Useful things I've found on the Net.

lolzz... Thats nice that you are earning profit from your business.:clap: I meant to ask what are you working in which field?

cheers

Hi Jolie,

I trade on my own account, part-time from home. If you click on my name it will take you to my profile. Hope you are profitable as well.
 
Hi Jolie,

I trade on my own account, part-time from home. If you click on my name it will take you to my profile. Hope you are profitable as well.

Hi tenapenny,
Nice to know that you earn your own.. So what sort of techniques you are involved in running a business online?(y)
 
Hi tenapenny,
Nice to know that you earn your own.. So what sort of techniques you are involved in running a business online?(y)

At the moment I'm day trading forex, indices, gold and oil using moving average strategies. Are you trading at the moment?
 
Why Trade with Interactive Brokers.

Someone over at elite went on a whinge about ib sometimes having higher commissions that his favourite newbie broker. People tried to explain the difference but he didn't seem to get it. This post by mustardketchup seemed to explain why one might want a real broker better than most:


Let me address add/rem liq rebates and fees, DMA (direct market access) trading, via "smart" route trading, via various brokers/dealers.

Look at this way, the market is basically us + little black boxes which is program by people. MM (market makers), traders, speculators, institutions, retail, etc.. with ONLY ONE GOAL to WIN.

Markets need liquidity to function. If it doesnt have any liquidity, there is no market, it will come to a halt.

ECNs are electronic markets and would need the liquidity to function. The more liquidity the better.

Ask yourself this if you build a market (physical or electronic), and you are the only guy in the room, how are you going to make any money? It doesnt matter whether if you have lots of money or lots of goods, you are the ONLY one in there, you cant make money. Agree?

So how would you attract others into the room so you can make some money?

ANS: By adding liquidity and by paying them for it

Now that good as I have lots of people in the room with me to transact, cos' when other market participants have the goods(positions) you or someone wants, they have to finds the place to make that transaction correct?

So when they come and transact, you will charge them a fee for that transaction to happen (don't be confuse of this fee as a commission) it is NOT. How would that transaction happen?

ANS: When some is willing to buy (bid) for it at a certain price

When that happens an order is executed aka Called order matching.

So that is basically the add/rem liquidity function of each marketplace.

Thus more marketplaces eg. NYSE, ARCA, ISLD, EDGX, etc.., more competition thus bringing rebates higher and fees lower for add/rem liq to market participants.

I hope this clears your understanding of the add/rem reason behind all marketplaces.

So how is this add/rem liq benefit the broker you are using?

Couple of ways, 1st charge you a commission, which they feel is fair and able to profit from.

Then broker now must do is go out to find a marketplace to place and execute the order for you, in turn becoming a market participant on behalf of the client.

Now this is the tricky and exciting part. This is called ORDER FLOW.

Which marketplace? You might say the one w/ the highest rebate and lowest fee for add/rem liq, correct? This is NOT ENTIRELY TRUE!!

Let me explain, beside all the rules and regulations that brokers have to abide by, they have the free choice to do business with anyone,

So as any broker business would do, who would you bring your business to? The one that is willing to pay me the most money to do business with, correct?

So this is where PAYMENT ORDER FLOW comes to play. in order to attract business to your little marketplace, you pay whoever is providing liquidity.

The little marketplace needs liquidity to function, broker needs a marketplace to place and execute orders, volia (remember liquidity is king, no matter which way you slice and dice it. long or short).

So you must be asking yourself, why then am I getting a rebate or fee charge for add/rem liquidity?

Take a step back, and try to understand the picture first. Draw it up if it helps.

Ready, so when a broker charges you a single trade ticket commission eg. 9.95, 5, etc. per trade ticket of X amount of shares or contracts, the broker is actually being paid to route your order to the highest bidder for that liquidity or any contracts signed between marketplaces, market makers, and brokers. This is already has been factored into their fair commission cost they are charging you with the single trade ticket.

Remember there's no free lunch.

So now you asking, what abt the add/rem liq rebate and fees pass to me as the market participant.

So why is there is 2 types of per share tickets on various brokers and such, eg. IB (interactive brokers), etc..

ANS: "Smart" routing and "Smart" routing w/ rebates and fees

So the smart routing is basically taking your order to the highest and lowest bidder for that liquidity agreed upon between them and then onto various NBBO (national best bid offer). This is basically also known as NON-DIRECTED orders.

I hope the picture is getting clearer.

Non directed orders are public information and broker/dealers have to disclose that thanks to our friends at the SEC. Called SEC 606. Also brokers are abide by law upon request to show order routes for all orders place prior to 6mths.

