Page 36 - Trading #101 Course – Part One: Trading Basics

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

There are many employees in many different companies working together worldwide to
make the system run smoothly, or as smoothly as possible. Basically, there are a lot of
working parts and it is a Herculean effort to be sure. As you can see in Table 6.1, there
are many firms to choose from when deciding on which front end platform, which broker
and which exchange to trade with.

Table 6.1 Examples of Players in Today's Order Flow Process

Front End Platforms Brokers Exchanges Clearing Houses
TradeStation TradeStation NYSE RJ Obrien
eSignal NinjaTrader CBOT Dorman Trading
NinjaTrader TD Ameritrade CME GAIN
MultiCharts Interactive Brokers NYMEX RCG
MT4 FXCM NASDAQ Penson Financial
Thinkorswim CQG ICE Wedbush
There are many players that participate in the order flow process. This table shows just a few
examples of some of the current players and what their function is in the process. There are many
more players in the marketplace for you to choose from and when designing your trading plan.

You will have access to on-line screen shots and statements and reports of all of your
trading activity with your front-end platform and your broker.

For your survival, the most important concern for you is to reconcile your own
statements daily. If a glitch in the order flow system occurs, you need to address it
immediately. With the volumes of transactions and the volumes of personnel
processing these transactions there is always a margin for error.

It’s like balancing your bank statement and credit card statements every month. You
want to catch a problem immediately so that you have grounds to contest it. If you
snooze you lose and you will have less power to prove your point, rectify the situation
and seek reimbursement.

Types of Orders

The type of order you place is part of your trading and investing system and can affect
your bottom line. There are many kinds of orders you can use and not all brokers offer
all order types. So, check with your broker to find out what order types they offer.

The most common order types:

• Market Order. This is the simplest and most common of the order
types. It does not allow any control over the price received and is a

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