Broker discussion?

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beejaysea
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Broker discussion?

Postby beejaysea » 24 Nov 2016

I'm currently using MC with IB for futures trading only. I've been considering moving some or all of my account to AMP Futures, which looks to have comparable (and in some cases better) pricing. I'm curious to know if there are people that have done a recent migration from IB to AMP (or I guess the other way around), and for any potential gotchas, insight, etc. I have tried searching a number of places to find this information, and most of what I've found is fairly old.

My main complaints about IB are the frequent disconnects of IB Gateway (nightly at 8:30pm Pacific), and sometimes it seems that the order queue gets out of sync with MC. I am 100% automated.

I'm also considering just having the other account for running different strategies and/or as a backup.

Any perspectives or experiences would be appreciated.

Thanks...

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TJ
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Re: Broker discussion?

Postby TJ » 24 Nov 2016

I'm currently using MC with IB for futures trading only. I've been considering moving some or all of my account to AMP Futures, which looks to have comparable (and in some cases better) pricing. I'm curious to know if there are people that have done a recent migration from IB to AMP (or I guess the other way around), and for any potential gotchas, insight, etc. I have tried searching a number of places to find this information, and most of what I've found is fairly old.

My main complaints about IB are the frequent disconnects of IB Gateway (nightly at 8:30pm Pacific), and sometimes it seems that the order queue gets out of sync with MC. I am 100% automated.

I'm also considering just having the other account for running different strategies and/or as a backup.

Any perspectives or experiences would be appreciated.

Thanks...

IB reboots its server every night. The disruption is supposed to be very brief. MC should remain connected with no problem. Some people do find that on occasion MC is not able re-connect.


MC should consider a user managed time-out.

beejaysea
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Re: Broker discussion?

Postby beejaysea » 24 Nov 2016

@TJ, thanks. Yeah, I have been using this configuration for a couple of years now. I know that nothing can be done with the reboot issue, but I am at a point where I am hoping to find a better configuration/combination of tools and providers, so thought I would seek out others that have experience with both of these brokers.

It is also entirely possible that I have the best possible solution at this point, but I am hoping that's not the case. ;)

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arnie
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Re: Broker discussion?

Postby arnie » 25 Nov 2016

It all depends of your needs.
I did move away from IB almost 2 years now.
Never had problems with the brokerage side of the business but their data feed was and still is the worse thing in the market.
I was tired having to pay for a 3rd party data feed (IQFeed) when other brokers were basically offering it for "free" (you still need to pay the exchange fees), unfiltered, tick based data.

Regarding commissions, yes, all introducing brokers are able to offer the same commission you have in IB or, depending the volume you trade, they can easily go lower than IB.

Personally I opened an account with Stage5 brokerage (futures only).
Initially I had my account in Stage5 with GainCapital (FCM) but lately they are having way too much problems with their feed (chart feed, not the execution feed) which made me switch to AMP (FCM), using CQG for data feed.
CQG is really an awesome feed.

Nothing like you test it for yourself.
AMP offer demo accounts for both MC versions, .NET and PLE, for 15 days.
Their demo account feed is real, so you'll be using real time data.

There are many introducing brokers you can choose from.
All of them are basically working with the same FCM's, so is just a question of personal preference.
In the end, you'll only know if the broker you chose was a good choice the day you lose connection and need to call them on the phone to close your positions.
Till then, everyboby offers a 5 star service :wink:

beejaysea
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Re: Broker discussion?

Postby beejaysea » 25 Nov 2016

@arnie, thanks much for the info. This is the kind of thing I'm looking for. You make a good point about the feed. Frankly, I've been avoiding tick-based strategies because I know that IB collapses ticks into some number of ms. (Or something like this). It hasn't really been a huge issue for me but I like the idea of having the option.

I did try the demo some time ago but that wasn't really enough for me to be convinced of live behavior.

Your experience with these two is definitely a vote of confidence.

Thanks again for sharing.

tony
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Re: Broker discussion?

Postby tony » 25 Nov 2016

There's a good thread on this topic, search for it and you should find it. I use High Ridge. But honestly in my view, it's less about the broker and more about who they offer for market access (I love Rithmic) and who they clear through (ADMIS for High Ridge). I'd focus less on who has the lower margin requirements and even commissions. My two cents.

beejaysea
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Re: Broker discussion?

Postby beejaysea » 26 Nov 2016

@tony, I did try to search for some discussions, and found a few but they seemed pretty old. Things change, and I thought I'd get some more current info. :)

Sounds like I should consider looking at IB vs CQG vs Rithmic... I'm personally not worried about lower margin requirements.


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