I’ve found the Infinity Futures AT (Active Trader) platform to be a nice and simple order execution platform for trading futures. For those that already trade with thinkorswim, their Active Traders has gotten a LOT better over the last 10 years. I would highly recommend it. Check it out here.
Benefits
Established in 1996, Infinity Futures is a US based regulated futures and FOREX brokerage firm.
Infinity Futures offers outstanding execution, low commission rates, a state-of-the-art trading platform, and $500 intra-day margins (for equity index’s). Oh yeah, and NO monthly software fees or minimum usage requirements. I can personally attest to the outstanding level of service I have received.
Functionality
The Infinity Futures AT platform has a slew of great features such as…
- Multi-bracket orders that automatically move your stop when a first target is reached
- One-click stop/limit orders
- Mini DOM, which condenses to just the trade ladder
- 10 deep bid/ask depth of market
* A Day Trade Margin Disclaimer. “Note: the lower the day trade margin the riskier the trade.”
* Regular Risk Disclaimer. “Trading Futures, Options on Futures, and retail off-exchange foreign currency transactions invoices substantial risk of loss.”
Hey Tim! Thanks for the review. What are the commission rates for the Infinity Futures platform? I’ve been looking for a low commission rate platform for a while because the rate on the thinkorswim platform is way too expensive. Thanks again!
Thinkorswim starts you off very high for futures commission. On top of that they don’t actually place resting orders on the exchange they sit in house so speed is an issue and there is a lot of slippage, especially on market orders. Not to bash Thinkorswim, they just don’t emphasize their futures business, options are their forte.
That being said Infinity is lightning fast, best data feed I’ve found aside of TT or CQG that charges hefty monthly fees in comparison to the incremental speed difference, which in my case doesn’t make much of a different. For the ES Infinity started me around $5.00/rt, but over the years Anthony, my broker, has substantially lowered my comm.
I can’t guarantee that the same will happen for you, but down the road as you increase size they will work with you. In the beginning don’t let the commissions bother you, focus on your setups and becoming consistent, but Infinity is definitely my broker of choice for futures trading.
If you contact Infinity and ask for Anthony Giacomin and tell him you found him through me, Tim Racette he could work with you to find a happy medium.
Tim,
Just curious, have you ever used TradeStation? If so, what was your opinion? If not, would you ever consider doing so? Seems like both platforms are very close to offering the same features. Just curious.
Keith
thedailyeminitrader.com
I have not executed orders through TS. Other traders I’ve talked with who use TS say good things about it. Once I landed on Infinity Futures I was so happy I stopped my search.
Hello Tim,
I am new to future but have trade Forex and am debating broker between Infinity and Global Future. Base on phone conversation w/ a rep at Infinity there will be a quota to be met each month in compare to Global Future is not. What is your opinion for a person like me whose is still have a JOB and new to future market?
Thanks in advance for your opinion,
Xiong
Hi Xiong,
I personally don’t have any experience with Global Futures so I can’t comment on their pro’s/con’s. Infinity is fantastic, the customer support is great, and lightning fast data feed. I’ve never had issues and there are no monthly fees. If you ask to talk with Anthony Giacomin over at Infinity he will be able to help you more and answer any specific questions you might have. My vote: Infinity!
Thank you Tim. I also want to express that I really like your video tutorial. It is really an educational.
Again, Thank you.
Hello,
Been through most of the site so far. Good stuff and congrats on the trading FT.
After exploring some platforms, was inquiring about APEX Futures. Apparently, they were a part of Infinity. There dom seemed real simplistic as I had some troubles placing orders and the “stay on top” window functioning with infinity.
Also, do you need an account on TOS in order to gain access to the live tick and trin data?
Thanks.
Thanks Andrew. Now with the merge for TDAmeritrade and Thinkorswim you will need a live account to get accurate data. If you don’t want to transfer any existing accounts you may have over to Thinkorswim you could open an IRA and gain access to the platform. I don’t think there are minimum funding requirements for an IRA. Otherwise I know TradeStation and various other platforms offer tick data as well.
Tim
This is great dialogue and very helpful. I am very new to live trading and fairly new at even demo trading. I have a TOS Platform and you have convinced me to try Infinity out.
It takes a lot of time to check out a platform so it is good to have a word about it from a real trader before investing time to learn something new. It sounds like infinity will be worth the effort.
A transformer blew this morning triggering a power surge. I was in a 6E short position at the time. Since Infinity places their orders on the exchange servers they remained in place even though I lost power. I immediately called broker, Anthony Giacomin, he picked up on the 2nd ring and verified that my target had been hit on the position and I was out of the trade. My account was safe. Can’t beat that, exceptional customer service and lightning fast data feed.
Ya, well, that is a good thing……a true test of a broker!
Keith
thedailyeminitrader.com
Hi Tim
I have been trading the demo for about one week now and love it. Actually, I like the charts that Infinity provides as well.
