stocks trading platform

I am looking for a new broker for Stocks and Forex.?

Hey folks,
I am looking for a new broker for Stocks and Forex.

I have been using TD Ameritrade for stocks for a few years.
Pros: Like their platform.
Cons: They don’t do forex and their commissions are high.

Opened an account with Interactive Brokers last week.
Pros: Brokerage fees are cheap and they cover stocks and forex (and others).
Cons: I don’t like their platform or margin leverage.

Opened a “Paper” Think or Swim account last week.
Pros: Like their platform better than IB’s but not as much as TDA’s. Margin leverage perfect.
Cons: Commissions are high.

So, here’s what I require and am still in search of. Hopefully ya’ll can point me in the right direction.
I need:
A very user-friendly platform
Ability to trade stocks and forex
Low commissions
Margin of 2:1 for stocks
Margin of 100:1 for forex

Thanks in advance for any info!
Happy trading!

What about tradestation? Awesome if you’re an active trader, but expensive if you just want to make a couple of trades a month.

Zecco seems a cheap solution but I haven0t tested on my own.

Hope any of these solutions helps you out.

Good luck.

How could I copy all of the stocks from all US exchanges into one database?

Can this be automated? What computer language would it use? Could NYSE stocks be copied into a columned spread sheet and columns copied, comma deliniated into Scottrade or other trading platform?

Not easily, and not thoroughly, unless you’re willing to pay a rather sizeable fee.

I work for a data provider that provides security data, so I’ve got some experience with it. Effectively, there’s millions of securities out there, and the exchanges charge fees and/or royalties (depending) for distribution of the data. So nobody’s giving this information away in bulk.

You can look up data one security at a time for free on sites like Yahoo! Finance, but that’s only one at a time. And it’s only particular types of securities. You could (in theory) get lists of things that use tickers by simply "guessing" all the ticker combinations, and attempting to automate that process, but you’d be looking at roughly 1 billion possibilities, each taking at least 1 second each to load, which is over 30 years of constant data pulling. Plus, once you start pulling that much and that often, you’ll get flagged by the provider and probably be cut off.

You couldn’t copy the data into most spreadsheet programs, though, because they’re limited to some number of rows, which is probably less than the number of securities that exist in the financial world. (MS Excel just expanded its max number of rows in Office 2007, but only to between 1 and 2 million– not sure of the exact number, but still insufficient)

Your best bet to get thorough data is to subscribe to data providers who can send you full data universes. And that’ll cost you somewhere in the thousands of dollars, depending on the details.

But you probably don’t WANT all that data, really. Most of it doesn’t trade very often, and doesn’t fluctuate much. I’m not sure of the details of why you’re interested in it, but there are probably easier ways to get lists of "interesting" securities and ticker lists. These could probably be automated using pretty much any language (C++, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, whatever), by automatically pulling web pages that provide the data (as long as you kept it from going *too* nuts). And yes, you could have the program write out directly to spreadsheets or comma separated files.

Personally, I’d use Perl, but I could see the argument for any interpreted language with robust string parsing, since you’d want to be stripping the data out of your sources, and there’s a chance that their formats would change slightly, forcing you to adapt.

I’m not familiar with the interface for Scottrade, but chances are that yes, you could hook into their interface as well, although that may be tricky to do automatically. Chances are you’d want to do that part manually.

DaveE

What trading platform do you use ?

I’m considering trying a new brokerage for trading stocks, options, etc…..right now I use E-Trade, but am looking for an efficient low commission brokerage. Any advice from active traders?

For what’s it worth, I use

Scottrade for equities & EFTs
ThinkorSwim for Options
Fidelity for equities & EFTs

Automated stock trading in India?

Friends,

I want to know whether we can do automated trading in India.If yes how can do the same in following criteria.

1] Amibroker and our Brokers trading platform is open( India bulls ,nirmal bung, sharekhan etc)
2] In amibroker separate indicator loded for separate scrip.
3] If indicator gives buy or sell signal , then after 3 to 4 nos bars particular scrip and particular qty should be buy or sell automatically through our brokers platform

Any suggestion ?

I think its not allowed.

You can try this out in Forex Trading.You can also manage your own account using third party providers. And it comes Free.

Check out http://trader.zulutrade.com

for trading on your own with other peoples signals. Mind it that you open a Demo Account first and the after you are satisfied use a real money account.

