After 5 years of trial and error, leaving ameritrade for scott, then tradestation, cybertrader, back to tradestation, then IB, then e signal I finally settled on my current config. My comments are based soley on the performance of data through my DSL and my current computer config.
If I don't run too many charts at Tradestation (I've actually run up to 200 open windows before locking up), it works great. Their level 2 was a nightmare for me after they added a second server, though. I strictly chart equities and real time major indicies with them. Do some swings to pay for the platform cost, which is cheaper if you have an account with them.
E signal charting has issues for me. The 60 minute chart, the heart of my strategy, bites. Not possible to have a 60 min with the start time at 8:30 CST and a finish time of 3:00. I will see the aftermarket prints on my charts until 3:30, which often messes up my S and R. Of course you can use the 30' to get around that. They say there isn't enough demand to fix it. I have also seen the above or below bid ask ticks on charting and they wont appear at TS. Not sure if they activate my stops at IB.
Having said that, E signal's level 2 data has been great for me in high volume. Even when IB data is messed up during extreme volume, E's level 2 has performed well for me. Between TS and ES I can pretty much still trade in the worst environment. One can verify the other. Gives me a backup. When IB, TS, and ES are all three are messed up, it is usually an exchange issue with extreme volume. Break time.
I fill my day trades through IB for cost and shorting purposes. I like that fact that I can have different sizes in a single bracket once transmitted (full stop with partial target for example). Can't do that at Tradestation with out setting up an extra trade and the associated cost (last time I checked). Also can fill orders at IB through E sig. If you have a non PDT account with Tradestation, their system will not allow you to enter more then 3 trades in one day (they assume you will liquidate them all in the same day, I guess). I have a real problem with that.
I know it's extra cost, but I pay for data feed mostly at e sig, where I track futures, tick, etc. The 60 minute issue doesn't matter on those.
In the end, the cost of both presently is about what I used to pay for cyber trader alone (I pay 1 year E sig to get discount, maintain small TS account to get discount), which sucked for me as bad as scott trade elite. I have found a way to make the candles at Tradestation look like they do in other platforms using data overlap, which ads to the amount of data coming in, but if you want to run lot's of chart's, and your PC can handle it, that's the way to go. Each has drawing tools different from the other that I like. I keep TS on one monitor, ES on the other with IB.
TS + E Signal + IB solved my problems for the most part
