Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : DAYTRADING Fundamentals -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bedrock who wrote (11132)	12/24/2000 9:17:45 PM
From: exdaytrader76	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18137

Re: New online broker MB Trading (as far as I know) is a direct access firm that allows you to trade directly over the ECNs, Selectnet, and SOES. The brokers you have listed are all on-line brokers. There is a big difference, and if you are really a short-term trader, you probably want a direct access broker. www.successtrade.com is the cheapest Realtick broker I have found ($8 flat) and www.interactivebrokers.com is a favorite for their .01/share commissions. As far as "quick access to trading gains," you cannot use an intraday trading profit until the next day. That is a settlement rule that has not yet been changed. (There may be firms that do not adhere to this 100%) Good luck.

To: Bedrock who wrote (11132)	12/25/2000 8:20:25 PM
From: -	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18137

Bedrock, I trade at both MBT and Schwab, have not had a problem with shorting. A lot of it on Schwab has to do with order entry & the uptick rule. I use limit orders to get short and find that often you need to give the stock 3/4 to a point room below the bid, in order to catch an uptick & get filled. e.g. if I'm looking to short SEBL and it's trading 79 1/4 x 80 (hypothetical price)... first I might use Velocity to place a limit order to get short at or near the offer. If conditions aren't right for that (getting short into upward momentum) then I might enter a limit order to sell SEBL short 78 3/4 or better... then it may downtick to 79, and I'll catch it short on the uptick to 79 1/8 and get filled because I'm already setting there in their limit queue. Of course on MBT, the fills are typically faster/better/tighter because you're on direct access, but I short the daylights out of things on Schwab with no problems - been doing it for 9 years now with little reason to complain about the fills. Just stay away from market orders! I have found that trading direct access will train you better on how to use limit orders with a conventional broker, so you can make better use of them. They just love to clean clocks on market orders (including "stop" orders, which are essentially market orders with a trigger price - they'll often really get you on those by holding the order and filling you "away") - there's a reason they can sell those they're lucrative to the buyer! And their customers pay the price. But with well-timed limit orders, I do a lot of trading on Schwab with little to complain about. The really cool thing about Schwab is they have none of the "weird" margin rules - you can buy and sell something all day long after holding it all night, all the while enjoying SMA (special margin allowance) credits which build up your buying power - there is no penalty for coming in long or short (from overnights). This is the major problem now for most of the direct access firms who have tightened down on releasing overnight margin -- could end up costing them a lot of trading volume. Good trading, Steve