Recommended Broker for eMini S&P 500 Futures

Quote from jeb9999:

Speaking of ignoring the obvious, you are ignoring that some quotes include the CME fees and others do not include the CME fees.

For the first 300 sides on CME equity futures IB charges $1.20 brokerage and clearing + $1.14 CME fee + $0.01 NFA fee = $2.35 or $4.70 RT.
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Thanks for pointing out the hidden costs. Good job!
I guess go futures.com's advertised rate of 99 cents do not include hidden costs. Damn these brokers! No wonder BSC went bankrupt, a bunch of crooks!
 
Gofutures .99 per side is correct. Add in the exchange/clearinghouse/brokerage/regulatry/NFA fees of $1.16 for es futures, and you get $2.15 per side per contract.
 
Quote from VoodooMMI:

From 1994-1997 I traded stock index futures. My broker was First American Discount Corporation (purchased by Man Financial, now called MF Global Futures). I paid about $33 per roundturn including exchange fees back then.

I plan to open a Futures account soon with $20K to trade the eMini S&P 500 futures and am interested in your recommended broker for me. I will not be actively trading as my strategy is long term trend following and I will have decided my orders for the day before the trading day starts. For example, if I'm long 1 ES, I'll place my sell stop for the day to make me flat if ES goes down. If ES goes up, I'll have a buy stop to add to my long position. These 2 orders will be about 128 points apart, so the likelihood of both executing in the same day is small. Services, I'd like to have are
1) front end software
2) ability to access static realtime quotes and enter orders on a webbased system as a backup
3) competitive commissions

I've looked at Velocity Futures (using Free X-Trader) and Lind-Waldock. Velocity Futures doesn't have a webbased order entry system and Lind-Waldock is a little higher on commissions. Between the 2, I'm leaning toward Velocity Futures.

Which broker would you recommend for my situation?

Voodoo
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Thinkorswim or optionsxpress.
They have nice advanced order types.

They allow you to open an account with your 20k. Some large brokers require 25k or 50k.
 
Quote from jwcapital:

Gofutures .99 per side is correct. Add in the exchange/clearinghouse/brokerage/regulatry/NFA fees of $1.16 for es futures, and you get $2.15 per side per contract.
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But don't forget to also factor in VERY frequent software order entry and charting freezes/lock-ups during the day, and a back office that continually places on your statements $3.00 - $5.00 of mysterious additional clearing, exchange, or broker fees per trade, and that ".99 cents per side" actually turns out to equal $5.15 - $7.15 per side (or about $13 per R/T for an ES contract)! It's probably not so much a problem with GO Futures itself as it is with their FAST software, which is the same FAST software used by brokers such as GO, DT, Sonic, Farr, etc.

So for any trader who wants connection and software reliability, I'd avoid these brokers at all costs.
 
I would avoid optionsXpress. I have had problems with the Xtend platform - particularly in order modification and cancellation when the markets are moving and there's alot of volume. It's been such a problem that I'm hiring legal counsel.
 
Quote from rover:

Give TransAct a try. Been very happy with them
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have you noticed the front page of ET lately?

or the broker ratings?


seems like there are a lot of bad stories out there waiting to be told
 
www.5perside.com has a rather wierd stipulation about real time data:

"Real-Time Quotes**

Customizable Charts with Studies**

** limited to the first 200 per month FREE"

Doesn't say what they charge after you get your free 200 quotes.
 
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