Clearly, long-term investing is the name of the game, especially at Sharebuilder, which trades just once a week. BUYandHOLD trades twice daily - a more advantageous schedule, though it still borders on catatonia. DRIP, it seems, is a dinosaur that's destined to survive. The futures market has been creeping from the trading floor to the Net for decades. We decided to partner rather than compete.
Competition is definitely an issue.
Other hubs deal in futures-like contracts known as forwards, but they can only broker trades among commercial participants. CheMatch will sidestep the issue by routing its futures business through the CME's Globex2 transaction platform, which is already authorized for retail trades. In return, the CME will gain access to a slew of new products, not to mention CheMatch's audience. If those customers have shied away from the pit in the past, it might be because 75 percent of individuals who trade futures the traditional way lose money, according to unofficial brokerage estimates. CheMatch's innovation could change that while pushing the futures market toward an independent, automated system - one that would put individual investors on a par with the rest of the futures community once and for all.