Any experience with Cobra Trading firm? vs Centerpoint / IB

hoff57

hoff57

Hi.
I am on the lookout for my first stockbroker. Here are some info about me, and requirements.

1. I mainly short small caps - only Intraday.. rarely hold overnight.
2. I would like to use DAS Trader PRO as I am used to this software.
3. Fast execution, Full books nasdaq+arca is a must.
4. I trade around 130-150k volume per day.
5. HTB Short availability is important for me.
6. I am not sure about clearing firms, but would like not to be stopped out if I decide to hold a stock overnight (not enough experience with this).
7. Direct access of coarse, and the possibility to route to exchanges.
8. My hold time average from 5m-20m per position
9. commision : well execution/quality is more important for me. But I know IB offers 0.0044 - so I would not want more commision than that. I see that speedtrader offers $2.5 trades unlimited shares - that sounds good, but somewhat skeptical about that structure.

I've probably left out some things. I've been in contact with Cobra and they respond very quickly. As I understood it, they traded through interactive brokers but was able to find more borrows for short. I do know Centerpoint Securities is known to have HTB stocks to short, but that should come with a price as well.

I live in europe and could go with tradezero, but my gutfeeling says I should stick to the wellknown ones. Not sure about speedtrader, lightspeed, suretrader .. I dont know if they have the borrows I need for my short strategies. I've read that IB was not that good with finding borrows.

I am not sure what do decide. I hope some input from experienced traders can help me come closer to a decision. thanks all!
 
I'm not sure we are the best broker for this type of business. If these are all listed NYSE and NASDAQ stocks, maybe. We get the locates from Wedbush and third party locates that are expensive from Velocity Capital. For our per trade rate, we do not offer unlimited shares. The default limit is 10,000. You would have to use Lightspeed Trader based on your description.

Happy to talk in the morning. Just email me directly.

Bob
 
hoff57 said:
I am on the lookout for my first stockbroker.
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Sorry, but I have to ask. You say you are looking for your "first stockbroker." If you have very little trading experiance, do you think it is a good idea to trade the most volatile and least liquid stocks as a beginner?
 
Thanks for the question, that is a very valid question. I should perhaps write about that.

I have been trading with a demo platform for 11 months (purchased DAS platform with live quotes). Trading all market days, 10h straight per day. Journaled daily, recorded my screen every day etc. Worked on specific strategies that I only trade. I've found what works for me, and what doesn't.

At this point I am ready to go live.
Regards
 
Good luck. start slow. Paper trading and real trader are VERY different. Paper Trading has no fear or greed. Small cap stocks are a little crazy, We offer a stock scanner and many small and mid-cap stocks come up on this. Very hard to trade them,
Lightspeed Trader Lightscan-https://www.lightspeed.com/trading-scanner/
 
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Thanks for the kind advice Mark. I will be very - very patient and only take the absolute best case setups. I have defined my strategys, entry/exit point and setups and will stick to that.

I fully understand that live trading will have an elevated sense of emotion.. that is why I start off small. I've defined my feelers/max size, max risk etc.

and I wont allow myself to add any size before I 'pass' the test at the end of the month. And even at that time, I wont add more than 10% to my sizes. I am in no rush of making large sums - I just want to trade every day and become the best I can be. Skill set is much more important for me.

Yes.. I will see how much it effects me first day =).. but after 10h/d for 10 months, everything feels very automatic by now. I will see. thanks and enjoy the summer. regards
 
hoff57 said:
Thanks for the kind advice Mark. I will be very - very patient and only take the absolute best case setups. I have defined my strategys, entry/exit point and setups and will stick to that.

I fully understand that live trading will have an elevated sense of emotion.. that is why I start off small. I've defined my feelers/max size, max risk etc.

and I wont allow myself to add any size before I 'pass' the test at the end of the month. And even at that time, I wont add more than 10% to my sizes. I am in no rush of making large sums - I just want to trade every day and become the best I can be. Skill set is much more important for me.

Yes.. I will see how much it effects me first day =).. but after 10h/d for 10 months, everything feels very automatic by now. I will see. thanks and enjoy the summer. regards
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Hi hoff57, I have sent you a PM.
 
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