2/way Satelitte Trading Review

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plumlazy

First let me thank all those that posted on my previous thread: "Satelitte? Does it work well for trading?

I have now had the opportunty to trade with newly aquired DirecWay 2/way for 5 trading days. I like it. (trading nasdaq e-minies)

Yes, there is some lag. Only, I rarely notice it and it has not been a problem for "me". Traders that have DSL, Cable, T1 etc. may not like the satelitte.(lag) I can only compare the bird to my previous dial-up connection. I find the slight lag to be much more acceptable than the problems that I was getting from dial-up.

I am only a smalltime student of trading and I almost always trade only 1 contract per trade, so when I tried scalping for a point or 2, everything (slight lag) seemed to work fine = good enough for me. What I like best is that I no longer get repeated data stoppage coupled with bandwidth warnings from realtick and I no longer get disconnects from IB and realtick because of bandwidth problems.( this happened many times a day with my dial-up)

The cost of the satelitte including professional install (required for 2'way) was roughly 750$ and was done by a local store, that was actually professional in every way. (World Vision Satelitte - Columbia, S.C.) So if anyone in the area is ever considering this setup, I suppose these folks are just as good as any. The monthly costs will be about 60$ (They had another plan - pay less on start-up and more per month) I probably could have shopped for a cheaper deal but I like having the local store to call on if I accidently knock the dish off course with my lawnmower, or fry an errant squirrel during transmit, etc. Whatever!

Needless to say, I didn't want to shell out the $, but I consider it to be an investment that will pay off. So if you can't get DSL or Cable and live out in the boonies, then I can say that if you are having problems with your isp data transfer, then the satelitte may be a good experience for you as well.

One other note: It has been cloudy and scattered T-storms in my area almost everyday that I have used this system. Once, on Friday lost contact with the bird and lost my internet connection. There was a dark cloud that blew over quickly and I had the satelitte back online in about ten minutes. I just used my dial-up -back-up for a bit. I wasn't in a trade at the time, but if I had been, I would have had a manual stop allready in place (got in that habit early on.....lol.....my dial-up never was stable) :)

Best regards and good trading to all!
Plumlazy
 
I dont know if you have two computers but if you do I would consider using a dialup for IB on a second computer. I use both and the phone line is faster for executions than the satellite.
 
I only have one computer. If my method calls an entry and I want in, I just pay up for the entry most of the time. I get in plenty fast. I sweep the entry so to speak. If it's dead zone and a slow market I sometimes play market maker scalp a little here and there, but in faster markets, when my method says go, I go.
 
I am in the boonies, got the Starband (2 way) sattelite system just over a year ago and would not recommend it to anyone who wants to DT.

Sometimes lag time is hardly noticeable, othertimes its downright scary at approx. 2 seconds.

I have had numerous outtages when the weather here was sunny and clear but in Georgia, where the hub is, its cloudy or stormy. If its, real cloudy, foggy or stormy here - forget it! Plan on zero internet for a while, usually takes from 10 to 90 minutes *after* things clear up.

I have 2 computers, one dialup which is my main computer running, IB, Qcharts, Pal talk, email and maybe a web page or two......disconnects happen a few times a day on a normal day, 4 or 5 times on a bad day.

Many times, I cannot even log on to chat, qcharts or IB - or some other real time applcations due to the pittifully slow ping time with the sattelite. I have had IB running on both sattelite and dialup at the same time (I have 2 accounts) and its easy to see the lag time that is inherent with the sattelite.

For fast downloads, the sattelite is like 100 times faster than dial up but the second or two lag time for day trading futures is like an eternity.

Maybe its just that Starband sucks, I don't know, but I am happier to trade with dial up than to trade using sattelite.
 
stevieoh,

I'm sorry to hear all that. Maybe the worst is yet to come. Since I don't have 2 pc's running, I don't see the data difference. With my style of trading maybe ignorance is bliss.

It seems to me that IB's software seeks the best possible price so I suppose that it all comes out in the wash anyway, for me. Sometimes a click or so against me, other times for me. Since I am not trading heavy shares for tiny clips, I don't have a problem with it.

Stability was what I was looking for and so far I have been happy enough with what this system has delivered. I suppose you would have to see how "really - really bad" my dial-up connection performs. I don't mind so much a little bit of lag as long as data doesn't "Stop" ( as it does with my phoneline connection)

Heck, I'm getting kind of old and slow anyway. It usually takes me a second or two to set up my orders - stop loss and click on the transmit button anyway. I almost always only trade one contract and my method is usually good for several NQ points or sometimes much more depending on how well the price moves and how well I manage the position with my trailing stop. Or the price moves against me and I get stopped out. (it's gip then) So I set about the business of getting in position for my next setup or I make a ham and cheese sandwich and fall asleep in my chair with my little dachshund dog(Zelda), it just all depends on how I feel and what the market's doing.

So in 5 trading days I had one disconnect and zero data stoppage. So far, I'm happy with that.:)
 
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