CME Group - ECN Fees

[Meirlandau10 13]

Thanks Andrew,I love watching you trade.

[kcwillis83 3]

My husband and I started trading live in CMEG in mid August, were not being charged ECN and other fees, which then CMEG began charging on Aug. 22. We were very surprised and angry at first, but after some research, their fees are reasonable and competitive, so we continued trading with them. 

CMEG:

• $115/mo for platform, including simulator
• $0.0045-0.007 per share in all fees (based on our own calculation from statements)
• <=1000 shares, $2.95/ticket
• >1000 shares, $0.007/share

Sure Trader:

• $104/mo for platform, $100/mo for simulator (simulator starts at $100/mo, depending on add-on's, it can cost more)
• 0.0000256% times total market value/dollar amount on each sell ticket (a short order, or a sell order of a long position; eg. I buy 60 shares of TSLA at $298/share, when I sell my 60 shares at $304/share, I pay 0.0000256% x 60 x $304 = $0.0047)
• $0.000119/share on each sell ticket up to $5.95 (eg. with the above TSLA trade, I would pay additionally $0.000119 x 60 = $0.00714 when I sold it.)
• <= 495 shares, $4.95/ticket
• > 495 shares, $0.01/share

As you can see, CMEG is still better than SureTrader.

 

Lastly, for us, we prefer higher priced stocks because they help minimize the per share fees. Eg. With the above TSLA trade, I traded a total of 120 shares, fees will be between $0.0045 x 120 = $0.54 and $0.007 x 120 = $0.84; versus if I traded CRON with a total of 1600 shares, fees would be between $0.0045 x 1600 = $7.2 and $0.007 x 1600 = $11.2

 

Update:

As of today, 10/3/2018, we've lost about $400 in PL, but paid nearly $1000 in commissions and fees, we've kept our size small too after the first week and half. It's not working, we are closing the account and moving what's left of the money back. It makes sense, these offshore brokerage companies don't really want you to build up a small account easily and transfer it out to Interactive Broker or some other US firm. 

Edited October 3, 2018 by kcwillis83

[Fernando Samora 11]

Thanks for the answer Kc, I'm more confident now on suing CMEG. I'll use their demo as soon as my account activates and get familiarized with them. 

[traderTKM 5]

Just started live trading with CMEG and ECN was included at start so I don't know any better. Thanks for all the info guys! If I was not in a trading community, I'd be dying out there. Good to have a place with great minds as resources.

[Carlos M. 230]

1 hour ago, traderTKM said:

Just started live trading with CMEG and ECN was included at start so I don't know any better. Thanks for all the info guys! If I was not in a trading community, I'd be dying out there. Good to have a place with great minds as resources.

Great point. 

I have been using CME and I think what got most of the people upset was the lack of communication from CMEG on this issue. If they would have simply sent out a note saying "FYI, we screw up, you been getting a free ride on ECN, is corrected effective this date ECN will be charge" Everyone would have been ok, maybe lol. 

But seeing this comparison shows that the ECN fees are in line. 

[rajkar 0]

3 hours ago, Carlos M. said:

Great point. 

I have been using CME and I think what got most of the people upset was the lack of communication from CMEG on this issue. If they would have simply sent out a note saying "FYI, we screw up, you been getting a free ride on ECN, is corrected effective this date ECN will be charge" Everyone would have been ok, maybe lol. 

But seeing this comparison shows that the ECN fees are in line. 

Hi Carlos, 

How has been your experience with CME so far. 

Thanks. 

[trader_JK 10]

Thanks all for posting your research and fee comparison etc...But for me I am with Lulin and Kevin. I am planning to close my account with CMEG soon, My main problem with CMEG is the platform malfunction (did not cover or sell) when I was trading SSR stocks. These happened to me four times and I lost almost haft of my account. Here are the disadvantages I found after trading over two months with CMEG.

1. Platform malfunction when trading SSR stocks – THIS IS THE ACCOUNT KILLER– Losing money because we are wrong is bad enough, losing money because of platform malfunctioning is just horrible and causes us to be nervous/on edge which is difficult to focus during trade.
2. Some stocks pre market had shares to short but after the market opens, those shares were not there any more. This is so frustrated because I spent a lot of time checking and planning my trade.  And then when the time came I pressed the hotkey, nothing happened? I checked the montage; the letter "S" was gone. I lost two opportunities, this stock and the other stock because I was focusing only on this one.
3. Can’t short stock if it’s SSR - CMEG told us so – this is a handicap.
 

