Lime Pro*
Powered by Lime Execution’s low latency technology, you unlock institutional-grade market connectivity for high frequency trading. With the Lime advantage of low latency and direct control, we aim to give you the tools you need for screen-based trading.
*Sterling Trader® Pro product is owned and operated by Sterling Trading Tech. Lime Pro is a description of the services provided by Lime Trading related to the use of the Sterling Pro software. Lime Financial receives compensation from Sterling Trader® Pro subscriptions.
The Lime Advantage
LOW LATENCY
Active traders looking for a faster fill can get their orders to the marketplace using Lime’s technology. We offer secure hosting and co-location services at most major U.S. trading venues, potentially reducing latency and enhancing access to liquidity.
LIME SMART ROUTER
Lime’s smart order router quickly looks at all venues you want to target and then routes your order to the venues with the highest probability for fills.
Key Platform Features
Level II order entry system
Fully configurable hot keys
Charting with 60+ configurable studies
Real-time scanning tools
Server-side & native stop orders
Watchlists
Basket trading
Custom price alerts
Windows based
Time-based filters & tabbed charts
Exchanges alerts & imbalances
Market data
Your Direct Access
Lime has integrated with Sterling Trader® Pro to offer the benefits of our low latency connectivity to all lit markets and major dark pools.
What You Can Do
Direct connections ensure that your orders go directly to the venues you choose. You can also select our smart order routing technology to choose your route based on your criteria.
What We Can Do
Your orders are designed to make it to the markets in milliseconds, and our smart order technology is colocated. With Lime’s smart order routing, once we begin working your order, we can quickly move between exchanges. Lower latency can lead to faster trading, which can help you access liquidity that you may not have at a lower speed.
Get Started
Lime Execution provides clients access to all major U.S. equity market centers, and most equity dark pools. The Lime Execution algorithms allow clients to intelligently router and execute orders for price and speed to market.
The Lime Smart Order Router (Lime SOR) is a liquidity seeking algo that utilizes our low latency infrastructure to route orders between exchanges and dark venues. There are several strategies to help meet different objectives.
In addition to commissions, orders routed through the Lime Smart Router are charged a fee of $.0005/share.
| LIME SMART ROUTER | ALGO DESCRIPTION | TRADING INSTRUCTIONS | KEY PARTNERS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lime Smart Order Router | Optimizes for speed, prioritizing visible liquidity while accessing both displayed and non-displayed markets. | Seek liquidity in parallel at full limit price, posting non marketable orders after unproductive sweeps. | • Peg Type • Excluded Venues |
| Cheap | Optimizes for low market center fees, consuming available liquidity across displayed and non-displayed markets. | Extra emphasis on inverted markets when taking liquidity and high rebate destinations when posting liquidity. | • Peg Type • Excluded Venues |
| Dark | Sweeps dark pools exclusively for extra stealth and lower market center fees. | Send child orders to dark pools while recalibrating order routing to pools with high fill ratios. | • Min Qty • Peg Type • Excluded Venues |
| Passive | Exhausts available mid-point liquidity with multiple sweep phases on dark, inverted, and lit markets. | Trade passively to avoid paying the full spread. | • Min Qty • Excluded Venues |
| Neutral | Searches for mid-point liquidity before sending increasingly more aggressive orders. | Trade neutrally to aggressively, seeking price improvement and low fee executions along the way. | • Min Qty • Excluded Venues • Invisible • Max Floor |
MARGIN RATE
Competitive at Federal Funds Target Rate +4% (4.25% as of 8/1/2021)
Please contact us with special requests. We will try to match competitor offers.
