ciVic, P.S. regarding AB Watley and Datek. AB Watley has been on my short list for a while, they are pretty good but no ARCA, and their performance is much less consistent - they have been really ticking people off recently (big-time) for example. This is a pattern for them, they have new management and are looking for a .com IPO, but I've always remained a little nervous. So, recommend further research there.
Datek is kind of the bad-boy of online brokers. Of course they have a zillion daytraders in-house, both trading their own money and in closely affiliated daytrading firms (they own the ISLD ECN), so there's a tremendous liquidity for anything you bid/offer there... as a result the fills are tremendous, for a web-broker. They have been fined and reprimanded recently for irregularities, but I doubt if they are really that bad; they are more likely just a juicy, well-deserving target for regulators (although, it's widely agreed among traders in-the-know that there are things that go on there we wouldn't want to know about ;). The big problem there is, they are known to "go down" a lot, locking you out. Most people that trade there recommend you keep "a second account". In otherwords, mileage varies. But, commissions are cheap. A software frontend called "Da Slinger" is widely raved about, but it is not in the same league as RealTick III...
Just some more perspective, good luck. -Steve |