So what abt the "smart" orders for add/rem liq, that where it become tricky. Cos' the brokers/dealers are also getting payment order flow via that smart route, while you are also getting rebates and fees charge for liquidity.

However, if you choose your own exchanges to route your order, DMA. you will be charge a higher commission fee EVEN though you might route to an exchange where the broker/dealer will receive a payment order flow from that exchange.

Thus the reason for the difference in price between lower "smart" route order w/ rebate/fees and higher DMA orders w/ rebate/fees

I hope you understand this point clearly.

Cos' think about it, broker has to protect his own piggy bank, eg. what if you route once to where he is friends with (payment order flow), but then route another order to his enemies (no or LESSER payment order flow)?

The key word here is LESSER, cos' there could always be possibility broker still receives payment order flow or have other benefits or affiliations no matter order flow is directed or not.

ee. Goldman Sachs and such which has affiliations throughout the major ECNs and marketplaces, so either way your route your order direct or via sigma x, smart, etc...they win.

So what is the advantage of direct orders to a specific exchange, beside rebates and fees charged, if all else is equal such as speed as such?

IMO it to find opportunities and disparities in terms of better bid/ask and take them before anyone else!

So with all this understanding of liquidity and marketplaces, I hope you can understand why dark pools work so well. IMO there is nothing wrong with them in terms of functionality, except they are dark, meaning no physical person that I know of can see the liquidity, if someone is able to see it, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. Cos' I want to see it too. The only way to see the liquidity is the routers and algo that run by computers designed by people, to match orders and add/rem liquidity in the dark pool.

I dont really want to go into dark pools for much now as it will open another can of worms, and debates. But basically, dark pools are private and can only be access via several platforms such as Rediplus via Sigma X, etc. And I will leave it as that for now.

So understand this, smart routes via any broker doesn't mean it is routed to the public exchanges, it could, but it also could be routed to various market makers, such as ATD owned by CITI, NITE, Citadel, TMBR owned by IB, SLK owned by Goldman, etc... before going to the exchanges

So which is better per share, per share w/ add/rem liq or single ticket order?

There is no straight answer for that. But I will say this, IMO per share orders I feel gives me a sense that my orders are sent via their respective routes then to the exchange, thus giving me faster fills as they are more market participants along the way, I cant quantify this with a stopwatch but thats how I feel about it. Can I get a better price from my limit order via this way, maybe maybe not, usually removing liq will give you a better fill, but by adding liquidity you usually don't, I have yet to see better fills by adding liquidity because you are already the best offer out there, think about for a while.

However, depending on the broker and which smart routes, this in turn COULD produce 2 things, orders are seen first via that "smart" route, which could also be market makers, then to their respective exchanges, thus allowing market participants to make decisions ahead of what is going to be posted at the respective exchange, somewhat of a flash order (another can of worms). But I do believe SEC has already propose the ban on flash orders but I am not sure if it into law yet.

The other thing is that the market participants at the exchange can also jump in take your order, aka known an internalize matching of orders somewhat of a working of a dark pool, except the MM books at some exchanges are public.

Either way I look it, if I have made the decision to place or execute the order via the smart route, my only concern now, is to work the order (what I should do next) and make sure that I can got the price I am willing to execute at or better at that given moment in time.

Whereas, if I go a single trade ticket route, eg. the Ameritrades of the world, my order will try 1st to execute internally then to the exchanges.

For this one major reason, I pay the privilege (premium) on per share tickets rather than single trade tickets.

Another reason is the scale in out of orders, another reason is to take offers and hit bid on various exchanges faster, another reason is the add/rem liq rebates and fees, the list goes...

sure everyone wants to save on commissions, even myself, but it shouldnt dictate how one should trade. Order routing, execution, speed, is more impt, slippage is a no no, but it does happen, the less the better.

Commission to me is part of doing business (trading), how much I willing to pay is what I feel is fair for what I am getting eg. routes, products, customer service, reputation, platforms, etc...

Note you also check your clearing and settlement reports from your clearing firm of where your trades were executed.

So which way to go, you decide and what you feel is fair and comfortable to you.

I hope I have help in some way.

If you have any other questions, let me know. I am still learning and growing everyday.

Happy trading :)
 
Cool. Of course buying a cheap watch is not for a gentleman. Buying socks made on a soulless machine is for the common folk. One must pay to feel exclusive and above :devilish:

Mary Xmas anyway ! :)
 
Last edited:
Re: Why Trade with Interactive Brokers.

Someone over at elite went on a whinge about ib sometimes having higher commissions that his favourite newbie broker. People tried to explain the difference but he didn't seem to get it. This post by mustardketchup seemed to explain why one might want a real broker better than most:


Let me address add/rem liq rebates and fees, DMA (direct market access) trading, via "smart" route trading, via various brokers/dealers.

