe that is true, but I think it is far more likely that I may loose money due to an unexpected technical issue than a firm going under. And if something happens, I want to know that my broker will pick up the phone and work to help me straighten it out. So I am willing to a pay a little more in commissions for this peace of mind. As a bonus, one of the executives of MB monitors this board and answers questions and considers requests. He has been very helpful, both to other members of this forum, and to me personally. To my thinking and trading style, one successfully resolved large issue pays for any difference in commissions. If you are just concerned with the safety of your entire account at MB, as others have mentioned, they clear through Penson who is giant. But I wouldn't worry about that at IB either. I have had my account with MB for a year now and I have been very happy with them and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. Fast execution, good fills, great trading desk. More for commissions, but as long as I am doing well trading, to me it is worth the extra. Enzo
i agree mb answers the phone quickly and are very helpful. actually i bellieve ib is as big or bigger than penson so they're both safe. no doubt commish is not everything and if one is happy ansd making money why upset the apple cart
I agree that it CS is good but have never talked to the president. Who is he and how did you happen to talk to him.
I did not know it myself until I got my statement from Penson. Another good feature that I like is its unlimited checkwriting as against IB which allows only one free ACH per month. Some one said that if you have $35k free cash at IB it will even out but I doubt it. Moreover who cares to leave large cash position but I hate to be cheated out of even one penny if I can avoid. To me this is one of the main reasons for not trading at IB.
Yeah ..if you trade relatively infrequently most any broker is ok... You know if you trade over 100 times a day like I do...and average 400 share lots...then commissions become more important... Look...most firms that you see mentioned quite a bit are all ok...everybody fits in accordance to their trading.... You know a difference of $2 a trade is not a lot of money...but when you trade over a 100 times a day .....5 days a week...this is a few thousand bucks a month... If you trade 4 times a day ...its only $8 a day ...or another $160 a month...not a lot of money... I wire funds once a month...and I use banks for check writing... ............................................................................................. But the fact is that IB is a large well financed firm that has an excellent international business model....and when combined with Medved ...is the most competitve product in the US... GENESIS provides 10:1 leverage ...better commission rates....and extremely fast quotes.....and they know their type of business... ......................................................................................... Because of how and what I trade...is why this is a no brainer for me....