Direct Access Trading...Anyone?

[rgrbic]

Morning, All.

Anybody out there using a form of direct access trading...versus discount online brokerages (i.e. ETrade, Scottrade, etc.)?

Just curious as to your thoughts and what you might be using.

Thanks,
Bob

[clavocat]

Originally Posted by rgrbic

Morning, All.

Anybody out there using a form of direct access trading...versus discount online brokerages (i.e. ETrade, Scottrade, etc.)?

Just curious as to your thoughts and what you might be using.

Thanks,
Bob

im goin to tradestation from scottrade...its the best of breed by FAR, pm if u want all the reasons. i was at an expo and seen almost everyone of them.

[BigDawg291]

I wouldn't mind knowing clavocat.

[optimus25]

I'd like your insights too.

[clavocat]

well since i got so many inquiries here is my thoughts on TS...

Tradestation which i call TS is a direct access broker, this means u can make trades super fast, scottrade what happens is in a sense you send them an email and they call the floor and they place the trade, TS will just do it= this means MUCH faster execution and easy to get in and get out, this also means you can pick ur ECN you go through.

Next, you can set up a strategy (my favorite part) which is called program trading, so you say ok i like the MACD when the fast line crosses the slow line, well you set up a program where you trade ANY stocks and as many as you want based on when the MACD lines cross, then you can throw in bollinger bands, a stop loss and a trailing stop, or you can sell based on time like this...buy EBAY when the MACD lines cross, but only under the bollinger oversold line, sell when it hits my profit target of .20 and place a stop loss of .05, but if it is flat for 30 minutes- sell it. and it will do this to as many stocks as you want ALLLL day long, so you can trade 5 stocks at once based on one or more of your parameters...this is sweet cuz you can go watch TV and its trading based on what you tell it to buy/sell on, its more disciplined than you so it WILL sell and WILL buy on you rules.
To make this better you can test your strategy for EBAY over the last say 5 years and see what your returns would have been, best trade, worst trade and then edit the system to see how to better your returns. THIS IS AMAZING imo, you test find something that will make you 50% in a year and set it up every morning and let it trade. simply amazing

Trades are .01 a share, minimum of 1 dollar, 1000 shares are like 8 bux, option contracts are 1 dollar, forex is free, Charting is superb, unlike scottrade you can see option profit loss curves, implied volatility, the greeks (delta and all the other that i know nothing about lol) you can see your projected return on the options, you can set up advanced option strategies. umm ECN fees are included, you can modify your order free unlike Interactive brokers, 4:1 margin, good scans from what ive heard, you can change your order right on the platform unlike scottrade in matters of seconds, you can have a profit target and stop loss, and change the spread SUPER easy, they have advanced orders, order cancels order, order triggers other...thats about all i can think of now lol, but its amazing, heres the catches...

you have to pay 100 dollars a month UNLESS you trade 5000 shares a month or 10 option contract trades.
how to beat it? at the end if youve only traded 3k shares, buy 1k shares of msft, sell it for .01 loss and theres 2k shares and it only cost you like 30 bux with the loss, or just make a gain and you might profit.

you need to be 21, im 19 but ill put the account in my dads name.

there is fees for level 1, level 2, amex fees, NYSE fees and nasdaq fees i believe...i figured out it would total 20 bux a month for the necessities including level 2, thats the cost of 3 trades on scottrade which youll be saving with TS

You can stream your broker through TS but you have to pay 100 bux a month cuz you wont trade the 5000 shares with them...i think thats about it, let me know if u have more ?'s

[clavocat]

A little bit of advice for ALL of you, go to tradersexpo.com and go to one of the expos, they have em in NYC in feb which i went to, San diego in June and Las vegas in November...this is incredible worth the 1000 dollar i spent 10x over, you can talk to almost every big broker, all the platforms and trading tools u can imagine, prolly like 100 were there...you can take like 20-30 seminars in the 4 days and all but Steve Nisons was a great learning experience, i personally dont like Nison - for you that dont know him, he brought candlesticks over from Japan...but theres alot of hot shots there that do give good insights rather than just try to sell you stuff, I rate it 10/10, i watched Tradestation in action for an hour and half, seen a market maker trade, learned market maker strategies for using level 2, psychology, TA, toni turner about ETFs, a scottrade seminar and i learned how they have nothing but "This that and the other thing WILL be coming out around summer"- really behind in Tech...plus drinks compliments of charles schwab and its cybertrader division every night, and all the people you meet that you can get insights about...so figured id just throw this out there for you guys that are serious about trading, i dont know if anyone has heard about this on here, but its the "real deal" imo...seminars above seminars.

[Luc1Grunt]

Ahhhhh, here we are. So how has the programming progressed? Have you automated? What type of strategy/timeframe?

[peppy]

I prefer Scottrade the most, they have been the easiest to use in my experience over the rest that i've tried such as ameritrade and TD water house.