Page 27 - Trading #101 Course – Part One: Trading Basics

TRADING #101 COURSE – PART ONE: TRADING BASICS /2017-10-06

Factors to Consider:

• Does the broker offer all the markets I am interested in?
• Or, will I need to have more than one brokerage account?
• What is the minimum dollar account required to open an account?
• How much do commissions cost?
• Can I get a free charting platform, scanning tools and data feed when I open an
account?
• Is the quality of the charting, data and scanning good enough for my needs?
• Or, do I need to supplement with another platform?
• Is it easy for me to use the order entry platform?
• Does the brokerage connect with the trading software, charting platform and/or
data feed I like to use?
• Speed of Execution - What is the quality of the order execution system that the
broker uses and how fast can they fill my orders?
• What clearing house does this broker use?
• What kind of customer support is available – phone, email, etc.?
• What kind of training is available and do I need to pay for it?

Brokers that we find to be excellent:

• TradeStation
• NinjaTrader
• Interactive Brokers

At the end of the day, one of the biggest line items regarding your cost can be your
brokerage fees, especially for day traders. Depending on the number of trades you
place per month – this can make or break your profitability.

If you are not actively trading, as with position traders and investors, your brokerage
fees are not as important since when making fewer trades your commission fees will be
less of an issue.

Data Feed

The heart and soul of a technical trader’s toolkit is their live data feed. A data feed
delivers price and volume data directly from the exchanges to your computer through a
data service.

27 | P a g e