Look at this way, the market is basically us + little black boxes which is program by people. MM (market makers), traders, speculators, institutions, retail, etc.. with ONLY ONE GOAL to WIN.

Markets need liquidity to function. If it doesnt have any liquidity, there is no market, it will come to a halt.

ECNs are electronic markets and would need the liquidity to function. The more liquidity the better.

Ask yourself this if you build a market (physical or electronic), and you are the only guy in the room, how are you going to make any money? It doesnt matter whether if you have lots of money or lots of goods, you are the ONLY one in there, you cant make money. Agree?

So how would you attract others into the room so you can make some money?

ANS: By adding liquidity and by paying them for it

Now that good as I have lots of people in the room with me to transact, cos' when other market participants have the goods(positions) you or someone wants, they have to finds the place to make that transaction correct?

So when they come and transact, you will charge them a fee for that transaction to happen (don't be confuse of this fee as a commission) it is NOT. How would that transaction happen?

ANS: When some is willing to buy (bid) for it at a certain price

When that happens an order is executed aka Called order matching.

So that is basically the add/rem liquidity function of each marketplace.

Thus more marketplaces eg. NYSE, ARCA, ISLD, EDGX, etc.., more competition thus bringing rebates higher and fees lower for add/rem liq to market participants.

I hope this clears your understanding of the add/rem reason behind all marketplaces.

So how is this add/rem liq benefit the broker you are using?

Couple of ways, 1st charge you a commission, which they feel is fair and able to profit from.

Then broker now must do is go out to find a marketplace to place and execute the order for you, in turn becoming a market participant on behalf of the client.

Now this is the tricky and exciting part. This is called ORDER FLOW.

Which marketplace? You might say the one w/ the highest rebate and lowest fee for add/rem liq, correct? This is NOT ENTIRELY TRUE!!

Let me explain, beside all the rules and regulations that brokers have to abide by, they have the free choice to do business with anyone,

So as any broker business would do, who would you bring your business to? The one that is willing to pay me the most money to do business with, correct?

So this is where PAYMENT ORDER FLOW comes to play. in order to attract business to your little marketplace, you pay whoever is providing liquidity.

The little marketplace needs liquidity to function, broker needs a marketplace to place and execute orders, volia (remember liquidity is king, no matter which way you slice and dice it. long or short).

So you must be asking yourself, why then am I getting a rebate or fee charge for add/rem liquidity?

Take a step back, and try to understand the picture first. Draw it up if it helps.

Ready, so when a broker charges you a single trade ticket commission eg. 9.95, 5, etc. per trade ticket of X amount of shares or contracts, the broker is actually being paid to route your order to the highest bidder for that liquidity or any contracts signed between marketplaces, market makers, and brokers. This is already has been factored into their fair commission cost they are charging you with the single trade ticket.

Remember there's no free lunch.

So now you asking, what abt the add/rem liq rebate and fees pass to me as the market participant.

So why is there is 2 types of per share tickets on various brokers and such, eg. IB (interactive brokers), etc..

ANS: "Smart" routing and "Smart" routing w/ rebates and fees

So the smart routing is basically taking your order to the highest and lowest bidder for that liquidity agreed upon between them and then onto various NBBO (national best bid offer). This is basically also known as NON-DIRECTED orders.

I hope the picture is getting clearer.

Non directed orders are public information and broker/dealers have to disclose that thanks to our friends at the SEC. Called SEC 606. Also brokers are abide by law upon request to show order routes for all orders place prior to 6mths.

So what abt the "smart" orders for add/rem liq, that where it become tricky. Cos' the brokers/dealers are also getting payment order flow via that smart route, while you are also getting rebates and fees charge for liquidity.

However, if you choose your own exchanges to route your order, DMA. you will be charge a higher commission fee EVEN though you might route to an exchange where the broker/dealer will receive a payment order flow from that exchange.

Thus the reason for the difference in price between lower "smart" route order w/ rebate/fees and higher DMA orders w/ rebate/fees

I hope you understand this point clearly.

Cos' think about it, broker has to protect his own piggy bank, eg. what if you route once to where he is friends with (payment order flow), but then route another order to his enemies (no or LESSER payment order flow)?

The key word here is LESSER, cos' there could always be possibility broker still receives payment order flow or have other benefits or affiliations no matter order flow is directed or not.

ee. Goldman Sachs and such which has affiliations throughout the major ECNs and marketplaces, so either way your route your order direct or via sigma x, smart, etc...they win.

So what is the advantage of direct orders to a specific exchange, beside rebates and fees charged, if all else is equal such as speed as such?

IMO it to find opportunities and disparities in terms of better bid/ask and take them before anyone else!

