Frequently Asked Questions

MB Trading offers the MBT Navigator, a professional level direct access trading system for Nasdaq, NYSE and AMEX securities, options, and e-mini futures. The Navigator seamlessly integrates into some of the industry's leading quote applications, including QCharts, eSignal, and DTN.iQ, providing a complete and advanced online trading system. We offer real time comprehensive support via our internet based chat room and a fully staffed Trade Desk that is available from 7:30am to 8:00pm EST. We are confident that you will not find a more reliable, convenient, and efficient trading platform.

Most traditional online brokers are web-based. This means that orders entered online are first sent to a broker who then places the order for you. With the MBT Navigator, your orders are sent directly to the exchange or marketplace for fast executions, all for a low, competitive fee.

MB Trading was founded in 1999 by Ross Ditlove and institutional broker Steve Demarest. MB Trading is headquartered in El Segundo, CA.

No, MB Trading is a privately held company. Ross Ditlove is the CEO and Steve Demarest is the President of MB Trading.

MB Trading clears through Penson Financial Services, a Publicly traded firm. Capitalized through an affiliation with a Texas life insurance group with assets in excess of $200 million and equity capital of over $100 million, Penson has the financial strength to invest in the people and technologies that make this kind of tailored, flexible service possible. More information on Penson Financial Services can be found at www.penson.com

Yes, MB Trading is a broker-dealer and a FINRA and SIPC member firm.

Click here to view our Fees page.

Under Section 31 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and national securities exchanges, such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the American Stock Exchange (ASE), must pay transaction fees to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). Each brokerage firm passes along the fees it collects to NASD and the exchanges, and these fees are ultimately forwarded to the U.S. Treasury. SEC fees are only assessed when you sell a stock. Click for more details.

No. Even if an order is partially filled, you can use our "cancel/replace" feature to modify the order's price and/or size, without incurring an additional commission.

No. You will only be charged one commission, regardless of the number of partial fills an order produces.

Each individual ECN and Exchange charges small "pass-through" fees for each share executed. In order for MB Trading to continue providing the same excellent service and support that we are known for, these fees must be added to your base commission price.

You can place a trade for as little as 1 share, however, please keep in mind that our "per share" commission plan has a minimum ticket charge of $1.00.

To open an account, click the "Apply Now" link on our home page and complete the online application. Then simply print and sign the application and mail it to MB Trading within 30 days.

The fastest way to open an account is by filling out an application online. You will be guided through a series of forms appropriate for the type of account you choose to open. You will be assigned an account number immediately and you can use this number to fund your account. Once your account is funded, you can begin trading.

You can open a cash account with just $1,000 and a margin account with $2,000.

A cash account is not issued any margin or short selling abilities. A margin account is issued 4:1 intraday and 2:1 overnight buying power as well as the ability to short sell securities. Margin accounts with balances less than $25,000 are limited to three (3) day trades in five (5) business days, whereas cash accounts are limited to their aggregate cash per day. Margin accounts with balances greater than $25,000 have no restriction on the number of trades placed.

A day trade is defined as the opening (buying or short selling) and closing (selling or covering) of the same security on the same day.

A day trading account is an account with a balance of at least $25,000 or an account that has displayed day trading tendencies. Any account that exceeds three (3) day trades in five (5) business days is automatically considered a day trading account and will be required to maintain a balance of $25,000 to retain margin ability.

You can fund your account by check, wire, ACAT or DTC transfer of securities. Please visit our "Deposits" page for details.

Please make checks payable to our clearing firm, "Penson Financial Services", and mail the check to MB Trading at:

MB Trading
1926 East Maple Ave
El Segundo, CA 90245

You can transfer an account to MB Trading by ACAT (Automated Customer Account Transfer) or by DTC (Depository Trust Company) transfer. An ACAT can be used to close an account and/or transfer securities and/or cash from one financial institution to your MB Trading account. A DTC transfer can be used to transfer a partial account from one financial institution to your MB Trading account. Please visit our "Deposits" page for details.

Yes, MB Trading offers extended hours trading from 7:30am to 8:00pm EST.

Yes, you can now enter stops for Nasdaq® securities in addition to NYSE and AMEX securities; the Nasdaq® does not accept them, but our dedicated servers do.

First, here are several definitions found on the WWW:

1. An arrangement whereby the profits or losses on [a futures contract or various securities in your account] are settled each day.

2. The act of recording the price or value of a security, portfolio or account to reflect its current market value rather than its book value.

3. Recording the price or value of a security, portfolio, or account on a daily basis, to calculate profits and losses or to confirm that margin requirements are being met.

The cost basis for each security in your portfolio is adjusted to its closing price each day. If you hold a security overnight, your true purchase basis goes away in lieu of the new "closing price" cost basis assigned to each security each day.

As an example: If you buy the security on Monday for $10/share and it closes at $11/share on Monday, Tuesday's cost basis is $11/share, and your account will see a PnL of $1/share for Monday. If the security ends Tuesday at $10.50/share then a -$0.50/share PnL is booked to your account for Tuesday and Wednesday's cost basis becomes $10.50/share.

Yes, we offer a user manual for the MBT Navigator in addition to several video lessons available on the Reality Trader website.

To test your connection to MB Trading's servers, open a DOS prompt (by clicking your computer's START menu and selecting RUN and typing "cmd" - Win98 users use "command"). Then type the following text in the black DOS window: "tracert www.mbtrading.com". Then hit the "Enter" key.

Each row from a trace route contains 3 columns of numbers ending in "ms" (milliseconds). Basically, for optimal performance, you want to see these numbers consistent and under 100 ms. (see below)

Yes, the MBT Navigator order management system will work with satellite connections.

Open a DOS prompt (by clicking your computer's START menu and selecting RUN and typing "cmd" - Win98 users use "command"). At the prompt, which will look something like this: "C:\>" If you are running Windows NT or Windows 2000, type in "ipconfig /all" If you are running Windows 98, type in "winipconfig." After you have typed it in, your computer will display a Windows IP Configuration. It will look like this:

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . (IP address = series of 4 numbers separated by dots)
Subnet Mask. . . . . . . . . . . (Another series of numbers)
Default Gateway. . . . . . . . . (Another series of numbers)

Open a DOS prompt (by clicking your computer's START menu and selecting RUN and typing "cmd" - Win98 users use "command"), and after the "C:\>" type "ping (IP address) -t". This will give you a continuous ping of the IP address, in which you can see the response in milliseconds denoted by time. Anything past 350 milliseconds can lead to disconnects from the software. If you see anything displayed that says "request timed out" or "destination unreachable," it means that either the other party is using a firewall, or the connection is so poor that no response is received.

Windows 2000 or XP

600 MHz processor

256 MB of RAM

20 MB free hard disk space

56 Kbps modem (ISDN, Cable, or DSL preferred)

Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0

Connections as low as 14.4K have been used by our clients, however, we suggest a broadband connection whenever possible.

No, the MBT Navigator is not compatible with Macintosh / Apple OS.