Looking for new broker

[KGTrader4]

Bro, with 7 trillion in customer asset they are too big to fail.

You are increasing risk by adding broker, not decreasing.

again, Lehman and Bear where also to big to fail. Like I said , I know it’s probably not necessary, but being retired, I don’t want to chance it

as far as additional risk, I think if I choose the right firms, the added risk is pretty minimal. That’s why I’m looking at Fidelity and E-Trade (which is Morgan Stanley).

I went thru 2008 as a broker/financial planner. I don’t want to go thru it as a client. Even if the chance is very small, which I believe it is.

 

[KGTrader4]

If I were you I'd use Interactive Brokers for some or all of you money.

We went through this back in 2008. At the time some futures brokers went bust. We also had some money market funds "break the buck".

What I like about the account at IB is that in terms of cash they keep $250K in the account. Anything above that they transfer to a bank of your choice where you earn interest. No problem using it for investments, they simply transfer it back. It all work seamlessly.

I believe SIPC covers $250K in cash, $500K in assets. It used to be that IB insured up to $5Million I believe I recollect at Lloyds of London. Don't know if they're still doing it or not.

They have a substantial bond offering at IB. I think you could buy anything worldwide. Personally I have a substantial investment in T-Bills which I acquire via IB. Generally I'm holding 6 months to 12 month maturities.

Other products are stocks world wide, futures, forex, gold bullion, bitcoin, etc, all traded at low commissions, and in a univeral account where money is shifted automatically between stocks and futures depending on what you're investing in.

As far as the platform, I can't compare to other offerings. But you can use it with either MAC or PC. I think they offer nearly everything you need, although I probably would say they're platform is mediocre. However, it's useable in my opinion.

I'm a fan.

OldTrader

thanks OT, I’m an old trader too, retired as a broker/Planner 3 years ago. The firms all offer something like $5,000,000 supplemental insurance. The problem is, when you look at what their total coverage is, it would never cover all the accounts with over SIPC.

Does IB give you the ability to buy treasuries at auction? Or only from their inventory? At TD I buy at auction.

 

[JonLivingston]

Does IB give you the ability to buy treasuries at auction? Or only from their inventory?

Side question: how does one know whether they're being bought at auction or from inventory?

 

[KGTrader4]

Side question: how does one know whether they're being bought at auction or from inventory?

on TD Ameritrade, you either put in for the next scheduled auction, or you search their inventory. Two different systems, two different sections of their website.
Buying at auction, you know the exact yield after the auction takes place, from inventory you know immediately when you buy, actually before you buy

 

[OldTrader]

thanks OT, I’m an old trader too, retired as a broker/Planner 3 years ago. The firms all offer something like $5,000,000 supplemental insurance. The problem is, when you look at what their total coverage is, it would never cover all the accounts with over SIPC.

Does IB give you the ability to buy treasuries at auction? Or only from their inventory? At TD I buy at auction.

First, you can't participate at an auction at IB. Second, they don't have an inventory either. They act as an agent. They charge $5 as far as I know, that's what I've been charged. As I understand it, at the auction you can buy $1,000. I doubt you can do that in the secondary market. As you probably know, the round lot size in the T-Bill market is $1 million. But my typical size has been $50,000-$100,000 without issue. For that, I pay $5 commission. Sometimes there's an advantage to making a trade in the secondary market rather than the auction. I bought 6 month bills for about 5.3% last week. By Friday I show the yield down to 5.04%. My daughter tells me there's an auction on Monday, which she's been waiting for, so unless the yields go back up alot on Monday she's not going to do as well as I did.

BTW, she's with Schwab, they can buy at auction.

OldTrader

 

[jenny205]

If you are looking for a reliable Broker, you can try Forexchief, I have made use of this Broker for quite some time now. They provide advanced solutions to control and reduce trading losses by protecting you against negative balance.