CQG, TT and Bloomberg, what is the best trading platform ?

R

Rachmaninov

I didn't find a lof of good posts on "professionnal trading platforms", so I wonder if someone is using this platform.

I am currently trading with IB and its Trader Work Station platform. I trade automated strategies through an API.

Which platform has the best API ?
The best spreading tools ? (I have my owns but it can be useful)
Is there any free platform ?

Thanks
 
X trader : What I use now. Good connectivity. Numerous exchanges supported. Useful tools on ladders like queue position calculator. Major basic position management lacking, no overnight carrying of spread positions on MD trader for example. NO CHARTS except if you trade ES, CL...( you have to ask your clearing firm for any new symbol and expiry )

X Trader Pro : Overpriced. Great spreading functionality. Easy programming language with ADL. Easy market making with Autotrader.

CQG: Have never tried.

CTS T4: Best value. Handles pretty much everything X trader does for 500$ per month and you get charts and indicator for implied prices on CME on top...
 
Tradator. I use xtrader and not sure what you mean by no overnight carrying of positions for spreads on md trader. Is this because you restart xtrader each night and your md trader shows you as being flat the next day even though you actually have a position on. If so there are two ways around this. Number 1: dont restart xtrader each night. I usually leave it on all week without any issues and restart it on weekends. Number 2: in the fills window right click in there and click on add manual fill. This will add or remove any position back to mdtrader making it look like the trade is still on. useful for keepig track of your positions. Also i can get charts for spreads and any product as log as there is some volume in the contract.

I use xtrader pro with adl. While expensive i have no doubt i wouldnt be anywhere near as profitable if not for autospreader and adl. Its also very fast and very stable i dont think its ever froze on me and i have 6 screens full of ladders. If you were to fill 6 screens full of IB windows my computer would probably slow to a crawl with all the ram being sucked for tws. Ram usage on xtrader is extremely low by comparison. That being said any program that runs on java is a major ram hog ive noticed.

We use bloomberg and cqg as well in our office but only for charting and news so cant say what trading is like on it. I dont think bloomberg has an autospreader however.

Hope that helps.
 
Thanks Rolando, I had a brief moment of hope while starting to read your message...LOL...I knew those fixes but I have like 20-30 spread positions carried over every night so even if I only restart the system in the week end, it would be all wrong until at least the middle of the week and by the way when I created my account, I explicitly agreed not to let my platform unattended.I never let my platform open when there are kids around for example, one mouse click and you are short 10 lots of something...When it comes to simulated fills, they don't disappear when you are actually flat.You need a sim fill in and out...However, I got used to this problem.My GTC orders on the other side help me trck my position and it's only in fast market condition that I lose count and need to check my positions pane. I just find it odd you can't have such a basic feature on "the standard of the industry".
 
I agree for your comments on X Trader Pro though. As I said on an other thread as well, I feel that the "advanced" tools of TT are great. There is just some basic stuff missing.

You don't have to ask your clearing firm when you want charts for a new instrument????o_O
 
No I don't have to ask for anything i just click on charts and they pop up. I will admit that the charts are not that great and sometimes they just plain don't work. Which is why i'm grateful I have cqg for my charts which is great for the spreads I trade. Even for the illiquid contract I can always get a chart on cqg.

I get how restarting tt each night can be a pain, even adding the manual fills to get those positions "back On" the ladders is a pain in the ass to do for every single one. Luckily I don't do this often, just usually after the weekend when i hold stuff over the weekend. But even so occasionally I get lazy and find myself all confused wishing I had done it before I just got filled in 5 different products at once and scrambling to figure out if i'm hung or not.

Another workaround might be to just disconnect your mouse and keyboard each night preventing anyone from clicking anything and just leave TT on.
 
rolando87 said:
No I don't have to ask for anything i just click on charts and they pop up. I will admit that the charts are not that great and sometimes they just plain don't work. Which is why i'm grateful I have cqg for my charts which is great for the spreads I trade. Even for the illiquid contract I can always get a chart on cqg.

I get how restarting tt each night can be a pain, even adding the manual fills to get those positions "back On" the ladders is a pain in the ass to do for every single one. Luckily I don't do this often, just usually after the weekend when i hold stuff over the weekend. But even so occasionally I get lazy and find myself all confused wishing I had done it before I just got filled in 5 different products at once and scrambling to figure out if i'm hung or not.

Another workaround might be to just disconnect your mouse and keyboard each night preventing anyone from clicking anything and just leave TT on.
More...

TraDaToR and rolando87, while this thread is a few months old, I wanted to let you know that from the sounds of it, some of what we’re doing at TT in our new platform, also named TT, might be of interest to you.

First, your problem with start of day positions has been addressed. You can now manage the setup of your own account to control this functionality. You can set the nightly position reset time and choose to generate start of day positions automatically. You don’t need an admin or your FCM to do this for you. You can control it yourself.

Second, regarding charting, the problem of needing to rely on your admin or FCM to maintain historical databases is gone. Because the new platform is Software-as-a-Service, we now maintain historical data for all instruments we support to ensure that you always have a chart available.

In addition to controlling the historical data to ensure you have what you need, we are also working on adding more history and will ultimately provide up to 10 years of history for all markets we support.

Lastly, we are very excited about the latency in our Autospreader and Algo/ADL offerings in the new platform. We have redesigned our co-located infrastructure to build a best in class solution.

Over the next few months we will be putting out previews of the new platform on our blog and through #PreviewTT. You should check it out and contact our sales team to possibly even get early access. General availability will be announced soon.
 
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