Automated Trading Brokers

I was curious what brokers people are using for automated trading? There are a lot of options out there but some become extremely expensive whereas Interactive Brokers is in-expensive but also has some serious connectivity issues at times.

I've tried most.. IB is by far the worst for auto-trading. Any broker that supports Rithmic seems to be the most stable.

Thanks -

Been using Lmax since last July and am really happy with them. Fast order execution and good fills.

Is LMAX still not excepting US clients? I really wanted a FX account with those guys..

Tony,

Also check out my post about brokers if you haven't already. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=45346&hilit=broker+decision

Thanks for the feedback gentlemen. I'll check out your info as well MATricks. Curious what you guys pay for the API if any charges? Looks like my client wants to use TT and their API is pricey but they need to clear through a few select firms and TT allows them to connect to them.

With Rithmic, there's no cost for data nor the API.

Is LMAX still not excepting US clients? I really wanted a FX account with those guys..

Tony,

Also check out my post about brokers if you haven't already. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=45346&hilit=broker+decision

Just read this in detail. What a generous post you put together. Very insightful. I'm baffled about IB as well. Thank you -

MATricks, one more question for you if I may. I originally liked IB because I use OCO orders and like how they are native with them. But IB appears to be the only broker that this is the case. Do you use OCO orders? If so, in fast moving markets has this impacted performance based on latency of getting the order to the exchange in time? Thank You -

My server is very budget friendly and I'm working with a 1-2ms round trip from the exchange and back. I've never had an issue... if you're trading manually, you'll never be fast enough for the OCO option to affect you.

Through all of my trials, I've always wondered why there wasn't a connection to a broker/data feed that was relatively bug-free. I found it with Rithmic.. IB was the scariest autotrading experience I've ever had. Its doable, but if everyone understood the ease of other options.... For me, THIS has an incredibly higher value than any order routing abilities.

I'm bored with a Rithmic based broker.. and that's a good thing.

As a sidenote:

MATricks, one more question for you if I may. I originally liked IB because I use OCO orders and like how they are native with them. But IB appears to be the only broker that this is the case. Do you use OCO orders? If so, in fast moving markets has this impacted performance based on latency of getting the order to the exchange in time? Thank You -

Zaner and Webank also offer native OCO support (see this page). The wiki page Order Types might also be relevant for discussing native order types.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. My final issue with IB before calling it a day (and fortunately was in simulated mode) is I had MC send an order to buy, IB rejected the order. MC sent the order again when conditionals were met. This time IB filled the order. After I went flat, IB then "found" the prior order it had "rejected because it could not be found" and filled me, now I was long when I should have been flat. I've also had instances where my original OCO order never filled and IB never wrote back to MC. The list can go on. And I agree with MAtricks, stay far away from IB.