Reality of online Trading

Online trading has greatly improved over the past few years but the brokerages are set up more for buy and hold than they are for traders. They have an entire system build on buy and hold because it is easier for them to have a platform that doesn't respond quickly. They also will profit from trades placed with a delay in quotations for market orders. They often will be delayed so much that even with limit orders you can get stung for a few hundred loss before the trade even appears on your screen. TDAmeritrade is what I used and their platform has been horrible and has seemed to have gotten worse the past 6 months. I would recommend investing in trading software that is designed for traders if you can afford it. I have gotten used to my current platform and like the look and have hesitated to switch but a week or two more of frozen screens and missed trades will drive me elsewhere. TDameritrade has a terrible service policy and seems to be more interested in losing revenue streams from traders rather than actually investing in there system. So shop around or even split your funds into two companies and find something you like best.