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Well, this is a very thoughtful comment on a topic which is very much misunderstood generally in the trading community. That trading style is practically dominated by account size, especially when the trader has taken some hits and feels about to lose everything s/he has been working toward...

Under-capitalization is as as much a factor in losing, as is lack of skill and lack of high technology technical analysis. I try and explain that your style of trading is hugely affected by your account size. But so many argue with me that it has nothing to do with account size, either you...

Isn't that a brokerage dependent thing, whether or not the systems actually recalculate margins on changes in resting orders? But your point is a good one. So I was really wrong by saying "theoretically" it removes the need for margin checking. Actually, "theoretically" there is always a need...

Okay, that's a good point. I could keep the limit orders a bit further out, as you say. But, if they're reasonably nearby, I can see them on my charts and decide to over-ride the automatic mechanism and do some manual adjustments, taking them out of auto-mode, or have them strike manually...

No, I don't keep them "all day", and I certainly don't leave the system unattended. This is a hyper-scalping capabiity, which is a new form of trading for retail traders, and it saves more than microseconds. I wrote the whole deal, and it opens up entirely new ways to trade so it's hard to...

Entirely possible to get disabled. I recall a friend of mine was banned from IB with no recourse for doing absolutely nothing wrong. All's well that ends well as that was what motivated me to leave IB. I guess any brokerage could do that, but most of them would tell you why or give an...

I moved from IB to Transact, partially out of the threat of being classified as a low execution ratio client. But, for other reasons as well, such as much lower margin costs, and higher reliability. I regularly preload limit orders outside the market on the exchange. These are all managed...

OK, this is my last comment. I think you're talking about a very small "market maker". Let's suppose that Goldman is the Market Maker. How much reserves would She have? Goldman isn't a street corner "bookie". Deep pockets make a formidable Market Maker indeed. How many hundreds of...

Gosh, this topic is heating up. You're exactly right that one big part of MM's role, and even by definition the "market making" role is that of collecting the Bid/Ask spread. This shows me you know what you're talking about. However, the same entity who has this "market making" role is...

Well, many share your view. However, I firmly believe MM's can and do willfully move markets. Discovering clues by technical analysis, as to where they are likely to move next, is the key to short term daytrading or scalping. The MM is both a liquidity provider, as well as a trade...

Well, I'm not an ET sponsor so I can't advertise. Yes, trading is a business and only the analytically and technologically advanced technical trader can hope to gain and keep an edge. What I said is neither BS nor naive. It is a fact. How to deal with the fact that we ordinary traders must...

That is precisely one of the major scalping strategies, but the tape has to be *calculated* and not simply watched... MM's accumulate and distribute both at the sub-second level, as well as over longer periods of time. MM's in fact take positions against all the rest of the market, and are...

Well, by "retail sentiment" I mean all market participants who are not themselves Market Makers. Yes, the single contract trader is of no concern but contributes incrementally to trade activity. Obviously analysis exposes that huge block trades have a greater influence on market direction...

Market Makers don't need access to stop levels of retail players. Imagine if you traded against both Buyers and Sellers, and that 98% of all transactions were between yourself (dominant Market Maker) and a smaller player. You would know by actual trading activity exactly what the retail...

Well, if you're TWS as the mediator, and not FIX then I could suggest you run TWS under the Java Server VM for higher performance. Also, if you're on Windows, adjust the scheduling so your client and TWS have equal priority. I imagine you're well beyond these details, but just fyi. Just in...

With IB, so long as ID's you use start with the one you are given and are monotinically increasing, then there's usually no issue. You could even skip by two's and it wouldn't care.

Just out of interest, what would be an example of these orders? What's the objective of the system? I have experience with IB's api and don't know whether it could come close to handling that volume. Now I'm designing to Transact's api and I imagine it could handle that volume, provided your...

Just to get closure here, my trader friend was duly dumped by IB and our appeals to the CEO were met with no reply. Currently he is with Infinity Futures.

Update to the situation. A letter has been emailed to IB's Chairman with no reply so far. Again, as IB states no reason for the "termination" of the relationship, one assumption is the "alternate login" relationship with a trader who is not in the U.S., although the account is long-standing...

The fact that the account remained for 5 years, and just a couple of months ago, an alternate login was created for the purpose of allowing a non-U.S. resident to trade the account, is suspected as being the reason for the termination. The trader received no indication that there was a problem...