BLACKLIST of Brokers

[lbj 10]

Which brokers to avoid and why?

[EsotericRule 10]

TOS, at least for futures. Their ES data is skewed, often shows incorrect closes, and long data gaps where none should be.

 

As is par for the course, being bought out by a Canadian Bank is the deathknell of any decent platform.

[lbj 10]

What do people think of any of these:

 

FXCM

IB

MBT

Dukascopy

dbFX

Gain

Forex.com

Oanda

AmeriTrade

DeltaStock

 

...???

[Tams 20]

TOS, at least for futures. Their ES data is skewed, often shows incorrect closes, and long data gaps where none should be.

 

....

 

LOL... TOS is primarily an options broker.

A few years back they added futures to their offering because many clients need to use futures contract to hedge their positions. It was never intended as a futures daytrading broker.

 

You don't use a Forex broker for stocks the same way you don't use an options broker for ES scalping...

but I won't call it a black list.

[lbj 10]

I've heard some complaints about Saxo Bank recently? Anyone care to comment?

 

PS. Nothing to do with their Tour de France though

[cw30000 10]

anyone care to comment on crossland lcc, a clearing firm? I tried google, but cannot find much information.

[HI_THERE 10]

TOS, at least for futures. Their ES data is skewed, often shows incorrect closes, and long data gaps where none should be.

 

As is par for the course, being bought out by a Canadian Bank is the deathknell of any decent platform.

 

I have to agree. TOS is good for options, but terrible for futures and stocks. Especially so these days. They used to be an outstanding platform but since they were acquired by TDAmeritrade, their customer service, platform stability and technology has declined steeply.....almost off the cliff.

 

If you trade for a living, and need a stable platform, avoid TOS. I use it, but only for certain indicators which I can't find coded in EasyLanguage...and it is not my primary trading rig.

[Ericthetrader 10]

I'm using LucrorFx.. So far so good. They are young company but very supportive.

[Mysticforex 13]

I have only used Forex Brokers, so here's my 2 pips.

 

Forex.com and Gain are the same broker. Ok, no complaints

 

FXCM Ok, no complaints.

 

Oanda Great, I love them.... Best of the "Bucket Shops".

 

Dukascopy Ok, no complaints. Not very impressed either considering They have commission, and Oanda has better spreads.

[TheDude 10]

Traded with Ameritrade about 8 yrs ago. Fills were always worse off by a few cents because they routed orders to MM's (Knight) ECN who quoted off the best bid/ask of the exchange. Legal and within SFA regs. Sometimes they'd rebate the difference if I pushed on asking why they didnt route to the best price execution point (which in fairness I did have the option to specify). Mostly happened on the open.

 

If you trade FX, look at SEC regs that now specify FX bucket shops have to declare the % of profitable customers. Most come out at 20%, but Oanda come out at 50%, but this is skewed because of other business lines like FX transactions for those who need to take delivery of currency for asset purchase rather than speculate.

[Ingot54 13]

What do people think of any of these:

 

FXCM

IB

MBT

Dukascopy

dbFX

Gain

Forex.com

Oanda

AmeriTrade

DeltaStock

 

...???

I am currently using Forex.com MT4 platform, and only in demo mode. My live trades are done with the Australian branch of IG Index - IG Markets.

 

But I would not recommend Forex.com for live trades given that all, and I mean ALL of my trades have:

 

* An undue pause prior to the response from their end (no, it is not my computer's latency) This pause can be up to 5 seconds sometimes.

* 8 out of 10 trades are requoted

* While watching price ticks on IG Markets streaming data, Forex.com data does not change.

 

By that I mean I have seen prices change by up to 10 pips, before Forex.com data catches up. Usually prices are tick-for-tick but on occasions when I am very close to an entry, the forex.com platform appears unresponsive. In fact if I had not been stalking the price I wanted on the live platform of IG markets, I would occasionally have missed my entry by around ten pips.

 

That to me is a warning - take your marbles and look for another game.

Don't play with Forex.com

[optiontimer 10]

...

* While watching price ticks on IG Markets streaming data, Forex.com data does not change.

 

By that I mean I have seen prices change by up to 10 pips, before Forex.com data..

 

A few years ago I noticed that Gain data was very responsive to market moves, while the data of another bucket shop broker lagged terribly, sometimes by a minute or more. I made quite a bit from that lagging broker. Their data feed was slow, but the quotes were executable. Talk about an edge - I was basically able to use Gain as a Time Machine to travel to the future to see where prices were going to be, and then use the lagging broker to travel back in time to buy or sell accordingly. This lasted for about seven trading days. What a good time that was!

 

-optiontimer

[liviu25 10]

If trading futures, you have more choice: Dorman, IB, PFG, Zaner, Mirus, AMP, Optimus if you are trading systems, etc.

If trading forex, stick to an ECN like IB which trades in the interbank market, with 16 banks. All the others - you trade against your broker and that could be a smart webpage designer, taking the other side of your trades, from his garage! Even FXCM, which is the biggest bucket shop (they trade AGAINST you), does not have a lot of volume. If you trade forex, it is probably because of volume. But you won't find much volume with a bucket shop. Only if you trade in the interbank market. Most "brokers" in forex are not interbank.

Stocks and options: also IB (Interactive Brokers). Interactive brokers incidentally has some of the lowest costs too. However, no tick data with them. Only from 1 minute up.

