TDAmeritrade vs IB

[cwelsh]

So I'm trying to get a fill on an ABT straddle and my bid is one cent ABOVE the natural and I'm still not getting a fill -- this has happened to me on TDAmeritrade before (the price was mid of 1.71 natural of 1.72).  Last time this happened I was told to call in, so I did.  It ends up that, what I long suspected, was true.

 

TDAmeritrade quotes multi-leg orders (including straddles) across exchanges.  The pricing may have one bid from one exchange and one ask from another.  All brokers do this as far as I know.  However, they will NOT submit your order across multiple exchanges.  In other words you may not be able to get filled with your call on one exchange and a put on another.

 

However, Interactive Brokers WILL do this.  Sometimes this doesn't matter, but at other times it can be the difference in a few pennies.

[Kim]

This is just one advantage of IB. Another one is their Smart Routing:

 

 

"Unlike smart routers from other online brokers, IB SmartRouting never routes and forgets about your order. It continuously evaluates fast changing market conditions and dynamically re-routes all or parts of your order seeking to achieve optimal execution and maximize your rebate."

 

[NikTam]

@Kim wonder how Tradier compares to IB on fills?   I just opened account with Tradier.   $40 a month for Trades.  That's prob a 1/4 of what I spend now.  Goodbye TOS.  

[Kim]

From what I hear - they are good, but since they accept US residents only, I cannot join at this point.

[cwelsh]

Where did you see that?  When I talked to tradier, they said .35/contract, I'd do horrible things for a flat $40/month.

 

However, Tradier says they do NOT continually re-route orders.  Neither does TDAmeritrade.

[Kim]

 Tradier Brokerage Special Offer

[SBatch]

24 minutes ago, cwelsh said:

Where did you see that?  When I talked to tradier, they said .35/contract, I'd do horrible things for a flat $40/month.

 

However, Tradier says they do NOT continually re-route orders.  Neither does TDAmeritrade.

@cwelsh I started trading with Tradier this month and have been very happy with execution and client support.  However, while their platform is functional it is bare bones and missing tons of features we would all want.  Of course this is basically the premise for their entire model - don't spend on platform, overhead, etc. and offer the unlimited $0 commission trades.  Until this week they did not have a solid platform one could subscribe to and still get the unlimited commission free trades. Now they are offering TradeHawk and it is pretty sweet.  I had a demo with one of the founders yesterday.  It is a new platform but the founders have been developing software in the prop space for decades, this is their first retail offering.  The subscription is $297 per month (in this case the $40 SO fee is not necessary).  What I really like is the founders are open to suggestions.  I gave them two suggestions in my demo yesterday and he said that they would have them added by the end of the month.  This is a good opportunity for our group to have significant input into the development of a platform.  The more of us that subscribe the more pull we will have.  You can check it out here:

https://mytradehawk.com/

 

[kchop]

Nice, this might be what I've been waiting for.  Any idea if they're working on a mobile client as well?

[SBatch]

6 minutes ago, kchop said:

Nice, this might be what I've been waiting for.  Any idea if they're working on a mobile client as well?

They are but he said that's going to be a while.

[cwelsh]

@SBatchAny idea how their smart routing algorithm works?

[SBatch]

22 minutes ago, cwelsh said:

@SBatchAny idea how their smart routing algorithm works?

It's not proprietary to Tradier but rather to the MM where the order is directed.  The majority of their option orders are sent to Ciitadel.  They have very sophisticated smart routing technology.  You can learn more here:

https://www.citadelsecurities.com/

 

[NikTam]

 I just open an account. I will demo Tradehawk next week.  Maybe I won't have to keep my TOs account open for the tools?

[SBatch]

8 minutes ago, NikTam said:

 I just open an account. I will demo Tradehawk next week.  Maybe I won't have to keep my TOs account open for the tools?

No you really shouldn't have to.  It's extremely robust and primarily options based.  I actually just sent them another suggestion today and he agreed again to add it.

[NikTam]

Sounds great - though not inexpensive.  But I would prob save that much on trading.  

[hoyt2004]

On 7/7/2017 at 11:34 PM, SBatch said:

@cwelsh I started trading with Tradier this month and have been very happy with execution and client support.  However, while their platform is functional it is bare bones and missing tons of features we would all want.  Of course this is basically the premise for their entire model - don't spend on platform, overhead, etc. and offer the unlimited $0 commission trades.  Until this week they did not have a solid platform one could subscribe to and still get the unlimited commission free trades. Now they are offering TradeHawk and it is pretty sweet.  I had a demo with one of the founders yesterday.  It is a new platform but the founders have been developing software in the prop space for decades, this is their first retail offering.  The subscription is $297 per month (in this case the $40 SO fee is not necessary).  What I really like is the founders are open to suggestions.  I gave them two suggestions in my demo yesterday and he said that they would have them added by the end of the month.  This is a good opportunity for our group to have significant input into the development of a platform.  The more of us that subscribe the more pull we will have.  You can check it out here:

https://mytradehawk.com/

 

@SBatch Do you have any comment about the platform TradeHawk and Dynamic Trend? Regardless to the subscription cost, which one has better routing, more user-friendly interface, in depth analysis, and so on.?

 

[SBatch]

4 hours ago, hoyt2004 said:

@SBatch Do you have any comment about the platform TradeHawk and Dynamic Trend? Regardless to the subscription cost, which one has better routing, more user-friendly interface, in depth analysis, and so on.?

 

I did not test Dynamic Trend as they do not allow for commission free trading with that platform (routing will be the same with all Tradier platforms offered).  TradeHawk is a very good platform.  It still needs some refining which they are in the process of doing.  They continue to be extremely open and responsive to input and it's getting much closer to where it needs to be.  One point here is if anyone ever runs into an issue with an outside platform, they can always use the basic web-based Tradier platform as a fallback.  There was a time that TradeHawk had an issue as they moved servers overnight which caused issues the next day, but I simply used the Tradier platform during that time.  The main remaining issue with TradeHawk is the font size is too small and the user cannot adjust it.  They are in the process of correcting this with the next update.