Could you clarify what these data feeds are? Do you mean they charge you to get the realtime stock prices during the day while you are trading? Or do you mean things like live newsfeeds?
Opinions on Interactive Brokers?
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Could you clarify what these data feeds are? Do you mean they charge you to get the realtime stock prices during the day while you are trading? Or do you mean things like live newsfeeds?
What is a "data feed", and what is a "decent data feed"? I'm new to this. I'm not sure what you mean. I hope they don't charge you to get the realtime stock quotes. That would be silly. You need that information to trade. How can you place a trade if you don't know what the current price is?
Robert Morse
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For that type of business (not for an IB account-It would custody at Wedbush), our Lightspeed Web/Mobile Trader is very popular. It has some limitations like no option spreads, no trading before or after regular trading hours, no shorting hard to borrow stocks, no L2 market data and no Direct Market Access. With that said, you don't have to be concerned with maker/taker fees, market data charges or platfrom fees. Our minimum account size is $10,000 on this.
https://www.lightspeed.com/trading-platforms/lightspeed-web-trader/
Yes, you do need to pay in case you want live stock price data during the day. The cost depends on which market you need. For AMEX, NYSE and NASDAQ is it 1.50 USD per month per feed. Besides that does IB charge a flat rate of 10 USD per month, which they waive in case your account generates enough commissions.
See this page for details (scroll down to the bottom): https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=14193
If you're trading with breadth (large number of small positions in stocks) then IB is good with their commission structure. But if you are doing concentrated large bets (eg. your whole account value into one stock at a time) then your commission will be significantly higher than 'commission per trade' brokers such as TD, Fidelity, Schwab, etc.
I traded at IB for years (until 2016 - but never stocks).
I think I can sum up my collective experiences there in one sentence, really (which is actually pretty unusual, from a mouthy chick like me): my dealing costs were undoubtedly a little lower than they would have been anywhere else, but my customer service experiences were both very variable and overall probably a little worse than they would have been anywhere else.
Thanks,
It's interesting that the fees were only a little lower. It appears that IB would be way cheaper, but I'm new at this!
I used IB for the better part of 10 years. While their charts are as bad as can be (had to use 3rd party software), the broad range of settings for order placement etc. is quite good. Everybody and his brother complains about their service, but I never really had a problem in that respect. The only reason I left IB was that a local broker began offering significantly better conditions for day trading index futures.
It's true. The transaction fees are often much more than the commissions, so their claim of $1.00 per 200 shares is a lie.
The platform is okay though. You seem to be annoyed that's it's running in your machine (desktop based) but I have news for you - many of us wouldn't want software that is only in the cloud. There are so many benefits to having the software run in your computer.
I like companies who deal with money and trust to be "cold", if the interface is all bubbly and intimate, I would automatically steer away from it. You probably want testimonials and web help desk popups but for me, if I saw that, I wouldn't even give them a chance.
The platform is okay though. You seem to be annoyed that's it's running in your machine (desktop based) but I have news for you - many of us wouldn't want software that is only in the cloud. There are so many benefits to having the software run in your computer.
I like companies who deal with money and trust to be "cold", if the interface is all bubbly and intimate, I would automatically steer away from it. You probably want testimonials and web help desk popups but for me, if I saw that, I wouldn't even give them a chance.