Interactive Data to Acquire Lycos Inc.’s Quote.com

[AAAintheBeltway]

Quote from Chuck_T:

Hello All,

Thanks for your interest in the eSignal press release on IDC to acquire Quote.com. As public companies this PR only announces the signing of the agreement and not the final completion of the deal.

Because of that, we can't say much currently except we do intend to keep all their products including QCharts and intend to improve them and the data sources including adding the vast collection of international and forex data we have to these products.

Once the deal closes we'll more actively communicate our future plans.

Chuck Thompson
President, eSignal

Chuck,

I realize some of my posts, and those of other QCharts users, have been a bit negative toward Esignal. I'd like to try to balance that by saying I'm sure we all appreciate the fact that you monitor these boards and are much more customer-service oriented than Lycos.

I think there is a clear sense among the users here that we like the QChart product just the way it is. Of course, no one would object to more data, eg from international exchanges, but the main attraction of the product is the slick charting and interface in a reasonably priced package. I think it is fair to say that most of the users are experienced traders who have graduated from the need to have scores of indicators or bells and whistles.

I hope you also appreciate the fact that the availablity of the IB feed with extremely low cost charting packages such as Quote Tracker and Sierra will severely limit what you can charge for the new QCharts. As it is for many of us, the cost of the various futures exchanges drives the cost up significantly and makes the IB/low cost charting app alternative very attractive, even if there is some minor loss of functionality.

 

[McCloud]

Quote from AAAintheBeltway:

Chuck,

.....

I think there is a clear sense among the users here that we like the QChart product just the way it is. Of course, no one would object to more data, eg from international exchanges, but the main attraction of the product is the slick charting and interface in a reasonably priced package. I think it is fair to say that most of the users are experienced traders who have graduated from the need to have scores of indicators or bells and whistles.

I hope you also appreciate the fact that the availablity of the IB feed with extremely low cost charting packages such as Quote Tracker and Sierra will severely limit what you can charge for the new QCharts. As it is for many of us, the cost of the various futures exchanges drives the cost up significantly and makes the IB/low cost charting app alternative very attractive, even if there is some minor loss of functionality.

Ditto!!

 

[sammybea]

Quote from AAAintheBeltway:


As it is for many of us, the cost of the various futures exchanges drives the cost up significantly and makes the IB/low cost charting app alternative very attractive, even if there is some minor loss of functionality.

Sorry AAA, but not everyone feels that way. I would be more than happy to stick with Qcharts and Esignal if they charged a little bit more but with a SOLID data feed. I don't know many professionals who would go with something cheaper as an alternative. They just want something that works and is reliable. Personally, if esignal destroyed qcharts, I would be more apt to go with CQG which is more expensive.

Another words, if Esignal uses a solid data feed to support Qcharts, they will be exploiting a huge market even if they charge a few dollars more.

 

[chisel]

Quote from AAAintheBeltway:

...I think there is a clear sense among the users here that we like the QChart product just the way it is. Of course, no one would object to more data, eg from international exchanges, but the main attraction of the product is the slick charting and interface in a reasonably priced package. I think it is fair to say that most of the users are experienced traders who have graduated from the need to have scores of indicators or bells and whistles.

I hope you also appreciate the fact that the availablity of the IB feed with extremely low cost charting packages such as Quote Tracker and Sierra will severely limit what you can charge for the new QCharts. As it is for many of us, the cost of the various futures exchanges drives the cost up significantly and makes the IB/low cost charting app alternative very attractive, even if there is some minor loss of functionality.

AAA,

Well said. VERY well said. I don't need the bells and whistles. I chart futures only and have very basic charts...volume at the bottom of a bar chart and maybe a trendline or two. That's it.

I do like the time and sales feature of Qcharts b/c it shows bid/ask/trade instead of just trades. If I could talk Ensign into having that feature (b/a/t), I'd give them a shot and save $100/mo. via IB's feed.

 

[nkhoi]

just a repeat of my past suggestion; two tier pricing one for lite data user and one for heavy data user.

 

[sammybea]

Quote from chisel:

AAA,

Well said. VERY well said. I don't need the bells and whistles. I chart futures only and have very basic charts...volume at the bottom of a bar chart and maybe a trendline or two. That's it.

I do like the time and sales feature of Qcharts b/c it shows bid/ask/trade instead of just trades. If I could talk Ensign into having that feature (b/a/t), I'd give them a shot and save $100/mo. via IB's feed.

My only point is that the number of people Qcharts would lose if they charge a few extra dollars for a solid, reliable program would be completely offset by customers who are looking for a cheaper alternative to CQG. And I am sure Esignal has the statistics on how many people they actually lose due to nominal price increases, which isn't probably many.

It isn't advantageous to market a software product to traders who simply threaten to leave over a couple of dollars of an increase in their fixed costs. Especially when those dollars goes towards technological improvements.

 

[AAAintheBeltway]

Quote from sammybea:

Sorry AAA, but not everyone feels that way. I would be more than happy to stick with Qcharts and Esignal if they charged a little bit more but with a SOLID data feed. I don't know many professionals who would go with something cheaper as an alternative. They just want something that works and is reliable. Personally, if esignal destroyed qcharts, I would be more apt to go with CQG which is more expensive.

Another words, if Esignal uses a solid data feed to support Qcharts, they will be exploiting a huge market even if they charge a few dollars more.

I understand your point, but I think QCharts is pretty solid now, probably every bit as reliable as ESignal. ESig does not offer as much intraday historical data as QCharts, nor do they offer the full range of market stats and hot lists that QCharts offers. If they ditch these and use the Esig data, they may be surprised at how many users migrate to IB and a low cost charting app like QT. The issue is not that they raise prices $5 a month or whatever, but that you can save the cost of the exchange fees by using the IB feed. For a lot of futures traders, the exchange fees end up costing several times the software fee.

It's not like the IB/charting app approach is a toy. IB has the best feed in terms of speed, reliability and markets covered. I don't think QT or Sierra's charting is as good as QCharts but it's probably good enough.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

 

[nkhoi]

Quote from AAAintheBeltway:

I ... Sierra's charting is as good as QCharts but it's probably good enough.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

S chart is barely good enough, if they ofter Qchart at TaHoe price I will switch.

 

[AAAintheBeltway]

Quote from nkhoi:

S chart is barely good enough, if they ofter Qchart at TaHoe price I will switch.

Is Tahoe still around? I tried to go to their site but i was redirected to GET. Does ESig own them too?

 

[lcw]

Quote from AAAintheBeltway:

Is Tahoe still around? I tried to go to their site but i was redirected to GET. Does ESig own them too?

I used to have Tahoe Chart for 11 months and I give up because I learnt that they have stop supporting any newer build (no further product enhancement) for Tahoe Chart and that is why I gave them up. They do not take in any new subscribers but continue to support their existing Tahoe Chart user. In my opinion, Tahoe Charts is more or less dead. That's why you can't find Tahoe Chart web site ... not there for many months now.
I have moved on to Ensign Windows for 5 months now and I can say that Ensign Windows charting features and supports are so much better than Tahoe Chart. I am very pleased with Ensign Windows with IB Live feed for U$40/mths. Hope they don't raise their fees further as the US dollars is almost 1.8 times higher in exchange rate than my currency here in the south east asia