Bad experience with MB Tradng here,... sorry to say.... very bad cust. service, in case of server break down that happened twice in a month in South Florida 2 years ago, no oe to pickup the phone. There was a guy sitting in the chatroom I was attending that time, he wouldnt even care to answer my screamings for help, of course I was in a trade that going bad for me..hehe. Other than that, no complains, fast executions and relatively easy trading platform. Hope that helped,
It appears that as of yesterday MBT has updated this web page to include information about the Scudder MM funds they offer for cash balance sweeping. FYI
Excellent Commentary Hey DaWee... You know another thing that impressed me the most is that GENESIS was the first to step up to the plate and offer the most competive rates... Some firms cannot follow because they are basically resellers or do not self clear... Some brokerage firms continue to pay the extra to have someone else clear their trades usually because they are too small or do not want to incur the expenses and legal issues..some do not offer a complete software that has both execution and charts...some rent and resell quotes from vendors rather than having their own ticker plant... GENESIS knew what it had to do..they have their own software...they self clear...they have their own ticker plant which is rated platinum by NASDAQ...they accomodate automated trading...traders can join LLCs and get 10:1 leverage...and they concentrate on NASDAQ and NYSE stocks....GENESIS is the most SERIOUS stock firm in the USA... And it is true that IB is the true initial low commission price leader...and thus has enabled high volume low cost trading to anyone who opens a retail account...and when combined with Medved is an awesome combination......IB is the most serious international trading broker in the world that any individual on the internet can utilize...With IB ...you can trade most anything you want to...at seriously competitive rates...and when combined with Medved....is incredible..... The other thing that you might want to check out as a ¨health meter¨is the average daily volume of the firm...When combined with the commission rates...this will basically tell you the money flow that the firm has to operate on....You can handily see this number with firms like Etrade and Schwab because they are public companies... Interest bearing accounts ...you know for every $100,000...3.5% is a $3500 per year....If one has $30,000 then this would be $1050 per year....If this cash works half the year in trading,,,then this number would be $525 per year or $43.75 per month....Thus if you trade 10 times a week and you pay $2.00 more per trade...this is $80 per month....Obviously the main issue is trading costs...even for relatively inactive traders.... Another thing you need to look out for on ET is SPAM....Some vendors will collect a slug of ET ids and stage SPAM advertising ploys...Usually you notice this when the poster appears to be relatively new...and the questions answers appear to be somewhat orderly which cover the basic prominent points of a broker....
I lived oversease for years in the 90's and had a Schwab account at that time. Of course, back then, some countries had not graphical internet, and I was "investing" rather than "trading". Schwab would send me requested stock reports via fax for $30 a pop which was really cheap as they only other option was the DJ stock reports for $100 a pop. I remember once, I called from Switzerland to place a trade. The Schwab representative asked me where I was calling from and immediately offered to call me back in order to save me those huge European international phone bills. Later they gave me a phone card with which I could call them toll free internationally. Of course, times have changed, but I am mentioning this as these days there might be other issues which are important for people outside the US. How about calling the broker at European business times rather than American ones. If you live in Japan, 9am ET is 11pm over there. Do you have to wait for their desk to open? Some US firm will advertise international operation which are only open 9am to 5 pm ET. What a joke. American businesses are blissfully unaware of non-American concerns. Don't take anything for granted in your search. Good luck.
My first experience with any broker was ML when I decided to invest the proceeds from the sale of my first house somewhere other than a bank. I was badly burnt since I was advised to invest my funds in a heavily loaded mutual fund that never rose in value. After than Schwab was my second broker and was very pleased with them because they did not push me around. Later on I discovered some other brokers actually charged less than Schwab which always advertised itself as a discount broker compared to ML. My last broker before I found out about IB and MBT was Scottrade which also spends a lot of money is advertising instead of providing better service to customers. It is a shame that the best brokers are never discussed in media or talk shows where most people get their leads. Even Yodlee does not have a link to IB & MBT.