Quote from filter_sweep:
All good points. Main reason I'd be willing to switch away from IB is data quality, I'd like to have unfiltered data for HSI (without paying E-signal $200/month for one freakin contract's data), which can be very whippy and I'd like to know the true edges of the swings.
Regarding slippage, I think that's something you just live with when trading HSI. Most of my entry orders are on stops, so to control the slippage I use stop-limit orders that factor in two extra ticks of slippage beyond the stop level. If I get a good fill I feel lucky. Sometimes I don't get filled at all and I feel pissed, but usually if it blasts through my entry level without filling me it will retrace quickly and fill me.
Another way to look at HSI slippage and get comfortable is the slippage to daily-range ratio. If using stops on ES, for example, you expect to only get 1 tick of slippage (the spread), which is approximately 1/40th of the average daily range (estimate... ES intraday range seems to be less than 10 points these days). The HSI daily range seems closer to 300 points (again, unsubtanstiated estiamate), so routine slippage of ~2 ticks is much less significant to one's profitability than crossing the spread on ES.