Future brokers, IB, trading platforms & slippage

F

Fonz

Traders,

I think we all could benefit from our own experiences regarding the best package when trading futures.
I am not taking about analysis, margin rates, or commissions, but our experiences regarding the (very costly) slippage we all have when trading futures and using market orders.

So, what I suggest is that we give only our own opinions, regarding the package we use, and if possible by providing examples.

Thank you all!
 
Not a member of an exchange
Discretionary (nothing automated), from Florida

I know a lot of things can impact market orders like internet speed, distance to the exchange, hardware, etc. That being said, in my opinion:

Interactive Brokers (Equity indices), I will give a 5/10.
Slow markets = 1 to 2 ticks
Fast markets = 2 to 7 ticks

Tradestation for YM, I will give a 6/10
Slow markets = 1 to 2 ticks
Fast markets = 3 to 6 ticks
US treasury 30y = great
Commodities = My stops are very large and only here in case of a major catastrophic event. So I almost never use a market order.

Cannon + Gain + Multicharts, for YM and NQ, I will give a 3/10
Slow markets = 2 to 3 ticks
Fast markets = Just a guess car it can become very instable 4 to 9 ticks

Well, that was my opinion and feelings about market orders with different combos that I used.

One of my friends told me that becoming a member of an exchange, avoiding all IBs, avoiding all brokers when the marketing is on reduced margin and low commissions, and finally having the best internet and hardware could reduce a lot the slippage effect.

Your thoughts and experiences?
 
Last edited:
Slippage depends a lot on the size you're trading and the market volume and the market speed (slow market vs fast market).
If you're trading 1 contract vs 50 contracts at a time, the slippage will not be the same.

It also depends on speed, meaning the time it takes for your order to hit the exchange and vice-versa.
That time is split in different stages:
- The physical distance between your workstation and your broker's servers.
- The physical distance between your broker's servers and the exchange's servers
- Your trading gears
- Your Internet/network health/condition (speed, number of hops, ISP, etc.)
- Your broker's gears and OMS system

Based on the above, I think it's very difficult to compare the slippage between different brokers.
Personally, I'm using IB (automated), and with decent size and market orders, on regular market condition, I'm seeing 0-1 tick slippage. I have 50 ms latency with IB servers. On fast market, it can be just anything from 1 to 8 ticks.
 
Thank you Rb.
Because I use 3 different solutions and 3 different brokers, it was easier for me to compare.
 
Not sure if this is the place but I'll throw it out there. Anyone use Rithmic? When you call their toll free number no one answers and/or it rings two or three times then hangs up
 
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