I finally decided on a new broker. Choosing a broker was a very frustrating experience for me. That’s partially because II was so comfortable & proficient with CyberTrader and I really hate the idea of having to familiarize myself with a new system. The other part of the frustration is that looking at these software packages is just overwhelming. (Or maybe I’m just getting old.) All the demos & feature lists make each brokers system seem like it’s the best thing since sliced bread. But then you dig deeper and/or read the reviews at EliteTrader and you don’t want to trust any of those brokers with your money.

Despite all the above, I came to a decision that I think I’ll be pretty happy with. I decided to move both my trading account and my IRA to ThinkorSwim. Given all the recommendations they got on my “I need a new broker” post they’re clearly doing something right. Their system is very feature-rich and I like that the platform can run on a Mac. Another plus is that, like CyberTrader, they clear through Penson. That should mean that availability of stocks to short is the same as at CyberTrader. The capability to trade via the web and/or a mobile device is another thing that I liked. That means when (not if) Comcast decides to disconnect me intraday I can still access my account via my cell phone.

But there are still things that I’m concerned about, like if the stops and/or alerts are really held on their servers. Another thing that bugs me is that the system is geared to options traders. That’s fine & all but I’ve never traded an option in my life & don’t plan to start. So I wish I could just turn off everything that’s doesn’t apply to plain old stocks. I’ve yet to find a way to link my Trade-Ideas scanner to ThinkorSwim’s platform nor have I found a way to match CyberTrader’s internal scanner. Hopefully I’ll figure both of those out as I continue to play with the system.

There were similar pros & cons with every broker I checked out. I finally just decided to pick one and try them out. If I can’t deal with the cons I’ll just have to jump to another broker. I’ll be sure to report how things go with ThinkorSwim.

So on to the recap…

So much for things swinging to the bulls favor. Today was a good example of why so many traders, when looking for a bottom, like to see weakness in the morning. Today’s gap up seemed to just embolden sellers. The situation that’s more likely to create a bottom is an ugly morning which flushes out weak longs and causes bears to cover and bargain hunters to start buying. That’s exactly what happened on the day of the August bottom. Speaking of that August bottom, we’re real close to a retest of those levels. Brace yourselves…

Trend Table

No changes

Trend Nasdaq S&P 500 Russell 2000
Primary Down Down Down
Intermediate Down Down Down
Short-term Down Down Down

(+) Indicates an upward reclassification today
(-) Indicates a downward reclassification today
Lat Indicates a Lateral trend

*** I’m simply using the indices’ relations to their 200, 50 and 10-day moving averages to tell me the long, intermediate and short-term trends, respectively.