Direct Access Trading

DAT (Direct Access Trading) is trading by sending your buy and sell trade orders directly to the stock market, rather than via any particular brokerage. What people mean by "direct access trading" is a Level II trading system (such as "Real Tick" for example). Using a direct access trading system, a trader can choose exactly how he wants to send an order to market.

This is either to an exchange (e.g. NYSE or CME), a computerized order matching system (an ECN standing for "electronic communications network"), or one of the regular market makers ('big' players who are contractually obliged to 'make a market' in certain stocks).

EMPfx: Open a Forex Trading Account, Fixed Spreads

The day trader can also, if he wishes, send orders straight through a direct access broker, who can execute those trading orders much faster than your average online retail brokerage.
Speed when trading is essential - traders who are day trading or using short-term trading styles need to be in and out, often within minutes, and a bad fill can make the difference between day trading profit and loss. You will pay less for a direct access than you will for an ordinary online retail trading account. Spread betting firms supplying day trading facilities make their money from the spread, so don't charge extra.

Hypothetical performance results have many inherent limitations. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profits or losses similar to those shown. In fact, there are frequently sharp differences between hypothetical performance results and the actual results subsequently achieved by any particularly trading program. One of the limitations of hypothetical performance results is that they are generally prepared with the benefit of hindsight. In addition, hypothetical trading does not involve financial risk. Variables such as the ability to adhere to a particular trading program in spite of trading losses as well as maintaining adequate liquidity are material points which can adversely affect actual real trading results.