That's probably not direct access, but rather something like what they call in Canada 'rapid access' or whatever, it is no more than a sped-up version of the glorified email you send to your discount broker to make a trade ... to qualify for it here when it became legal about two years ago [and the brokers were legally able to bypass the KYC rule, 'know your client', and not have to examine each trade to see if it was 'right' for them ... lol], you had to sign a waiver saying that you were responsible for your own actions ... well duh, when was the last time you saw a broker accepting responsibility for their own actions let alone anyone else's .... it's pretty fast with TDW here, i can enter an order and see it appear on live depth or as a print by the time i can pull up the window in which to do so ... under ten seconds at times, around there ... some still need to be 'reviewed by an account representative', and i have no idea what that means but it seems to add only a few seconds ... confirmations take much longer, two to ten! minutes
But that's not direct access - direct access is when you push the button and wham you see the print then wham you get the fill confirmation just as fast as the eye can see .... your computer becomes part of the trading floor, and on top of commissions, which tend to be lower, you pay exchange fees, ECN fees if applicable, and clearing firm fees .... actually i've never done it so cannot fully describe it, but Tastes Like Chicken does and can - investorshub.com
I may have been wrong on who TD took over in Aus, but remember the story and a blip in the stock around that time, it was in the full flush of the internut mania and anything online would capture fantastic valuation ... tail end of my most recent canadian chartered bank period, circa early '98 .... cheers |