Anthony Giacomin has been top notch on answering questions and being accessible.
I have now opened and funded an account with Infinity. Thanks for pointing me to this great broker.
I am a Think or Swim user and did not know that they kept their orders in-house. Can you elaborate further on this as far as the mechanics and ramifications and how significant this is to traders?
So far, I like the platform itself but I have also noticed a few times when I am looking at various daily charts that an entire day or sometimes days will be randomly missing and that gives me pause in the accuracy of the data…especially when I am learning that their $7 roundturn cost is on the higher side.
I too like TOS charts and use them daily in my trading, but I don’t use Thinkorswim for Futures trading. When I first started trading futures I used TOS because I was already using them for options and stock transactions. $7 a round turn is way too high to pay for commission. I also experienced an exorbitant amount of slippage when exiting positions. I don’t the exact order routing structure at TOS, but when I called a few years ago they said they house their orders on their serves so it takes longer to get it to the exchange (micro-seconds) but it makes a difference. Especially trading size. Since switching to Infinity for order execution I rarely see slippage.
Have you noticed quirky things with the TOS charts about missing days? Not sure if you look at many futures markets besides the emini.
But, take today for example in the emini. TOS shows a high of 1266 and other sources show the emini trading up to 1272.
I find this lack of data agreement to be disconcerting.
Is it possible you are looking at two different contract months? Today is Futures Rollover so most platforms will default to the new month. For example on the Emini S&P you have both the December contract ESZ1 and the March contract ESH2 trading. I’ve never seen any type of price discrepency like you mentioned before.
Tim:
It is exactly possible that I would do something that moronic. LOL. I typed in /ES instead of /ESZ1 and didn’t realize that they rolled the contract over on me. My apologies for wasting your time.
No worries 🙂 Futures Rollover is always a bit tricky.
Hello Tim,
it might be a very dumb question but do i pay commissions over aswell the buy and the sell of contract or only over the buy.
Lets say i bought 10 contract and sold than at the same price. Do i pay 10*comission per contract or 20*commissionsper contract?
Not at all Bart. If your commission is say $2.50 per side, that means you would pay $2.50 when you buy and $2.50 when you sell or $5.00 r/t (round turn). Doesn’t matter the price you buy or sell for, when you get in you pay, when you get out, you pay. Another reason adopting a scalping method is difficult for the smaller trader.
Ow im kind of embarrassed right now. I did some research of your name but you are kind of well known. Lots of activities around your name. Watched some interviews of you they are really useful.
So im wondering if you have some advice for me. I’m young (first year of my bachelor) but interested in the markets. I have a infinity simulator account and a lightspeed paper account where i try some things out (but to be honest without a real plan behind it. Do you have some advice for me how i can handle the market?
Hi Bart, I’m not big on giving advice, but I can share some insights from my experience. Trading is very difficult, especially for the retail trader with a small account. If you’re truly interested in making a career out of trading and don’t currently have any experience then one option would be to join a prop firm. A lot of firms look for individuals with certain characteristics, not necessarily trading experience. When I began I started on my own and stayed on my own and while I did learn a lot along the way with the help of some very successful traders, being involved in a prop firm with much more capital to work with can be a huge advantage.
Yes I’m indeed planning to join a prop firm or a investment bank after finishing school. But i can’t figure out how they trade at prop trading firms or investment banks. Do they trade longer terms (hold trades foor days or even weeks) or short term (intra-day trading) do you something about this?
by the way if necessary you can e-mail me at fridjera@hotmail.com
There are all different kinds Bart, a lot trade stocks intraday, but do your research and investigate a lot of different firms before making a decision. Also make sure to visit the office.
Tim,
What is your total cost to go with infinity? is it just commission and to fund the account? is that all i need?
Yep, that’s correct Nino, I’ve switched over to Andrew Wlos at Infinity, he can help you get setup if you’d like a.wlos@infinityfutures.com
Tim,
I thought you said you where with Anthony Giacomin ? and it seems to me like your affiliated with infinity. How do you know to recommend Andrew Wlos to me? I all ready was in contact with him today.
Also , it is not clear what you are saying yes to. what is my total cost?
Thank You
Sorry for the confusion Nino. I was with Anthony for the past 3 years or so. He has sinced move on in his career so now I’m working with Andrew, that just means he’s my broker. As for costs, the only thing you pay for is commission. If you w/d money from your account via wire transfer you would incur the wire transfer fee, but there are no platform costs. Infinity does off charts, however I do not use them. Their charts are free is you make 10 (don’t quote me on this) round turn trades per month.
Tim,
Thank You For your response. I am with thinkoswim and i have a lot “slippage” regarding my fills. i am looking for a better Fill based broker to make my trades. Is this what i am looking for(ininity)? or do you recommend another broker or platform?
