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Is Thinkorswim a good Platform for Futures Trading?
Several people have negotiated that down to $3. Others probably less. IB is $2.01 by default. As far as it being 'too slow' for day trading, that all depends on what your definition of day trading is. I do some (mostly)non-scalping day trading (though most of my futures trades are longer) and don't have a speed issue at all. My chart/DOM data on TOS is virtually identical to Kinetick or IB and the executions are near-instantaneous.
I haven't compared DOM, as I don't use TOS DOM, but I compared Thinkorswim Time&Sales to Rithmic Time&Sales through Sierra Chart yesterday. It was not identical but in my short visual observation, TOS was between 100-1000ms behind, being variable. Everyone can test it and decide for themselves if any speed difference is too slow for their trading style. Interesting bit, I also tested my reaction time here, and it was between 250-300ms: Human Benchmark - Reaction Time Test
I read this some where on this forum:
"Trade less...leverage more. "
$3.50 isn't much when you're moving around $70-150k per contract
and swinging moves instead of chop chop chop death by a thousand paper cuts.
Most of us have better rates than $3.50. (it is high compared to most out there)
What I get through TDA is inline with most futures brokers out there.
Long time clients, clients with a lot of capital, and clients with volume get better rates.
Don't overleverage, don't overtrade and commissions are not a big deal.
There's also quite a bit of value add in their platform in that you can trade most futures products without any added exchange fees, there's a few very good audio feeds including real-time global news, etc etc etc.
I agree with you about scalping .... of course, it could be that I wasn't talented enough to use it successfully in my 12 years of trying, on and off.
TD Ameritrade's trading volumes are way off during the last year; it might be worth a shot for someone to try and negotiate the futures commissions down to at least $3, no matter the account size.
I usually listen to Ben in the S&P pit even though I trade crude, since he talks about all the major instruments and news every now and then. What are the other good feeds, and how are they run? I just tried the global news audio but appears to be silent right now.
ToS is not the best option for the scalper.
Most 'scalpers' these days are bots and who wants to try and compete with that!? Not me...
For regular day trading (ranges, daily swings) ToS is pretty good option IMO.
I'm not talking 2-8 tick trades. 20-40 ticks is my idea of day trading and ideally only 1-3 trades/day.
I was quite successful day trading futures using ToS for nearly 2 years.
That burnt me out though, so I have switched to swing trading.
I'm using the exact same entries/exits, just on a larger time frame.
The only difference is the duration of the trade and commissions (less).