How do I go about becoming a "Day Trader"?… Whats a good platform?

I started by opening a Scottrade account as $7 per trade seems to be reasonable. Any suggestions? How about those infomercials (Wize Trade, Investools, etc. etc.) I heard those are pretty expensive programs.
I heard there are groups of people that get together to share information, buy & sell stock, etc. etc. Any idea where I can join a group in Los Angeles, CA.?

There are companies that supposedly teach you to day trade. I am sure LA has its share. They make money by watching you churn your account until you go broke. Then they sign up some other batch of fools. Very few make it. Try it but don’t risk more than you can afford to lose.

Some good places online to share info with others and learn are;

investorshub.com (my favorite)
siliconinvestor.com
ragingbull.com

many boards are devoted to trading at the above sites. you can sign up for free memberships at all 3. Ask the traders on the trading boards what software they use.

I have been a trader, investor, broker, etc. and it is rare to see anyone who is not a professional trade for a living. If you got it, then you will know pretty soon. You have to be able to set your stops, take your losses if needed.

Also read "trading for a living" "come into my trading room" both great books from Alexander Elder.

Could you please recommend online stock broker?

I’m interested in trading United Kingdom stocks and futures, FTSE futures I mean.
So, I’m looking for a broker that has internet platform for me to trade.

Thank you in advanced
I’m interested in trading United Kingdom stocks and futures, FTSE futures I mean.
So, I’m looking for a broker that has internet platform for me to trade.

PS, I’m neither a British or living in UK.
I’ve tried Barclays Stockbrokers but they require UK bank account

Thank you in advanced

http://www.InteractiveBrokers.com

Where do you check current open short interest in a stock?

Yahoo’s data, I am told, is a month old. Is that true? Where can you get up to the second short open interest data? Why is it not offered on the trading platforms like Scottrade?

<<<Yahoo’s data, I am told, is a month old. Is that true?>>>

It is updated monthly. Depending on when you look at the information it will be about one week to about six weeks old.

<<<Where can you get up to the second short open interest data?>>>

You cannot.

<<<Why is it not offered on the trading platforms like Scottrade?>>>

The information is not available.

The only source for information on total short positions is the exchage upon which the stock trades. The exchanges do not provide up to the minute data.

who is the best penny stock brokerage house?

who has the best online trading platform and allows you to purchas penny stock from all indeces?

As you can see, no one answered your Q yet.

The reasons: Penny stocks, Bulletin Board ,stocks Pink Sheet stocks and Over-the-Counter stocks are EXTREMELY risky and volatile.

Its better to do the right research then possibly buy fewer shares of a stock at a higher pe – in excess of $20/share – then it is "looking for one needle in a field full of haystacks".

Thanks for asking your Q! I enjoyed answering it!

VTY,
Ron Berue
Yes, that is my real last name!

Is it worth upgrading my CPU?

I have a gateway PC with a 2.8 ghz dual core Pentium D CPU at 3 gig of RAM.

Motherboard Model D945GCZ
Motherboard Ver. AAD41668-501

I need more processing power but cannot afford to buy a new PC for maybe another year. I can pick up a Intel Pentium D 960, 3.6 GHz CPU for under $200. I run multiple stock trading platforms which require lots of processing power and I’m thinking the upgrade will provide the lift I need but not sure. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Yeah, Pentium D is ancient technology. Your best bet is to get a motherboard/cpu combo off of a reputable website like newegg.com and make sure you can use the memory you already have. You can get a nice Athlon X2 and a motherboard which will smoke the Pentium D for under $100 before shipping.

Technorati Tags: aad41668-501

If I were going to buy Costco calls to make money on October 10 earnings how would I have done that?

What is the process that I would have had to follow to buy the call options for Oct 10 Costco stock rise in price? I have never traded options for real, so I am looking for the process with regards to using a real trading platform. I use Scottrade.

I don’t use Scottrade, I use Etrade, but I’m sure they are similar. I always go to BigCharts.com to get the symbol for the exact option that I want to buy.

Simply get a quote for Costco, then click on options chain to see the price quotes for all the options by the month of expiration. The symbols are listed there as well.

Just take the symbol from the option that you want and enter that into your Scottrade account to make the purchase.

I would advise you to be very cautious. Over 90% of people lose money with options. They are very volatile and their value decreases quickly with the passage of time.

I wish you well.