IB with Esignal or Multicharts for RT data

B

Bnew92

I'm fairly new to trading, having started early this year. Things have been going fairly well and I am looking to make some changes. I swing trade and day trade equities. I am planning on moving my funds over to IB in order to save on commission from my current broker, and I am looking for some feedback on real time data sources and trading software. I know you can subscribe to real time data on IB, and then link this with Multicharts, but was wondering if there are any major differences between doing this or subscribing to Esignal for their real time data and trading/charting software. The overall price difference in monthly fees isn't huge either way, and from what I can tell I'd be able to execute trades through my IB account on either platform, so that doesn't matter so much. But how does Multicharts compare to Esignal as far as charting, scanning, back-testing, and customizing strategies? Multicharts' website also states the IB historical data only goes back 1 year, if true this would hold a lot of sway on my decision. I wouldn't need intra-day charts back that far, but would obviously want to see daily/weekly charts back at least a couple of years minimum. Also looking at ease of use and set-up, and any other differences between the two set-ups that I might not have thought of.

Potential set-ups would look like this:

Broker: IB, Data: IB, Charting/Execution: Multicharts
or...
Broker: IB, Data: Esignal, Charting/Execution: Esignal.

I am not looking to subscribe to Multicharts and Esignal, because the cost would essentially negate the benefit of moving from my current broker in the first place.
 
IB is not a solution for historical data. If I was in your situation, I would demo both MultiCharts and Esignal before making a decision. The software you should choose really depends on what features are most important to you.
 
You definitely have to pay datafeed to IB so as to get real time data for trading and perhaps for the IB chart.

I use Esignal as a charting software. I have to subscribe to the various exchanges datafeed.
I think my Esignal monthly bill is around $300

I can execute trade through IB platform or Esignal (as it can be linked to IB).

Question is do you need Esignal?
I need quality data feed and no time lag. I need candlesticks to be volume based, not time based.
IB does not provide volume based candlesticks.
There are lots of things I can do with Esignal ( eg multiple charts display on a monitor )
which are not available in IB.
If you just need simple chart, then Esignal is not necessary.
 
Multiple charts at once (1 min and 5 min), ease of use, ability to set hotkeys easily, real time screening and charting clarity and capabilities are all pretty important to me. I trialed TWS on IB and didn't like the way the charts and screens looked, it also didn't seem as user friendly. I trialed out MultiCharts next, and didn't care as much for the platform design and ease of use. My decision not to use MC was made within 5 minutes of trying to use the platform. I then trialed out Esignal, utilizing their real time data subscriptions, and it is exactly what I was looking for. I've now got everything set up generally the way I will be trading, I just need to finish getting hotkeys assigned once I'm linked to IB. Thanks for the input.
 
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