So with all this understanding of liquidity and marketplaces, I hope you can understand why dark pools work so well. IMO there is nothing wrong with them in terms of functionality, except they are dark, meaning no physical person that I know of can see the liquidity, if someone is able to see it, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. Cos' I want to see it too. The only way to see the liquidity is the routers and algo that run by computers designed by people, to match orders and add/rem liquidity in the dark pool.

I dont really want to go into dark pools for much now as it will open another can of worms, and debates. But basically, dark pools are private and can only be access via several platforms such as Rediplus via Sigma X, etc. And I will leave it as that for now.

So understand this, smart routes via any broker doesn't mean it is routed to the public exchanges, it could, but it also could be routed to various market makers, such as ATD owned by CITI, NITE, Citadel, TMBR owned by IB, SLK owned by Goldman, etc... before going to the exchanges

So which is better per share, per share w/ add/rem liq or single ticket order?

There is no straight answer for that. But I will say this, IMO per share orders I feel gives me a sense that my orders are sent via their respective routes then to the exchange, thus giving me faster fills as they are more market participants along the way, I cant quantify this with a stopwatch but thats how I feel about it. Can I get a better price from my limit order via this way, maybe maybe not, usually removing liq will give you a better fill, but by adding liquidity you usually don't, I have yet to see better fills by adding liquidity because you are already the best offer out there, think about for a while.

However, depending on the broker and which smart routes, this in turn COULD produce 2 things, orders are seen first via that "smart" route, which could also be market makers, then to their respective exchanges, thus allowing market participants to make decisions ahead of what is going to be posted at the respective exchange, somewhat of a flash order (another can of worms). But I do believe SEC has already propose the ban on flash orders but I am not sure if it into law yet.

The other thing is that the market participants at the exchange can also jump in take your order, aka known an internalize matching of orders somewhat of a working of a dark pool, except the MM books at some exchanges are public.

Either way I look it, if I have made the decision to place or execute the order via the smart route, my only concern now, is to work the order (what I should do next) and make sure that I can got the price I am willing to execute at or better at that given moment in time.

Whereas, if I go a single trade ticket route, eg. the Ameritrades of the world, my order will try 1st to execute internally then to the exchanges.

For this one major reason, I pay the privilege (premium) on per share tickets rather than single trade tickets.

Another reason is the scale in out of orders, another reason is to take offers and hit bid on various exchanges faster, another reason is the add/rem liq rebates and fees, the list goes...

sure everyone wants to save on commissions, even myself, but it shouldnt dictate how one should trade. Order routing, execution, speed, is more impt, slippage is a no no, but it does happen, the less the better.

Commission to me is part of doing business (trading), how much I willing to pay is what I feel is fair for what I am getting eg. routes, products, customer service, reputation, platforms, etc...

Note you also check your clearing and settlement reports from your clearing firm of where your trades were executed.

So which way to go, you decide and what you feel is fair and comfortable to you.

I hope I have help in some way.

If you have any other questions, let me know. I am still learning and growing everyday.

Happy trading :)

Hi Nine, I think you have done a good job explaining the process here, I would like to add few things here, as most traders would know the brokers as Market Makers or ECN Brokers , your post here relates to ECN brokers who charge commission per trade that one places , the way they get paid is to charge you fair commission for routing your order and also get paid for providing volume (liquidity) from the buyers/sellers of your order, so lets say you are trading with ECN broker who routs your trades as explained ORIGINALY BY NINE, the ECN broker earns lot more then your commission he charges you, Now the only way for the trader to get some of this commission and the volume fees from the ECN broker is by way of opening Account trough one of the ECN brokers "INTRUDUCING BROKER" who is willing to pay back some of this commission and volume fees to the trader who opened the account trough the" INTRUDUCING BROKER" I trade with dukascopy.com who is ECN broker based in Switzerland and is very established and has segregated accounts available on request , your money is safe and when you make withdrawal it is fast direct to your bank, and they have number of introducing brokers who are paying up to 35% of all the commissions back to the traders. the one I use is grandforex.net and they are experienced traders who can also assist you in your trading , and you get the 35% commission back wether you trades are negative or positive , it adds to your bottom line and by the way they also added Metarader4 platform if you use any EA now you use it with this ECN broker, :cool:
 
God I hate spammers. They add no value and just noise things up. They make their money from screwing potential traders - not from trading - so how much should you trust them?

Don't feed the parasites!
 
Hi Guys

I found this really useful site http://www.free4xlesson.com/

They provide free live webinars where they take live trades.
They also provide other free material that can really give your trading a 360 degrees turn if you have not been successful.
Every time I attend the webinar I learn something new
Definitely worth checking out.

Shawn
 
Top