COMMISSION SCHEDULE
MONTHLY SHARE QUANTITY COMMISSION RATE PER SHARE (USD) LIME SMART ROUTING FEE PER SHARE (OPTIONAL)
0 to 500,000 $.0030 $.0005
500,001 to 1,000,000 $.0025 $.0005
1,000,001 to 2,000,000 $.0020 $.0005
2,000,001 to 4,000,000 $.0018 $.0005
4,000,001 to 20,000,000 $.0015 $.0005
20,000,001 to 50,000,000 $.0010 $.0005
50,000,001 to 100,000,000 $.0007 $.0005
100,000,000 + $.0005 $.0005
Commission tiers are reset monthly, first 500,000 shares at $.0030; next 500,000 shares at $.0025
No minimum commission per trade or extra commission fees for odd or mixed lots (orders in less than 100 share increments).
Please contact us with special requests. We will try to match competitor offers.
Lime Financial receives compensation from Sterling Trader® Pro subscriptions.
DIRECT MARKET ACCESS PASSTHROUGH FEES AND REBATES
Fees and rebates are passed through from the Exchanges, with no markup or mark down.
Fees are typically up to $.0030 per share to remove liquidity, depending on venue.
Rebates for adding liquidity are available up to $.0020 per share, depending on venue.
Certain venues route out for a fee up to $.0035 per share.
Certain venues have an inverted fee structure, meaning they rebate for removing liquidity and/or charge for adding liquidity. Special fee schedules may also apply to certain order types available at the venue, restrictions such as non-display, or based on the price of the securities, with securities priced below $1 typically having higher fees. Certain venues, typically Dark Pools, have trade reporting fees that are passed on, and some venues charge fees for odd lot executions.
Contact us for a full schedule of fees and rebates.
REGULATORY FEES
Regulatory Transaction Fee
A regulatory transaction fee is charged by the government to recover the costs of regulating the securities markets. The fee is charged on all security sales, based on the total principal (dollar) amount sold. The current rate is 0.0000051 per dollar of your sale proceeds. We charge the Regulatory Transaction Fee as an equivalent fee to cover the costs of this fee.
For example, if you sold 100 shares of stock at $25.00 netting total proceeds of $2.500.00 you would be charged $0.02 for the transaction: (2,500 x 0.0000051) = $0.01275 = $0.02 (rounded up to the nearest penny). Effective Feb 25, 2021.
TRADING ACTIVITY FEE
Trading Activity Fee (TAF) rates are as follows: Each member shall pay to FINRA: (1) $0.000119 per share for each sale of a covered equity security, with a maximum charge of $5.95 per trade; (2) $0.002 per contract for each sale of an option; (3) $0.00008 per contract for each round turn transaction of a security future, provided there is a minimum charge of $0.01 per round turn transaction; In addition, if the execution price for a covered security is less than the Trading Activity Fee rate ($0.000119 for covered equity securities, $0.002 for covered option contracts, or $0.01 for a security future) on a per share, per contract, or round turn transaction basis then no fee will be assessed.
NATIONAL SECURITIES CLEARING CORPORATION (NSCC) FEE
The National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) Fee is a fee of $.0055 per execution, charged to offset costs charged by the Depository Trust Clearing Corporation (DTCC).
MARKET DATA FEES
Market Data fees are passed through from our platform providers and are subscription based.
Please see Sterling Trader Tech Market Data Subscriptions for more details.
PLATFORM FEE
$230/month
OTHER FEES
These are fees charged by Wedbush Securities, the clearing firm for this offer, and are subject to change.
ITEM FEE
Account Transfer (ACAT) Out $95.00
ACH Transfer No Fee
Limited Partnership Annual Fee $50.00
DTC Transfer out $25.00 Fee per security
ESOP Processing Fee (Employee Stock Options) $30.00
Paper Confirms, Statements & Tax Documents Paper Confirms, Statements & Tax Documents are available for $2.50 per month plus $2.00 per confirm plus postage. There is no charge for Electronic access.
Hard Copy Requests $2.00 per page
IRA Set-Up Fee and First Year Fee $20.00
IRA Annual Fee $35.00
Letter of Authorization (LOA) $25.00
Lost Certificates $20.00 Plus any out of pocket fees
Monthly Credit Plus Fees (Check Writing and Visa Card) $7 per Month
NSF Checks $25.00 per check
Physical Certificate Processing Fee for Deliveries over 50,000 Shares $100.00
Physical Certificate Request Minimum of $525 (Includes $500.00 DTC fee plus any applicable pass-through fees)
Qualified Retirement Plan Annual Fee $70.00
Reorganization Items (Subscriptions, Redemptions, Tenders, Exchanges, and Conversions) $20.00 per Issue
Reg T Extensions $10.00
Request for Special Services Varies- TBD based on service.
