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Strategies & Market Trends : Daytrading Psychology -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Threei who wrote (32)	12/1/2000 10:24:10 PM
From: Dan Duchardt	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 104

Threei, I in no way wish to detract from the contribution of your significant experience and expertise in daytrading, but I think in one point you are mistaken. IB is not really direct access IB really is a direct access broker. Although it has a very different look and feel than a RealTick or CyberTrader type platform, traders using the IB system have as much control over market access as with any other direct access broker, with a few small exceptions. IB has direct links to 7 ECNs: ARCA, BRUT, BTRD, INCA, ISLD, MXT, and REDI. When those links are fully supported by adequate bandwidth from the ECNs (there are times, as with many brokers, and Nasdaq itself, when the links are not 100%) IB users see ECN price changes leading level2, see those prices as "true" in 1/64 increments, and can send orders directly (not via SelctNet) for near instant fills. IB also offers SOES, and SelctNet, though unlike some of the better known DA platforms the user does not get to pick the target MM for preference orders. I only offer this information on IB to suggest that the platform is not the problem. The access is there. I'm not promoting IB as the best of all direct access platforms, but for anyone trying to learn the business the pricing structure cannot be beat by any broker in the industry. You can trade 100 shares round trip, using any ECN, SOES, or SelectNet for $2. Commissions become a non-issue, and you can focus totally on making the correct trading decision instead of thinking how many ticks you have to clear just to break even. In the spirit of this thread on "trading psychology" I consider this to be a very important advantage of using IB. Of course for people trading 5000 share blocks, IB's pricing offers no real advantage, but as you know and have addressed trading with size has its own unique problems. In all other matters I would suggest to rocklobster that he welcome the input from one of the folks who has gone farther than most toward truly mastering this craft. Dan