Discuss Trade.com (Lead Capital Markets)

[Mneri]

In a search of minimizing the trading costs, I'm seriously considering the DMA offer that my broker (Trade.com) has got.
If I'm understanding everything correct, DMA access can provide the best spreads available and I'm going to be able to trade at best prices from the pool of liquidity providers they've got there.
The major cons that I see is the rather high entry threshold - 5K is the minimum that you can start trading with.
The major pros are lower latency, better variety of stocks available, and hopefully, optimized trading costs.
I have a feeling though that I'm missing something here. There must be some other pitfalls of the offer. What are those that I'm missing?

 

[Thoris]

Not that you are totally wrong about the mentioned points, but..
5K is not a huge depo required for DMA. DMA was initially the offer for pro traders with 100K+ accounts. Nowadays, more CFD and forex brokers offer those with the decreased entry threshold. 5K is an absolute minimum from what I understand. Normally these offers start for 10-20K accounts.
The pitfalls that you must check upon are:
- inactivity fees
- you will probably need to pay for the real-time market data
If you currently trade CFDs at Trade.com with a regular account, trading commissions might even increase, but overall DMA will probably turn out to be more favorable because of extra-narrow spreads. That will llikely depend on the position size (there will be a fixed minimal charge per trade nomatter you buy 1 stock or 1000 stocks)
Looks like you might not be ready to trade with a significant enough lot size, so you've got to check that issue either.

 

[Mneri]

Got you, thankx so much. I will check that out. The matter of trading with DMA really is much more complicated than I used to think. Can't understand how it really works and why we need an intermediary there (Interactive Brokers in this particular case).

 

[Faelar]

Indeed, I contacted Trade.com support and you was right that I was wrong. I learned out a bit about account types and DMA is really the best execution type, but it is aimed at professional traders (for whom $5-10k isn't a problem). An ECN account starts at $100 and this is the next one before a DMA account in terms of execution quality. By the way, the only reason why I'm interested in DMA is the variety of different features offered by Trade.com. To be fair, I just wanna try sth new, not just trading.

 

[Thoris]

I think if you just start trading, it's better to just focus on trading with ECN. If you are not a professional, you will hardly even notice the difference (except for the inscription on the top left, huh). I think you need to move step by step when you realize that you are ready to invest more money in trading, then switching to DMA won't be a problem. I think that if you're interested in unusual opportunities and not just trading, than it's a good idea to try a thematic portfolio.

 

[louise.kepinska]

also had dodgy interactions with this company a while ago.
I just stick with the recommended brokers on here.

 

[Faelar]

also had dodgy interactions with this company a while ago.
I just stick with the recommended brokers on here.

Lady, looking at your Sunday activity on this forum I seriously doubt that your post has anything to do with real life experience. Posting one post a minute does not allow me assume you've plunged deep into a subject of conversation in every thread that you've dropped in with your messages.

I think if you just start trading, it's better to just focus on trading with ECN. If you are not a professional, you will hardly even notice the difference (except for the inscription on the top left, huh). I think you need to move step by step when you realize that you are ready to invest more money in trading, then switching to DMA won't be a problem. I think that if you're interested in unusual opportunities and not just trading, than it's a good idea to try a thematic portfolio.

I thought about that but innitial investments are high as well, $15-$17k are too high for me, as for a trader. I think that's opportunity for investing, not for trading...

 

[Balladotus]

Hey, can someone tell something about assets management there?
I'm trading with other brokerage but looking to try assets management there, have somene try? If yes, please, share your opinion.

 

[Thoris]

Oh, I know about thematic portfolios but never was interested in assets management. Seems that's something the same?

 

[Clay Davidson]

No, it is not the same. I can explain in a few words. The main idea of the thematic portfolio is to combine assets in one industry and offer to invest in this industry.
Assets Management is another offer from Trade.com, which offers you a balanced portfolio that is protected and diversified. I haven't tried them but I'm also interested, btw I'm not Trade.com client.