Quote from myminitrading:
It all depends on you account size. A trader with $20,000 should not spend $500.00 per month. That is 30% annually of your account equity. Two percent annually of your account equity should be dedicated to trading tools. Trading is a business treat it like one. A trader with 20k should use IB's API with Sierra Chart or Ensign. A trader with 250k can use CQG.
You should NOT be trading anything other than baseball cards and cooking recipes with an account size of $20k.