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Ask HN: What is your favourite stocks/options trading platform?

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Re: Ask HN: What is your favourite stocks/options trading platform?

#21

Post by Hedgemaster »

heckingoodtimes wrote: post #12

Fidelity and Vanguard for best execution—which is the most important aspect for me. Self-clearing, sufficiently capitalized and don’t accept PFOF. They are improving their trading UI and I think they’re definitely headed in the right direction on that front. I don’t yet trade options on either, so no comment on that.

Thank you. Fidelity doesn't charge PFOF on stocks but they do accept PFOF on options. The bid-ask spreads for most stocks in negligible so PFOF-related damage wouldn't matter that much anyway, what cannot be said about options..

Re: Ask HN: What is your favourite stocks/options trading platform?

#22

Post by ALeus26 »

jjeaff wrote: post #15
ALeus26 wrote: post #3

Interactive Brokers, great execution quality, normally use their desktop version since find their mobile app somewhat cumbersome.. P.S. Oliver, is that really you? How was your space flight? :) Btw your comment is "dead" so you should contact the admin to fix that.

How do you gauge the execution quality?

there are certain parameters like net price improvement, percentage of improved orders and execution speed.. retail brokerages are encourage to make such data public by FINRA:

1. https://robinhood.com/us/en/about-us/our-execution-quality/

2. https://www.schwab.com/execution-quality

3. https://clearingcustody.fidelity.com/app/item/RD_13569_21687...

Re: Ask HN: What is your favourite stocks/options trading platform?

#23

Post by PascLeRasc »

mcny wrote: post #17
heckingoodtimes wrote: post #12

Fidelity and Vanguard for best execution—which is the most important aspect for me. Self-clearing, sufficiently capitalized and don’t accept PFOF. They are improving their trading UI and I think they’re definitely headed in the right direction on that front. I don’t yet trade options on either, so no comment on that.

Vanguard index funds are pretty much anyone who isn’t wealthy needs. The only think I can’t figure out is why isn’t it possible to park USD 5k in cash in my Roth IRA at Vanguard every April and have them buy VTSAX if it goes below some threshold automatically say USD 60.

You're hoping to "buy the dip" here, right? You can set up a stop order to do that. It'll just have to be for the ETF version of a fund.

Re: Ask HN: What is your favourite stocks/options trading platform?

#24

Post by Hedgemaster »

CheezeIt wrote: post #20

I haven’t really investigated it too hard. I use Robinhood because it has 0 fees for stocks, options, and crypto (but I’ve mostly moved on to an exchange that lets me withdraw crypto). I also use Robinhood because it has 2.5% interest for margin (with 6% interest on the first $1000, counting the $5/month Robinhood Gold fee). And also, instant deposits. I’ve found the UI to be pretty poor in some respects.

Thanks, the issue with Robinhood imo is that their price execution is quite poor and you pay extra on the bid-ask spread.. kind of a hidden fee in a way.

Plus they don't have any relevant tools that would help to make a well-informed decision.

Re: Ask HN: What is your favourite stocks/options trading platform?

#25

Post by nodesocket »

Check out WeBull. Their macOS native app is very good. Nearly a Bloomberg terminal. Real time quotes, amazing charts, and data feeds with news. Zero commission trades and options.

Shameless referral link if you feeling it (both get rewards).

https://act.webull.com/po/Waj6YqDt8arm/6dy/inviteUs/pop

Re: Ask HN: What is your favourite stocks/options trading platform?

#27

Post by midnitewarrior »

CheezeIt wrote: post #20

I haven’t really investigated it too hard. I use Robinhood because it has 0 fees for stocks, options, and crypto (but I’ve mostly moved on to an exchange that lets me withdraw crypto). I also use Robinhood because it has 2.5% interest for margin (with 6% interest on the first $1000, counting the $5/month Robinhood Gold fee). And also, instant deposits. I’ve found the UI to be pretty poor in some respects.

Robinhood is for unsavy traders lured in by (false) advertising for saving money on trading. While they advertise no fees for trading, their poor execution means you get pricing that's far worse than normal trading fees.

Re: Ask HN: What is your favourite stocks/options trading platform?

#28

Post by jpgvm »

ALeus26 wrote: post #3

Interactive Brokers, great execution quality, normally use their desktop version since find their mobile app somewhat cumbersome.. P.S. Oliver, is that really you? How was your space flight? :) Btw your comment is "dead" so you should contact the admin to fix that.

Seconding IBKR. In addition to execution and algo orders etc they have excellent margin facilities, every live feed imaginable and good fee structure for algorithmic and/or day trading. The desktop app takes some getting used to and the Java API might not be everyone's cup of tea it's fast and reliable and provides per-tick historical data which is crucial for backtesting.

Re: Ask HN: What is your favourite stocks/options trading platform?

#29

Post by CheezeIt »

midnitewarrior wrote: post #27
CheezeIt wrote: post #20

I haven’t really investigated it too hard. I use Robinhood because it has 0 fees for stocks, options, and crypto (but I’ve mostly moved on to an exchange that lets me withdraw crypto). I also use Robinhood because it has 2.5% interest for margin (with 6% interest on the first $1000, counting the $5/month Robinhood Gold fee). And also, instant deposits. I’ve found the UI to be pretty poor in some respects.

Robinhood is for unsavy traders lured in by (false) advertising for saving money on trading. While they advertise no fees for trading, their poor execution means you get pricing that's far worse than normal trading fees.

I am pretty sure it does not mean that you get a price that’s “far” worse. You would need to quantify such a claim — a number I see from the SEC comes down to $1 per user (as a _lower_ bound on total extra cost, weakening my argument).

I’m not a day trader — almost all my money is in long term held stocks and crypto — so margin interest rate is all that matters. (For options, I don’t think I suffered any execution issues, because it almost always has involved a limit order in a low volume option.)

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