Hi traders, I’m an ex-local who left trading a few years ago. Into STIRS, futures spreads, butterflys blah blah. I see the market has finally come back to something interesting, and am considering a return. Anyone got any recommendations for how to set up retail brokerage accounts? Do they bundle in any necessary software? When I left I was with a big clearing firm. The commissions were reasonable, but the costs were getting out of control. Stellar, CQG, mkt data fees, regulation fees. Fee administration fees (not a joke). I was doing a reasonable amount of systematic trading, so something with an API would be good. If anyone would like to put up some commission numbers for doing say, 50k lots a month that would be most helpful. Would be interested to hear what is considered to be a good prop trading floor in London at the moment? Know things have probably changed a lot over the years. Any info, very much appreciated.
Hi ZBZB, I actually thought CGQ was a great product, albeit pricey when you go for the full trading / charting bundle. Just had a few issues with the autotrader that could not be resolved. I cleared Marex, who I found to be quite good, and open with their pricing. But now looking for a broker who can bundle some bits up. Thinking IB may be the largest, and probably then cheapest for what I need. Perhaps Advantage Futures may be worth a look also. Are you in a prop house yourself?
I have an account at IB and an options membership from CBOT so I do not have to pay the exchange fee. I am in London and work from home, had a coworking office space before covid. do you want office space? If you do not like the IB software then use www.medvedtrader.com as a front end for $25 a month.
Hi, I'm in a similar position to you, was a prop trader for about 15 years but packed it in a couple of years ago but keen to return. I have explored the retail route before and theres some good and bad. Firstly the good, you can get all the software you usually would before, either via an upfront cost monthly or an additional fee on your commissions. If just trading outrights theres loads of cheap decent software but if you want autospreaders etc it means TT or CQG which retail brokers do support. The big issue ive found though is most retail brokers think a calendar spread is some exotic instrument thats impossible to manage (even though its far safer in most cases). I had a terrible experience with AMP where I had some back month oil spreads on and 5 minutes before the close the outright legs of a spread emptied out and got a pretty horrible Pnl print, but the exchange traded cal hadn't moved and I could have got out for a scratch but AMP brokerage saw the pnl print from the outright and closed me out for tens of thousands loss on a 5 lot position! They automatically paid across a bid/ask spread of hundreds of ticks. I nearly had a heart-attack but to their credit reimbursed me. Since then they don't give you SPAN margin on spreads, just seem to want people punting ES micros. I closed my account with them and haven't traded since. I'm on the hunt for a decent retail broker that understands what calendar spreads are. Data fees are a b*tch and still out of control however CME is very good and will give you a bundle which includes most US futures. ICE and LIFFE are a joke fees wise. Eurex ok and offer the best commission structure. If youre doing 50k a month spins you will get decent rates but won't be prop level. For what its worth, this is what I would do, if you can find a decent retail broker that understands calendar spreads and can do decent volume (over 5k a month which is a lot for retail) it would be good to dip your toe in and then if you find you can show you still have an edge i'd put money down at a prop firm like Tower, Marex or Axia which all have their pros and cons but happy to discuss more. We're both in London and looking to do similar things so feel free to direct message me. Tom
Bone is a sponsor focusing on futures spreads: https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/spreadprofessor-futures-spreads.317119/page-44#post-5651085 Due to margin issues with many brokers he advises only to use certain brokers that calculate the risk appropiatly. Couldn't find the thread though but you could ask him directly ...