[Xumalice 10]

I used for a short period Oanda and FXCM and was fairly satisfied but it was not enough for me to move from UWCFX. I am not a high volume trader but am trading on a regular basis with some months better than the other ones!

 

Best of luck!

[Ingot54 13]

If trading futures, you have more choice: Dorman, IB, PFG, Zaner, Mirus, AMP, Optimus if you are trading systems, etc. Interactive brokers incidentally has some of the lowest costs too. However, no tick data with them. Only from 1 minute up.

Anyone can answer this if you are an IB client:

 

Have you found any gapping issues with IB?

 

I am just asking, because of the comment that there is no tick data with IB.

Price can move a long way in 60 seconds - limit up / down for example. If this is not shown on the chart for 60 seconds (maybe I misunderstood) then traders are not to know if their stop -loss / take-profit has been hit or not.

 

A gap may be an uncommon event in any case, but can be costly. It may not make any difference to whether I use IB or not - it's just something I need to understand a little better than I do. After all, one minute is not much when trading dailies.

 

Thanks

 

Ingot

[Tams 20]

If trading futures,

.... Interactive brokers incidentally has some of the lowest costs too. However, no tick data with them. Only from 1 minute up.

 

where did you get that information?

[starbucks 10]

Anyone here trade with MF Global for Futures Fx and Spot Fx.

Maybe you would like to share your exprerience with them here.

[VTK 10]

Anyone can answer this if you are an IB client:

If this is not shown on the chart for 60 seconds (maybe I misunderstood) then traders are not to know if their stop -loss / take-profit has been hit or not.

 

Their charts are horrible so you wouldn't use them anyway...

[steveh2009 10]

For charting with IB, you have 2 free excellent choices:

 

Ninjatrader and MultiCharts DT.

 

With MDT, you can trade directly on the chart or through their price ladder.

 

With NT, you can only chart. Trading off of the chart is not free.

 

IB real-time data is snapshot-based, not transaction-based. In simple terms, this means that you cannot use tick charts or volume charts. However, you will have no problems trading off of minute-based charts. You've got historical price retrieval capability.

 

The smallest price bar you can receive is 5 seconds and real-time data updates about every 0.2 seconds. Another way of thinking about it is that when a bid, ask or last price changes then you will see that price change. What you don't see are all of the trades which occur on an instrument.

 

IB is a one-stop shop for trading virtually any instrument in the world. Getting a real-time tick feed with good charting will set you back around $500 to $1300 a year. The ones yelling the loudest who think that paying between $2 to $5.50 a day to trade using tick or volume charts is expensive should probably ask this question:

 

Name me a small business other than trading which can generate 6 and 7 figure annual incomes and can exist on less than $10 of overhead per business day?

 

Really, you can't beat IB as a charting data provider if you use minute-based charts. If you want another good charting package which works with IB and has a fixed cost ( i.e., no monthly leasing), then Amibroker is an excellent choice.

[mslk 10]

IB is a one-stop shop for trading virtually any instrument in the world. Getting a real-time tick feed with good charting will set you back around $500 to $1300 a year.

 

which instruments have you traded with ib? i'm looking to start with equities and then futures. still deciding between ninja or multicharts. can you share more of your experiences about those? really appreciate any info you can provide - thanks.

-mslk

[TheDude 10]

Anyone here trade with MF Global for Futures Fx and Spot Fx.

Maybe you would like to share your exprerience with them here.

 

ive used mfg for futures for years. they are pretty good as youll get institutional service levels - although they may not be the cheapest - they will fight your corner for you at the exchange should something go wrong like on the wrong side of a busted trade.

 

couldnt comment on fx - but then i think 90% of fx 'brokers' are bucket shops

[khamore1 10]

Do not use AMP brokerage they are low life thieves and they have a bad customer service

 

I had an account with them for only two months they stole $1700 from me

 

If you want a good descent brokerage firm use TransAct

[astralmarket 10]

I am referring here futures brokers. I am looking for a new online broker with multiple platforms. By the way just to alert others, I used farr financial who use many names and sites to lure customers with their 99 cent commission gimmick but they are unreliable and plain morons. For example they will charge randomly for platform or for any other imaginable service without any information. They will never ever stick to any fixed rule or contract.

 

So beware of their tricks. Farr financial is based in San Jose CA and use names like go futures, ironbeam and probably more.

 

You will end up getting frustrated with them and their unethical and unruly customer service that will change their stand each time they charge you for no reason.

They will give nonsensical and stupid excuses for the charges. So beware of farr financial and other services offered by them.

[astralmarket 10]

I guess there are fewer offerings in the field of futures brokerage. Most are geared for large scale institutionals or CTAs. For individual pro traders there are fewer offerings but now luckily there are many platforms to choose from.

 

I think as long as you have a clear idea n a good plan with experience we can work on any good and fast functioning platform. I have tested many but most are not easy to operative with nimbleness.

Among all firetip was a pretty good platform so any one trading scalp minis etc. may like to try that.

It is now offered by many brokerage houses.

[starbucks 10]

ive used mfg for futures for years. they are pretty good as youll get institutional service levels - although they may not be the cheapest - they will fight your corner for you at the exchange should something go wrong like on the wrong side of a busted trade.

 

couldnt comment on fx - but then i think 90% of fx 'brokers' are bucket shops

 

Thank you for the information