Rush Transfer of Securities $25.00
Securities Returned from Transfer Agent $15.00
Stop Payment/Returned Checks $25.00
Transfer of Securities Requiring Legal Opinion/Documents $50.00 per issue
Wire Transfer Domestic Wire Transfers are $25.00, International Wire Transfers are $50.00.
Worthless Security Processing
TBD based on specific situation.
ACCOUNT REQUIREMENTS
$30,000 minimum or higher required to open the account
$25,000 maintained balance in Day Trading Account to meet regulatory requirement
Please read our Day Trading Risk Disclosure for more information on the risks of day trading.
ACCOUNT TYPES
As part of this offer, you may apply to open one of two types of margin accounts. Margin accounts allow you to employ varying amounts of leverage through borrowing funds using broker-dealer credit. Buying power expresses the leverage available in terms of value of securities that may be purchased if fully utilizing margin at standard margin rates based on the amount of equity in the account. Some securities may be held to higher rates. Borrowing funds is not required, but the margin feature is required to allow you to reuse funds prior to settlement or place orders to short available securities.
DAY TRADING ACCOUNT
Day Trading Accounts are margin accounts offered for qualifying customers with a minimum balance of $50,000 or higher for this offer. FINRA rules stipulate that “Day-Trading buying power” means the equity in a customer’s account at the end of the prior day minus any maintenance margin requirement, multiplied by 4, this is available Intraday. Regulation T governs margin accounts and allows for Margin based on strategy, and typically requires investors to have 50% of the trade value for overnight equity positions although special regulatory or broker requirements may apply for specific securities, and some securities may not be marginable. Clearing is through Wedbush Securities.Please read our Day Trading Risk Disclosure for more information on the risks of day trading.
TIMING BUYING POWER LEVERAGE
Intraday 4x Cash Buying Power (25% Requirement)
Overnight 2x Cash Buying Power (50% Requirement)
PORTFOLIO MARGINS
Portfolio Margin is a margin account type that is based on a sophisticated, risk based margin calculation that takes into account the overall risk to the portfolio under various scenarios assuming increases or decreases in the value of those securities. This type of margin in general allows greater leverage than available in a Day trading account. Accounts are offered for qualifying customers with a minimum balance of $1,000,000 or higher. Factors in the table below are based on standard rate equity leverage although special regulatory or broker requirements may apply for specific securities, and some securities may not be marginable.
Clearing is through Wedbush Securities.
HOLDING PERIOD BUYING POWER LEVERAGE $1MM+ BUYING POWER LEVERAGE $5MM+
Intraday 6.67x Cash Buying Power (15% Requirement) 8x Cash Buying Power (12.5% requirement)
Overnight 5.57x Cash Buying Power (18% Requirement) 6.67 Cash Buying Power (15% requirement)
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How do I apply for Lime Pro?
You can apply to trade with Sterling Trader® Pro by entering your information on the application form , which will connect you with one of our professionals. Be sure to review the account requirements and the application checklist before you begin the application process.
What is the minimum required balance to open an account?
$30,000 minimum or higher required to open the account
$25,000 maintained balance in Day Trading Account to meet regulatory requirement
Please read our Day Trading Risk Disclosure for more information on the risks of day trading.
I’ve used Sterling Trader® Pro before. Can I transfer my setup to Lime Pro?
If you have used Sterling Trader® Pro with another brokerage firm, you can transfer your saved layouts and hotkeys to Lime. Here’s how to migrate your setup.
I have questions about the onboarding process. Whom can I contact for help?
You can contact Client Services at [email protected] for any questions about opening a Sterling Trader® Pro account.