After reviewing the IB-at-work firewall techie threads here, I sadly have to scratch IB from my list of potential brokers. For me...Mr. Murphy would make an inelegant Fwall bypass come apart under the worst possible circumstances.
It's pretty obvious that the technology for getting around the firewall issue is not rocket science for a number of brokers and data providers.
A large company like IB could do it....if it wanted to. But quite frankly, in my humble opinion, I think they don't fix it because they view it as an silent but deadly 80/20 filter for low value customers. Pareto's law guarantees that eighty percent of their revenue comes from the top twenty percent of traders that are out on their own (and probably not stuck behind a firewall). If IB's vision is to strictly minimize the expense associated with customer support, why should they take a four fold increase in less experienced users to make only 20% more money? It has to be pretty much a conscious decision to keep out what they view as unwelcome (low value) customers. In their defense, with the growth they have seen over the last year or so...it is hard to argue the issue from their stockholder's viewpoint. So be it. Nonetheless, I need a home for my unwelcome, 28-years-of-investing account...that can be seen from behind a Fwall. (With 48 months to get the big medical benefits from corp retirement, it doesn't make much economic sense to chuck a high level job just because IT won't process port 2000.)
QUESTION FOR THIS THREAD: Who are the other ...visible... retail brokers that have a reasonable commish structure for domestic AND international stocks, good executions....AND lets you hold foreign currencies like IB? Who is their closest competitor?
Regards,
Bruce
It's pretty obvious that the technology for getting around the firewall issue is not rocket science for a number of brokers and data providers.
A large company like IB could do it....if it wanted to. But quite frankly, in my humble opinion, I think they don't fix it because they view it as an silent but deadly 80/20 filter for low value customers. Pareto's law guarantees that eighty percent of their revenue comes from the top twenty percent of traders that are out on their own (and probably not stuck behind a firewall). If IB's vision is to strictly minimize the expense associated with customer support, why should they take a four fold increase in less experienced users to make only 20% more money? It has to be pretty much a conscious decision to keep out what they view as unwelcome (low value) customers. In their defense, with the growth they have seen over the last year or so...it is hard to argue the issue from their stockholder's viewpoint. So be it. Nonetheless, I need a home for my unwelcome, 28-years-of-investing account...that can be seen from behind a Fwall. (With 48 months to get the big medical benefits from corp retirement, it doesn't make much economic sense to chuck a high level job just because IT won't process port 2000.)
QUESTION FOR THIS THREAD: Who are the other ...visible... retail brokers that have a reasonable commish structure for domestic AND international stocks, good executions....AND lets you hold foreign currencies like IB? Who is their closest competitor?
Regards,
Bruce
