More on IB: so you basically just have to fund an account with whatever their minimum is now (might be 10k now). then to get most US stock/options/futures data

More on IB: so you basically just have to fund an account with whatever their minimum is now (might be 10k now). then to get most US stock/options/futures data, it only costs 10 bucks a month for their live feed. If you make trades, your commissions go towards paying down your data fee. If you don't trade for a few months, consider it 10 bucks a month for the opportunity to develop strategies in a real environment. Also, they give you a "paper trading acct" which behaves like a real account, except it doesn't post real trades. you can forwardtest your strategies on live market data with this. IMO, this is probably the best way for HN people to get involved. I also realize that it probably sounds like I'm selling for IB, but i'm not. Just a happy customer for 4 years.