What's a good direct access firm?

A

arzoo

I trade with datek direct and feel like I'm getting screwed because it is so slow in posting and cancelling orders. I tried their new streamer central hoping it will solve things but it kinda clogs their whole system more?

Is it just me or dont they have enough servers?

If its them, what's a good direct access firm to switch to? I pretty much narrowed it to cybertrader, ib, and tradestation. Which is ok? and are the firms financially stable?

I heard stuff about tradescape, and it kinda scares me.

My basis is more on: order execution, costs, platform stability and of course, how financially stable the firm is.

Hope you guys have good suggestions.
 
Hey zoo,

At the top of the page is a tab for brokers. There you will find every broker in the free world it seems and some comments about each. Many of the people whoi regularly contribute to this site have posted comments there.

I used to use Datek and felt the same way as you do. I don't think Datek is good for any style of trading where speed and fill quality are important, ie., scalping, daytrading. If you are positon trading, or even swing trading using a daily chart, or even a 60 minute chart and ten cents doesn't really make that much of difference, Datek is fine.

I use Cybertrader. I use their CyberX2 platform. Fast and efficient. No real complaints about it. Great customer service. The X2 platform is a single order entry platform. They do have Cybertrader Pro which has multiple order entry capabilities.

Many many of the guys here use IB, Interactive Brokers.
 
Do we have to welcome new members so warmly tradestox? I mean, you don't have to post do you? So what if a newer member asks a question that has been asked before.

Please do not be misled by the number of posts under my recently changed nickname. I have been here for awhile. Unless you have also done the same, it would appear you are rather new to posting here. Maybe you could cut the guy some slack and provide a more useful reply, one that might help him learn his way around here a little easier.

:cool:
 
Doesnt cyber's commissions look a bit high + the ecn fees if you were daytrading or scalping, making it very difficult to make a good buck?

I have a friend who uses cyber and he's pretty happy with it. He says island orders dont get charged extra ecn fees. What i'm curious at is do most of your orders go thru island or the others?

Also, what system do you use so cyber moves well. I noticed its platform may need a higher end pc. Am i correct?
 
Bingo on the commish structure. And I trade mostly NYSE and trade straight to the NYSE instead of using the CyberXchange route. That way a limit order doesn't get dumped onto Island.

Because of the commish structure, if you are scalping it is prohibitve. If you are daytrading but longer term than scalping it probably will not impact that much. Position traders should not even worry about it at all.

I use a Celeron 550. Hardly high end. I do have 256K Ram. That helps. I just bought an Emachines Pentium Celeron 1.2 ghz for my kids to play games. It came with a 17" monitor and printer. After rebates, $389. Check out Best Buy. But I still have my 550.

The most important thing you want is either DSL or cable. Yes T1 is nice but pricey. Most of the guys here have DSL or cable.

:)
 
I recently posed a similar question on a different thread. Got useful input from many people. After considering the options I decided to try prophettrader.com. So far so good. They have a new scaled commission option that is very competitive. I don't think that option was available when I first checked out their site.

I did have a problem loading their simulator. The guy I talked to was very helpful, and corrected the problem on my computer.
 
I agree you have to consider all the charges, and not just the price they advertise. Most of the direct access brokers I considered charge ecn fees. The very few that don't, aren't very highly recommended.

The $1/ticket for island the Prophettrader charges was in fact one of the selling points for me. The others charge on a per share basis, which would cost me much much more since I trade in large blocks.
 
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