Charting & screening

[CharlieStock]

Hi, I hope this question is in the right place, if not mods remove please.

Do most traders uses their own trading platforms (broker) for charting?

and do most brokers charge for level 1 & level 2 information?

My broker (saxobank) provides 15min delayed charts and I have to subscribe to each individual exchange for level 1 feed. Is this the norm?

I have to subscribe for screening too?

I assume these are all overheads for trading?

Thanks
Charlie

 

[Lúidín]

Hi, I hope this question is in the right place, if not mods remove please.

Do most traders uses their own trading platforms (broker) for charting?

Yes. Any decent broker account will have all the tools you need.

and do most brokers charge for level 1 & level 2 information?

It depends. Depends on what broker you use and what is their minimum deposit amount to open an account.

My broker (saxobank) provides 15min delayed charts and I have to subscribe to each individual exchange for level 1 feed. Is this the norm?

No. Any decent broker will give you live charts and market depth. The only time it becomes a problem is if you are classified as a professional, then the individual market fees will apply and it can become very costly to get access to the various markets.I think a new reduced fee of $10/mth is now available for professional classification with Interactive Brokers for access to US equities via BATS exchange f

I have to subscribe for screening too?

No. You can get this for free on some good sites

I assume these are all overheads for trading?

They should not be if you go with a decent broker such as Interactive Brokers, aka IB and their very popular TWS platform. I think their retail account min is still $10K and might be reduced for students now, but you can check on their website for all the relevant info.

Thanks
Charlie

Charlie,

See above in bold. Any questions just ask as happy to help if I can.

Lúidín

 

[drtro]

I typically wouldn't go with any retail broker with "trade" in it's name, excluding NT and CT.

 

[CharlieStock]

Charlie,

See above in bold. Any questions just ask as happy to help if I can.

Lúidín

I just recently moved to saxobank, I've only been with the a couple of months.

I've checked out IB since then & I think that will be my next move if my current broker is too costly.

Thanks agains
C

 

[Lúidín]

I just recently moved to saxobank, I've only been with the a couple of months.

I've checked out IB since then & I think that will be my next move if my current broker is too costly.

Thanks agains
C

What type of trading are you going to do?

If you are not doing daytrading then spreadbet might suit better, but for daytrading the spreads are way too wide on most US stocks, which I think are the best for daytrading.

Lúidín

 

[Lúidín]

I typically wouldn't go with any retail broker with "trade" in it's name, excluding NT and CT.

I agree that you need to be very careful with whom you give your money to.

IB are one of the best for standard brokers.

IG Markets are the safest for spreadbet accounts, and they have recently added some very good features to their trading platforms. It is a pity the spreads are so wide on US stocks, otherwise would be very viable solution for daytrading.

Prospreads are also good for spreadbetting, but I would personally not lodge too much money in the trading account, just in case they go the wall.

Lúidín

 

[Lúidín]

I forgot to mention this broker, as I tried out their demo a short while ago and it is very good.

https://exante.eu/technology/ATP/

The commissions can work out a bit dearer than IB depending on what size you trade, but if you want to trade a lot of US stocks at the same time with small size then they are well worth looking at. I think the min account open is 10K euro. Money looks safe with them also, which is the main thing.

Lúidín