Agreed that trading is risk, but I want to remove as much risk as possible, hence want counter party risk as small as possible .. and I don't trade stocks for just the reason you mention, going bust overnight .. I only trade indices so I have a lower risk (that being a market crash, and I don't hold ASI futures over night) .. I also manage my risk so even a crash going against me if I was fully in wouldn't wipe me out .. whereas a counter [party collapse would wipe out my trading portfolio ..
And yes platform and costs are critical, but considering what I trade (ALSI futures and CFD's on a few STX products) .. OST has cheapest ALSI futures and cheap CFD's .. Are the charts great, nope .. But they meet my requirements (with one exception being bug that can't 'see' yesterdays data still not fixed) ..
IG, sure the group has impressive stats to show (albeit small when compared to SB) .. but here's the Q I always have had and have no answer (and I have no answer as I have never bothered to find out). Is the local arm a separate legal entity (certainly it is as a subsidiary??), and then if they take a massive hit will the parent step in a bail them out or walk away ?? The answer they will give is useless the only test would be if it happened .. so there's your unknown/risk .. you can take it or leave it, but you can't pretend it doesn't exist ??