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I'm having a really hard time finding a UK futures broker. The offerings are nowhere near as comprehensive as in the US, where it seems there's loads of good options. Saxo looks very expensive, BFL don't openly share their prices -which isn't a great start, and when I emailed them to ask, I get no reply.
I'd like to trade Eurex products, so I think I could possibly use a CQG data feed with a US broker, but would ideally like FCA regulation, and to be in the same time zone.
So how do other people do it? I'd be very grateful to hear how you're set up.
Cheers!
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
Thanks Alex. The thing with IB is that their data isn't very good apparently, and I'd like to trade off the order book (using Sierra probably). If it wasn't for that I think they'd be good.
Yes, that can be an issue depending on how you intend to trade. It is also easily solved by third party data providers but it is not a problem for many strategies. IQFeed or E-Signal would have much better data quality.
Your initial question was about brokers and you should look beyond the data feed. You should be looking instead at commissions, the balance sheet, how they manage security, funding, margins etc. Keep in mind that whatever trading platform you chose you can be certain that IB will be well supported.
There must be a broker in the UK that uses CQG if you just want to trade futures. I am sure there are traders here that would be able to provide some information.
Can you use different data feeds with IB? I thought you could use a different platform but you had to use their data?
Yes I totally agree. My perfect broker would have decent commissions, be FCA regulated, and have servers in europe (with good data), and you wouldn't think that would be so hard!! Surely there's a gap in the market here!?
Don't mix up your data with your execution. Two different things. If you use Sierra or Multicharts for example, you can use third party data and execute your trades on IB.
IB have their servers in Zug, Switzerland. If you insist on your data provider having a server in Europe then you will probably be limited to E-Signal for data and you could use that as a platform as well.
Not really a gap at the moment, there might be if they change the rules on forex/spreadbetting. Most pro’s in the uk are using one of the bigger clearing houses and through some kind of prop/arcade solution. What product/style are you trading? There might be a better solution than IB.
I think I get the difference, but tbh I'm not sure I understand how the two tie up. If you're putting orders into a price ladder that shows exchange data, the broker then only then tallys your trades, it doesn't place them for you or get in the way... but that's for another thread perhaps!
But that sounds great, if I could use sierra with 3rd party data, and execute on IB -that's exactly what I'm looking for! I'll get on to IB tomorrow. Thanks again.
Thanks Rassi, I guess what I mean is, there doesn't seem to be the same range of accessible, online, (specifically) futures brokers as in the US. What would be an example of one of the clearing houses? That world probably wouldn't be interested in my tiny account I expect
I'm currently trading the Dax throughout the day, but being very selective, looking for good setups -so maybe only a couple of trades a day. Unfortunately I've just started to get the hang of things after finding futures (previously toiling away at fx spreadbetting), just before I go back to work. Which means then I'll have much less time to stalk trades, so was going to look at scalping I guess -bunds, estoxx.