Who accepts me, a daytrader?

Quote from Tech Analysis:



You have my agreement on that one. It's total bullshit, and what makes it worse is that they give >25k accounts 4:1 margin. So what the SEC is saying is "we want to protect the little guys, oh and by the way. Here's twice as much rope to hang yourselves by."

What a crock.
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OUTSTANDING summary.....

4:1 to the average guy (little guys need not apply) can hang you 6x as much as the previous 2:1 margin. At least when it came to going short or otherwise, 2:1 prevented you from getting into the $100,000 range unless your account was around $50,000 or more. Now you can do this for $25,000. That's more dangerous, given the whipsaws and directionless trading environment.

Perhaps, the only way the SEC could cut down on the volitility was to restrict the $2,000 little guys from having a play.
 
I started in the business 6 months ago and I just got my second paycheck on monday. I had $1000 and i sent my resume to Worldco. They put me in a group and the leader there gave me some tution after I had been there a while. They won't give you 100% (more like 70-80%) payout but will allow you to trade their capital. I think they do charge you for the series 7 around $300. Assuming you have a decent resume they will hire you. The guy I work with is always looking for new traders in his group. Good luck.
 
Actually, you can trade e-minis with just $2k. Granted, if you fall below it .. they'll restrict you.

Quote from cdcolvin:



For what it is worth, here is my opinion. I'm new a trading. Started with $2000 like you and went to Scott Trade ($7.00 for market $12.95 for limit). I very rapidly lost $800, mostly in commissions. Trying to position size killed me commission wise because the stock would have to move anywhere from 50 cents to $1.50 per share just to break even. I had good stops in place, but the stocks would reverse and I'd get stopped out at a loss on commission, not on the stock.

After that, I attended a seminar in Denver put on by the Bright Brothers (hey guys, you said I'd get a subscription to Tech Analysis of Stocks & Commodities, hasn't arrived). There, I discovered this website.

With my $1200, and a loan of $1000 from my IRA, I opened an account with IB. Here are my kudos and gripes.

KUDO: Can have direct access with a $2000 account. Buy on the Bid sell on the Ask. With Scott Trade, I bought on the Ask and sold on the Bid.

KUDO: Per share commission. Even with the $1 minimum per trade, that's only $2 round trip instead of $25. My worst case break even was only 15 cents. Not bad if you get scared and want out.

KUDO: Quick executions.

GRIPE: If you go below $2000, you can't short. With Scott Trade, you could short when your account got below $2000, and they would send a maintenance notification. With IB, you lose 1/2 of your trading ability (ability to short) immediately. I guess I could send them a check for $15 and get that capability back.

GRIPE: You're limited to 3 day trades per 5 day period. That's not really so bad unless you got into 3 positions in the same day that reversed on you and you wanted out. Future trades are automagically declined unless you have the $25,000 minimum. SEC Rule. How can we get that changed?

Overall, I'm happy with IB unless there's something bad I don't know about IB.

Since you're starting with such a small amount, I've attached a spreadsheet that might assist you with position sizing. After my experience with Scott Trade (and I'm not saying they're bad, my style of trading was not a good match), and per ticket fees, this spreadsheet has helped to stop the bleeding. If anyone else should happen to download this spreadsheet, I'd really appreciate your opinion on it.

In summary:

Who will accept you as a day trader? IB, however you now know the limitations. Check with the Bright Brothers. If you have a good track record with your small investment, maybe they will lend you a hand.

Hope this helps.

Chris
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Quote from def:



Once again you show why you only have 2K. It must be some system. I believe I need to respond to your post because once again you question the financial integrity of the IBG.

1. If you figured out how to read a financial statement, you'd find that IB is in a better financial position than the two firms you mention. The brokerage unit and the firm have no debt and plenty of shareholder equity. And lo and behold, they actually make money.

2. High quality: if browser based applications, the sale of order flow and fixed commissions is your determination of quality, I guess they got us and all the other DA brokers beat.

3. You insinuate that other IB employees are defending the firm on these boards. I'm almost positive that is not the case and if I knew of it, I'd ask them to stop.

4. The PDT rules are criminal and any firm following them will get their due: that's a good argument that will stand up in court. The actual number of customers affected by the options rule is quite low. Unfortunately, it should have been commuicated better but there were other issues to consider.

earlier on this or another post I made the comment about the high cost of the under 2K accounts. you're doing a good job of proving this point.
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IB is in a better financial positon than e*trade ?? yeah--right !

:eek: :eek: :eek: :confused: :eek:
 
I do not care if they are financially stable or not. Once I played out the last few cents, they have not had any commission/fee revenue extracted from me, ever! They smash heads of geese which lay golden eggs for them one after another.

:p

Quote from marketsurfer:



IB is in a better financial position than e*trade ?? yeah--right !

:eek: :eek: :eek: :confused: :eek:
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saying IB is in a better financial position than e*trade is akin to saying the guy who washes my car is in a better position than me since he has no debt. GET REAL

best,

surf
 
Quote from qdz:

I do not care if they are financially stable or not. Once I played out the last few cents, they have not had any commission/fee revenue extracted from me, ever! They smash heads of geese which lay golden eggs for them one after another.

:p
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you sound remarkably like a gambler/piker with an English speech problem.:(

have you tried BINGO?
 
Quote from limitdown:



OUTSTANDING summary.....

4:1 to the average guy (little guys need not apply) can hang you 6x as much as the previous 2:1 margin. At least when it came to going short or otherwise, 2:1 prevented you from getting into the $100,000 range unless your account was around $50,000 or more. Now you can do this for $25,000. That's more dangerous, given the whipsaws and directionless trading environment.

Perhaps, the only way the SEC could cut down on the volitility was to restrict the $2,000 little guys from having a play.
More...

the whole purpose of the SEC PDT rule is to get rid of undercapitalized pain in the ass pikers like this qdz guy that hog and clog bandwidth with their 50 share BS orders.

they're gonna lose their piggy bank anyway trying to compete, so get them the hell out! must protect them from their own stupidity. HA!:mad:
 
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