Understanding Tradestation commissions

[whitetanman]

I'm a bit confused. There's a real time P/L listed, and then the 'purchasing power' which is your actual cash.

I'll make/loose X per day, and the next day the P/L doesn't match the difference from the purchase power from the prior day.

Are they only including part of the commision on the P/L? Why is my purchase power always LESS the next day then I expect it? I can't find info on the site anywhere on how they handle this. Buried somewhere I suppose.

 

[dloyer]

Purchase power != cash.

You should post your question on the TS support form. These are simple questions that will most likely get a prompt answer from the support staff.

TS commisions are simple flat values. High, but simple.

 

[lurefo]

If my memory serves well, the TS platform will calculate the PnL with $2.4 commission RT for futures contract which returns an incorrect value.

It's one of the simple bugs that the TS staff was asked to fix years ago on the support forum. Well, guess what.

 

[whitetanman]

Ah.... nice game playing. Not surprised.

 

[Surdo]

Quote from whitetanman:

Ah.... nice game playing. Not surprised.

It's actually pretty straight forward, the Exchange fees are not deducted until the overnight.

As much I am not a fan of TS, my P&L is never off.

Just use the daily pdf statement for accuracy.

 

[whitetanman]

thanks for the input guys.

I think they do it to make you 'feel' better at the end of the day.

 

[lurefo]

Quote from whitetanman:

thanks for the input guys.

I think they do it to make you 'feel' better at the end of the day.

I think that's a bit of a stretch. However I suspect they prefer to spend money on making the platform fancy for retail and on marketing instead of funding developpement to fixe problems like this one or more importantly to put in place the necessary infrastructure for a serious connection.

Unless one needs the automation part, I think there are much better options out there for trading.