Originally posted by TraderC
qazmax:
You're one funny dude. A while ago you were bashing PreferredTrade, and glorifying IB.
On Preferred, you said, ``But the system itself is not very dynamic. ''
On IB, you said, ``IB has advance routing and always has the latest and greatest.'' Do you remember that?
I guess you changed your mind on IB really fast.
Boy do I hate being quoted making a backward statement!! LOL!
That is the problem with text at 35 words a minute and speech at 100+ a minute. Everything sounds like a advertising blurb. So here is the longer version to help clear things up...
Truth is that both of these statements are absolutely correct...
(Here is my $.02...)
IB's owner is Thomas Petterfy... an agressive mad-man who stating his corporate goal as "global domination of the marketplace." They were the first electronic brokerage firm, and the first electronic market making firm (Timber Hill). So the company always has the "latest and greatest" so to speak. What this means is, when Nasdaq releases some new platform, (however hokey), like Primex, SuperMontage, or Liquidity Tracker you can always be assured that IB will be there day 1 ready to bring it to market. They are also the main backers of the BOX - new electronic options floor. This has been a dream of T.P. for a while. That much technology always is plagued with bugs and program overlapping conflicts.
This cost the company a lot of $$$ upfront and causes the company to cut corners in other departments like customer service, back office etc...
So my review of IB is they have a lot of techie, smart stuff and access to every exchange on the earth. But they are too wide spread for my taste. I do not trade futures, currencies, or overseas markets.
Preferred on the other-hand...
Is privately owned by a hands-off owner. The company seems to move slowly. They are late coming to market with new products by their own admition. They have a simple software that only does options and stocks in the U.S.
They have a KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid) attitude about routing that seems to work quite well despite it's lack of finess. Customer support is good. The simple "non-dynamic" software allows for easy integration with quote and info. providers. So can run AT Financial or e-Signal or whatever over top of the trading software and use each other in tandem.
I used to believe that the most advanced was the best. But now I see it is more important that the broker abilities suit the trader's needs. So in my case less is better.
Although the lack of new products to market is an eyesore. I hear SuperMontage is still be developed and they are not ready for testing yet? I have never seen PT's name on a Nasdaq list of brokers who are signed up for SuperMontage testing. This of course worries me qute a bit. Which is why I am opening a new account to switch over should I need to in a hurry!
But I love PT's easy access to ISLD, ARCA, INCA... they even put icons for the books on the software so it is very simple.
Plus they have $9.75 flat rate option that routes thru NITE and receives good fills.