[Andrew Aziz 97]

On 10/3/2018 at 5:12 PM, trader_JK said:

3. Can’t short stock if it’s SSR - CMEG told us so – this is a handicap.
 

Really? I am not sure if this is the case. Have you tried shorting the ask, instead of bid?

[trader_JK 10]

Yes, I did click on the ask in the montage many times but it did not even say "accepting ...". With CMEG live trade, no message or error. It was just nothing happened. I am not alone though please see below and also see the email reply back from CMEG to Robbie Williams.

Hey mate I finally got a reply from CMEG when I was asking why I couldn’t short during a SSR:

 

Being an offshore broker, our clients do not have direct market access and as such, trades are executed through Capital Markets Elite Group in a principal capacity. Due to this, when stocks go SSR, the company is not willing to bear the risk that it imposes on the net market position of the company. As you have seen, we do not impose this on all SSR stocks but we do so on most. While this is not always the case, this is the stance of the company at this time. 

Edited October 8, 2018 by trader_JK
adding more info.

[Daniel Thomas 22]

On 10/7/2018 at 3:33 PM, Andrew Aziz said:

Really? I am not sure if this is the case. Have you tried shorting the ask, instead of bid?

It's not...  I answered in detail below.  

On 10/3/2018 at 8:12 PM, trader_JK said:

Thanks all for posting your research and fee comparison etc...But for me I am with Lulin and Kevin. I am planning to close my account with CMEG soon, My main problem with CMEG is the platform malfunction (did not cover or sell) when I was trading SSR stocks. These happened to me four times and I lost almost haft of my account. Here are the disadvantages I found after trading over two months with CMEG.

1. Platform malfunction when trading SSR stocks – THIS IS THE ACCOUNT KILLER– Losing money because we are wrong is bad enough, losing money because of platform malfunctioning is just horrible and causes us to be nervous/on edge which is difficult to focus during trade.
2. Some stocks pre market had shares to short but after the market opens, those shares were not there any more. This is so frustrated because I spent a lot of time checking and planning my trade.  And then when the time came I pressed the hotkey, nothing happened? I checked the montage; the letter "S" was gone. I lost two opportunities, this stock and the other stock because I was focusing only on this one.
3. Can’t short stock if it’s SSR - CMEG told us so – this is a handicap.
 

#1)  I actually experienced this for the very first time today.  I normally don't go long...especially when a stock is on SSR, lol....so it was new to me when it happened.  I was able to get out of the position by placing a limit order (rather than using my marketable limit order hotkey).  

#2)  I agree...  This is also an issue with Interactive Brokers, but it's definitely a more prominent issue with CME.  Also, with IKBR, when the "S" goes away (when they run out of borrows), often times there will be a few hundred/thousand that become available mid-day.  If there's a pattern worth shorting, and I'm still trading at that time -- I'll often get lucky and snag the few borrows that came about (I assume they were freed up due to another trader covering their position).  CME never grants me this fortune, however, so I've been trying to adapt my trading (in my CME acct) to focus more on going long, so there is never a stock that I can't get in due to no borrows being available.  

#3)  This is not correct.  I trade in two accounts every single day: 1) IKBR, 2) CMEG.  I short stocks -- on SSR -- literally every single day in CME.  If you use a marketable limit order as your hotkey, you will not get filled if that hotkey is "sell/short on bid minus xxx cents."  You must either: 1) create a new hotkey that looks something like this: "sell on bid PLUS XXX cents," or 2) use limit orders above the bid.

The fastest way I personally execute shorts on CME's platform when the stock is on SSR is via limit orders.  I double click the bid in the level 2 montage, then immediately click the arrow up once or twice..., then press sell...  I then wait.  If the price drops, and the ask drops below my order, I cancel the initial order, then repeat the aforementioned steps (unless I'm okay with playing the waiting game; ie - waiting for the price to come back up to my order).  

[Andrew Aziz 97]

Thanks Daniel.