These are just general observations after reading all of the posts here, and staying up way too late in the process. I have spent most of the last 10 years daytrading S&P futures on a full time basis, as a broker, money manager and individual trader. There was a time when I thought this was truely the best way to make money in any market. I went to see Harvey give a talk in Dallas and became fascinated with the concept of electronic execution. The appeal was that the prices on the screen were the real market- a totally foreign concept these days in the s&p pit. Anyway, I'm now a stock trader and no longer a futures trader.
Harvey is a master promoter, and his goal is to have you come into his trading room, open a $50k account, and trade 50 to 100 tickets a day at $25 a pop. The money he makes on his training is chickenfeed compared to what he makes on commissions. This is not to say that you can't make money there if you know what you are doing. Same thing for Block and any other soes room.
I'm currently using Killkey/Castle securities, and it really works. Pretty amazing, although there have been days where the connection has been quite unstable. The phone is always there if needed. I run Metastock RT with Signal real time datafeed and chart about 20 stocks or so intraday. Basic technical analysis works on intraday (mostly 5 minute) barcharts, far better than it ever did on futures, I am finding. At 19.95 per side, the rate is substantially cheaper than Harvey's, and I can do it from home with no remote access fees.
As a chart trader (not a scalper) I do not trade for an eighth nor do I generate 50 tickets a day. I'm even wondering if level 2 quotes are necessary for my style of trading. Just knowing the bid and ask and having instant execution capability is a great tool. This opens the possibility of using Datek, at only $10 per side- this is incredibly cheap. Transaction costs are a very important factor for short term frequent traders. Then again, Datek says they will have level 2 on their site in a few weeks for a fee. The question is how much?
Jeez, it's late, hope my longwindedness has not put anyone to sleep.
more later
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