newbie queries - brokers/commissions

P

paul_alan

Hi guys.

I am looking into opening up and account with questrade. The allow UK citizens (me) to open up daytrading account with $5000 with no PDT restrictions (because they are Canadian i guess)

I did want to just trade 100share lots, but their commissions would eat me alive ($4.95 minimum) so I am thinking that when I start I will be trading around 300 to 500 share lots making the share/commission ratio more respectable.

I am new to direct access brokers and have a few questions.

*On the demo, sometimes I buy, for example 400 shares of a stock, and when i go to close the trade the platform breaks it up into 2 or 3 seperate executions. (e.g to cover the 400 shares it might say sold 200, sold 155 sold 45) The system then tells me that 4 executions have been made. Would this equal me paying more commissions? Does each execution carry the $4.95 ommission? If so that seems like a great way to rip people off. Im hoping im wrong.

*Do any of you brokers do this baring in mind im talking about a smallish number of shares.

*Anyone else here from the UK have an account with questrade? Opinions?
 
Quote from paul_alan:

Hi guys.

I am looking into opening up and account with questrade. The allow UK citizens (me) to open up daytrading account with $5000 with no PDT restrictions (because they are Canadian i guess)

I did want to just trade 100share lots, but their commissions would eat me alive ($4.95 minimum) so I am thinking that when I start I will be trading around 300 to 500 share lots making the share/commission ratio more respectable.

I am new to direct access brokers and have a few questions.

*On the demo, sometimes I buy, for example 400 shares of a stock, and when i go to close the trade the platform breaks it up into 2 or 3 seperate executions. (e.g to cover the 400 shares it might say sold 200, sold 155 sold 45) The system then tells me that 4 executions have been made. Would this equal me paying more commissions? Does each execution carry the $4.95 ommission? If so that seems like a great way to rip people off. Im hoping im wrong.

*Do any of you brokers do this baring in mind im talking about a smallish number of shares.

*Anyone else here from the UK have an account with questrade? Opinions?
More...

If you start out trading that kind of size, you will blow up before you get a chance to learn. Find a broker with more respectable commissions; when you get partial fills, yes, you'll get dicked on commissions. $10+ per round trip is prohibitively expensive; you might want to try a US based prop firm that lets you trade remotely instead.
 
Quote from FXTraderWill:

If you start out trading that kind of size, you will blow up before you get a chance to learn. Find a broker with more respectable commissions; when you get partial fills, yes, you'll get dicked on commissions. $10+ per round trip is prohibitively expensive; you might want to try a US based prop firm that lets you trade remotely instead.
More...

Thanks for responding mate. At least now I know that partial fills do add to commissions.

Do they do it on purpose to rip people off? I have been demoing the directaccesselite platform and the questrade platform and it only really happens on the questrade platform.

Being from the UK i really dont know much about prop firms. Do they accept UK people? I can daytrade with less than $25k?


ta.
 
Quote from paul_alan:

Thanks for responding mate. At least now I know that partial fills do add to commissions.

Do they do it on purpose to rip people off? I have been demoing the directaccesselite platform and the questrade platform and it only really happens on the questrade platform.

Being from the UK i really dont know much about prop firms. Do they accept UK people? I can daytrade with less than $25k?


ta.
More...

Don't jump to conclusions regarding partial fill commissions. Many direct access brokers DO NOT charge multiple commissions for partials, if the partials are part of a single unmodified order. You must ask the broker how they treat partial fills.
 
Quote from paul_alan:

*On the demo, sometimes I buy, for example 400 shares of a stock, and when i go to close the trade the platform breaks it up into 2 or 3 seperate executions. (e.g to cover the 400 shares it might say sold 200, sold 155 sold 45) The system then tells me that 4 executions have been made. Would this equal me paying more commissions? Does each execution carry the $4.95 ommission?

*Anyone else here from the UK have an account with questrade? Opinions?
More...

I do not have an account with Questrade. I do not remember being charged more than one commission on a stock trade, even if the order is split. I use several brokers, all charge one commission per transaction even when orders are split as you mentioned. I use USA brokers, not Canadian. You might contact Questrade and ask about their commission rates.
 
Quote from tiddlywinks:

Don't jump to conclusions regarding partial fill commissions. Many direct access brokers DO NOT charge multiple commissions for partials, if the partials are part of a single unmodified order. You must ask the broker how they treat partial fills.
More...

Good advice. I just spoke to someone from questrade and it appears that it only counts as ONE trade as you suggested aboove.

There's hope for me yet.
 
Quote from paul_alan:

Thanks for responding mate. At least now I know that partial fills do add to commissions.

Do they do it on purpose to rip people off? I have been demoing the directaccesselite platform and the questrade platform and it only really happens on the questrade platform.

Being from the UK i really dont know much about prop firms. Do they accept UK people? I can daytrade with less than $25k?


ta.
More...

Yes, they should accept you, with $2-5k as a minium deposit... and they'll give you about $200,000 in buying power and MUCH lower commissions than you are getting from your retail broker... you shouldn't pay more than 50 cents to trade 100 shares, and even that's a little bit of a ripoff...

Apparently I was wrong about being charged on partial fills; I'm used to how prop firms do that. Prop firms charge you per order, so if you get a partial fill, you do get charged... though you pay so much less per trade with a prop firm vs a retail firm, and partial fills are relatively rare and only occur on ECNs, so it shouldn't cost much...
 
paul_alan, none of the firms with per-trade commissions schedule--regardless of its direct access capabilities--ever charged me more than 1 trade's commission even if the whole order was executed in parts so long as it gets executed on the same day. You better ask your broker directly.
 
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