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Non-Tech : E.Schwab problems -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: - who wrote (919)	8/18/2001 12:09:46 PM
From: Richard S. Schoenstadt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1401

Schwab is the best imo. Hi, I have been using Schwab for about 6 years now and have also used other trading platforms including DLJ, Edgetrade (direct access), Cybercorp (direct access) and Datek (briefly). And in my opinion Schwab is by far the best for active traders. And by active traders I mean active day traders. This hasn't always been the case. In fact my experiments with Cybercorp and Edgetrade were the result of my frustrations with Schwab. But Schwab has slowly improved it's operations over the years. To the point where with the introduction of Streetsmart Pro version 1.5 I believe they have the best platform by far. This doesn't mean to say that Schwab doesn't still have room for improvement. In particular it's system problems have always been worse then average and continue to be. Streetsmart Pro has just tons of annoying little problems that occur on a daily basis. This is far higher than any other trading system I have used. And also as a previous poster noted anybody who uses market orders with Schwab is going to get royally taken advantage of. Despite this I think Schwab is still the best and for me by far the best. Why is this? Well as an active trader what I want is fast executions at the best possible price and fast confirmations (so I can get out quickly as possible if necessary.) And Schwab gives me that. The executions are superb. On Nasdaq stocks I will always get the best bid or offer up to the auto exec limit and the remainder almost always are within 1/8 point and usually better than that. My confirmations are very fast. In another thread I said 99% within 10-15 seconds. One guy didn't think this was so hot. But I suspect it's much faster than that. However the most importan fact here imo is that the confirmations are quick enough so that you can quickly get out of a stock if you have to. And with Streetsmart Version 1.5 I can't recall a single time when a slow confirmation has caused a delay in my getting out of stock. (This for Nasdaq stocks. The NYSE behaves differently. confirms are frequently slower. Also there have been some system snafus that prevented me from getting out quickly. There are however several work arounds for these problems so they don't cause a problem anymore as long as I am prepared.) But what makes Schwab really superior is that you get the excellent executions with a heck of lot less effort than required with direct access. With Schwab you only have one route to choose. You don't have to monitor all the different options as price changes. You don't have to change your order to direct it to the best option. Also with Schwab you can set your limit well wide of the current best bid or ask and still get the best bid or ask. This means you don't have to be constantly adjusting the best or ask. With direct access this isn't the case. For ECN's you better have your limit set very close to the best or ask or you'll end getting a fill off the best bid or ask. I found direct access very frustrating. Now of some of that has probably been improved as a result of supersoes. When I was using direct access earlier this year, orders to mm's via Soes were incredibly frustrating. Sometimes you would get a fill. Sometimes not. Frequently it would take quite a while to find out one way or the other. Also maybe you only got a partial fill. But even if supersoes has improved direct access I just don't see how it can be any better than Schwab. For me I get far better fills and consistently with Schwab than I got with direct access and with far less effort. Also Schwabs rates are very reasonable. Basically 14.95 a trade after you make 60 trades and 14.95 a trade from that point on as long you make at least 60 trades a quarter. To use Streetsmart I think you need to make only 30 trades a quarter and have 50,000 in Schwab accounts. For this you get a standard direct access like trading platform. I.e. real time quotes, spread sheet like watch lists where you can list up to 40 stocks per sheet with all sorts of real time info options (i.e. bid,ask, change, last,volume etc.), multiple sheets can be open at one time, real time charts both daily and historical, level two and trading module, message box which automatically updates status of your order, real time dlj news and an account dialog box which gives you most of your account info-real time balances, positions, recent orders and status etc. It is possible that Schwab will add direct access as a trading option in the future. Personally I can't see using it although I suppose there would be rare situations when that alternative might be nice.