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Registered User
Joined: 1/30/2009
Posts: 267
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I have been using TOS to paper trade the E/Mini (as mentioned in a previous post) and I really do like their software. The issue I am having is that they charge $7.00 RT per contract which I find to be a bit high. I checked IB and their website quoted $3.62 RT. I want to go live next month so I wanted to hear about what broker other people use for this and any recommendadtions would e appreciated. I did contact TOS and requested them to lower the commissions but they basically to climg the commissions ladder.
Cheers,
Mike
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Registered User
Joined: 8/19/2009
Posts: 170
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actually tradestation is 0.25 to 1.20 per contract per side + any other fees
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Registered User
Joined: 5/11/2009
Posts: 120
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actually the real cost of tradestation is $2.40 for round trip + Exch & clearing 1.82 + NFA Fee .02 which comes to about 4.24 per contract.
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Registered User
Joined: 7/7/2009
Posts: 15
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QUOTE (hiromj) I have been using TOS to paper trade the E/Mini (as mentioned in a previous post) and I really do like their software. The issue I am having is that they charge $7.00 RT per contract which I find to be a bit high. I checked IB and their website quoted $3.62 RT. I want to go live next month so I wanted to hear about what broker other people use for this and any recommendadtions would e appreciated. I did contact TOS and requested them to lower the commissions but they basically to climg the commissions ladder.
Cheers,
Mike
It largely depends on the following factors: trading volume and trade length; if you are scalping, intraday swing trading then intraday margin is very important and whether you plan to hold overnight; if you are automated or using discretion; compatible trading platforms; if you will rely on the provided datafeed from your broker; how much you value customer service (especially lockups during high volume period) and broker services (if you want a one stop shop).
You have to factor in the montly fees into your costs charged by TradeStation or any platform broker. You mentioned that you are going live soon and you're concerned about R/T costs so I am assuming that you are referring to the fact that you'll be using a custom ATS. If you plan to trade frequently (above 100 per month) I recommend that you use an external datafeed such as Rithmic or have access to one as a backup. You don't want to solely rely on your brokers datafeed and experience datapoint holes when backtesting or experience freezing during periods of extreme activity with no backup to compare results or spreads.
If you don't need a one-stop-shop broker like TOS or IB then read up and consider GlobalFutures and Velocity Futures due to their superior trade execution, low turn costs and available platforms. I've read and heard nothing but great things about the two when coupled with TT (X-Trader).
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Registered User
Joined: 5/11/2009
Posts: 120
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globalfutures rates are 2.54 rt and the fills are good but the monthly fee for X_Trader is $650 and if you want stocks and futures in one account, then they're not going to suit your needs.
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