Fusionz: I went direct access for a bit
My broker was NobleTrading. I was able to do it with 8k. Though the software was $150 a month to rent. Fills were usually very good, I could only use gnet for otc stocks though. The commission was never more than $25. Island was great and cheap for nasdaqs, before they got bought out or whatever. I paid 11$ commission per trade all together. However I stopped using it and now use lowtrades. The amount of money I trade is not worth using direct access to me. I stopped using it around september of last year, I am not sure if there is a minmum cash requirement to use it now, as Omni noted there seems to be now.
npoz