Choose the right Online Broker for your Algorithmic Trading Business

My career as a trader dates back to the mid-1980s. In the 1990s, I ran the single-stock derivatives trading business at Citibank N.A. At that time, Citibank’s single-stock derivatives portfolio was one of the largest in the world. In 1998, I moved to D.E. Shaw and ran an identical business.

In 2004, I started Bigger Capital, a hedge fund that uses advanced trading technologies to make money from market discrepancies.

I have been trading extensively on Trader Workstation (TWS) from Interactive Brokers (IB) since the late 1990s. As a testimonial to the superior IB trading experience, Bigger Capital runs entirely on IB’s Hedge Fund Platform.

When choosing an online broker for your algorithmic trading business, you might want to use the guidelines listed below. After you have chosen a broker, it becomes very hard to switch—especially after you have developed software running on a broker's platform. Save yourself some headaches by making the right decision up front.

Here are the attributes you should look for in an online broker:

1. Low trading cost.

2. Powerful and reliable technology. 

3. Comprehensive sandbox for experimenting with your strategy. See more about this subject right here: http://bit.ly/2dN2C6.

4. Extensive and cutting-edge Application Programming Interface (API) technologies. For traders with little or no programming experience, we recommend going with a broker that offers a simple DDE for Excel platform, as Excel offers a familiar and user-friendly interface.

5. Breadth of products in both type (stocks, bonds, futures, commodities, currencies, options, etc.) and geography (global).

6. Powerful algorithms you can use to make money right out of the box.

7. Continuing education via webinars.

8. Strong credit and very well capitalized.

9. Reliable and fast mobile platform.

Am I missing anything else? Let me know.