Thank You
Nino
I began trading futures with Thinkorswim as well (I was already using them for my option trading). I experienced a lot of slippage which is why I switched to Infinity Futures. Once I switched to Infinity slippage basically disappeared. Maybe once or twice a month I’ll have a stop fill me for 1 tick of slippage on the Euro, very rare though.
Just for the Info … I signed up with Infinity when Anthony was there but he left before my account really was activated.
Andrew has been very good in dealing with my account.
Tim is correct – 10 trades per month and the charts are free. But they only cost 15 per month if you had to pay for them.
It is true also, the platform itself is no charge and no minimum trade requirements.
Plus – Infinity has great risk control features. They give you ample risk allowed per day but I had them even lower my Max Loss for the day so I would not get into a huge drawdown.
No doubt, Tim’s info on Infinity has been one of the best things I have gotten from the blog.
Good Luck Trading,
Tommy Beard
Hi Tim,
Thank you for this excellent blog! Last week I sent in my account application. Still waiting and anxious to get started live.
I got a question. Brokers always ask if you or a relative or other person in your direct neighborhood works of have worked for any financial institution, broker, or so.
Why is that? Do you know more when that is true making it an unfair advantage?
Regards,
Maurice
Not entirely sure Maurice, perhaps a conflict of interest. I’m sure it’s just another paper trail if any illegal activity comes about.
Hi Tim. You said in your review that you can do one click stop/limit orders. Did you mean one click stop orders and one click limit orders? Or one click stop-limit orders on the DOM? If it is the latter could you share how you do that? I cannot for the life of me figure it out. Thanks for your help! 🙂 -nick
Hey Nick, yes you can do both separately and together. As I’m sure you know by clicking on the Bid/Ask will place a limit order. Whether or not you’re in a position already determines if this order will be a stop to close for a loss or limit to close for a profit. Whether or not the order is above or below the current price is a factor as well. In terms of stop & limit orders going in at the same time you can use a SIMPLE BRACKET or MULTI-BRACKET on the left side. When the box is checked and a position is triggered both a stop and limit order will go in at the same time.
Hi Tim,
You said you don’t use Infinity charts. So what chart provider you use and how is the feeding?
Thanks for sharing.
Jing
Hi Jing, I use Thinkorswim for charts.
Hi Tim
I was wondering if you have ever tried Firetip?
They finally made it a free low cost platform at Cannon, Champion, and BackBay Futures.
It seems simple and quick with a new update coming out in a couple of months.
I currently use TransAct (same as Infinity) but there is just something I just don’t like about it, but cannot put my finger on the reason.
Thanks
Hi Mark, no I have not. There are a lot of front end platforms out there I haven’t used though that I’m sure are really good. If you find something that works for you stay with it.
Are there any extra charges for using Break even trailing stops, OCO, Brackets and ect……
Nope, those are all included.
Tim,
I look forward to the webinar this afternoon at 3:30 central covering the current volatile state of the market.
http://www.infinityfutures.com/webinarsRacette915.aspx
If anyone has questions regarding the event or platform please tell them to call me 312-431-1901.
Talk to you soon!
Hi Tim,
Thank you for the Q&A session.
Can I use a Mac with Infinity AT to trade the minis?
Why would you use TOS charts and not the Infinity AT charts especially if the TOS charts are sometimes not accurate?
Thank you.
Strictly personal preference. I’ve been with TOS so long my eyes are used to their charts. Nowhere did I say they were not accurate.
I’m not sure if Infinity supports Mac. Just shoot them an email and they can confirm.
Tim
Tim, it’s July 2017.
I recently came across your site–has your opinion about Infinity changed at all since?
I noticed that you don’t mention Infinity in your “Top 5 Tools”
Should I stick with ThinkorSwim as my futures brokerage + charts platform?
Hey Joel. Infinity is great. I’ve just started using TOS more for Futures trading in addition to my swing trading and retirement accounts.
Did TOS change the way they hold your orders or are you just dissatisfied with Infinity now? Doesn’t make much sense if TOS still has your orders sitting in house????
Greetings Tim,
Is their advantage to use Transact instead of Infinity?
Hi Tim. Could you pkease tell us about your experience with TOS? Is it cheaper and better than infinity? Thanks
P
When I first started trading futures 10+ years ago Thinkorswim wasn’t as good as they are today and that’s why I chose to go with Infinity Futures. Now though, TOS is great and I would recommend them for stock, options & futures trading.
I would just like to thank you for your willingness to answer questions and help others in this endeavor of trading . I have been a TOS customer for some time and just recently tried out Infinity 30 day trial to check it out. I like the sierra DOM very much but not a great fan of their charts . Brackett and or oco orders etc. etc. are not held on their servers for the sierra package so that was a big downer for me . I really like TOS and their charting package also , and they keep getting better .
Hey there Herb, yeah Thinkorswim has come a LONG way in the futures world. I mostly use TOS charts with Sierra as my backup. I really like the Infinity DOM. Clean and simple to use.