Whose better ECN traders or Market Makers

[Wilfred Njoroge]

I think this is an overdue topic Market makers have been known to cause interntional spilage but the ECN brokers are no better with spreads varying. I have been told that ECN brokers should not charge you on a spread basis rather they should do it on a commision basis. I see the varying spreads on ECN accounts and make me wonder are they credible in their claims?

[Marco vd Heijden]

you might want to find a way to plug in directly for example DMA direct market access or Level 2 if you want to be sure about these things.

[JD4]

Each have their benefits, it depends more on what specifically you need to be able to do.  Market makers are usually not known to hold on to orders for very long (quick order fill), while ECNs have that possibility because they just list the orders, and match up matching buy and sell orders, which means you could wait a while if there is no one on the other side of your order.