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Orca
- Thread starter Grant
- Start date
are you talking about the trading frontend?
http://www.orcsoftware.com/
this place is better.
http://www.rtsgroup.net/
http://www.orcsoftware.com/
this place is better.
http://www.rtsgroup.net/
StreamlineTrade
Guest
Quote from rosy2:
are you talking about the trading frontend?
http://www.orcsoftware.com/
this place is better.
http://www.rtsgroup.net/
I respectfully disagree.
Although RTS is a solid platform, ORC is by far the superior. OK it costs an arm and a leg more than ORC - but there's a reason for that - and the people who buy it dont mind the difference.
The reasons are many, but perhaps the most glaringly obvious for an options trader is the ability to also trade other underlying markets, where as RTS is comparatively limited in this department.
I am a local at the CME in the process of transitioning to the box. We looked at several packages and agree that Orc is the superior platform.
However, unless trading is your profession, I believe that Orc is more complex than most people need and more expensive than most people can absorb without trading size.
We spent several months simply learning how to use it. That included more than 40 hours of training and going through their 700+ page manual. To be candid, I still don't feel completely comfortable in the environment.
It is also expensive: $2,000/mo./user for the software, $500/mo./user per exchange, and between $1,000 and $5,000 per month for the high bandwidth data lines you need. Additionally, you need your own server - we're using an 8 core HP and high-end multi-monitor PC's.
This post is not intended to discourage people from using Orc as I feel it is the best program available. But you need to consider your trading profile before you go this direction.
However, unless trading is your profession, I believe that Orc is more complex than most people need and more expensive than most people can absorb without trading size.
We spent several months simply learning how to use it. That included more than 40 hours of training and going through their 700+ page manual. To be candid, I still don't feel completely comfortable in the environment.
It is also expensive: $2,000/mo./user for the software, $500/mo./user per exchange, and between $1,000 and $5,000 per month for the high bandwidth data lines you need. Additionally, you need your own server - we're using an 8 core HP and high-end multi-monitor PC's.
This post is not intended to discourage people from using Orc as I feel it is the best program available. But you need to consider your trading profile before you go this direction.
Tower,
If possible, and from your perspective, could you provide a brief outline as to how Orc can improve trading; what features justify the high cost (makes you irresistable to women, adds a couple of inches to your height - and elsewhere, wake up with a cascading head of curly hair)?
You are not allowed to refer to the manual.
Grant.
If possible, and from your perspective, could you provide a brief outline as to how Orc can improve trading; what features justify the high cost (makes you irresistable to women, adds a couple of inches to your height - and elsewhere, wake up with a cascading head of curly hair)?
You are not allowed to refer to the manual.
Grant.
Quote from Grant:
Tower,
Grant:
While I haven't been using Orc long enough for those fringe benefits to kick in, I will let you know some of the things we like about Orc.
N.B. I trade in the futures markets so I cannot speak to Orcs stock option capabilities.
1) Risk management. I am almost pathological about real-time risk profiles. Even though most traders have a strong intuitive feel for what a few trades will do to their position, (especially you Cottle fans), I find that seeing my Greeks graphically depicted forces me to confront what I am doing to a position. On the floor, guys have clerks run their positions several times a day. in Orc, you do it on every trade or with every move of each underlying. It helps reinforce trade discipline.
2) Strategies. You can design virtually any option strategy and have the program actively or passively hunt for opportunities that fit. If one comes along you can set the program to either notify you or automatically take the trade. (By "actively" I mean that the system can put out bait orders on part of the spread and if someone hits or lifts the bait, Orc will leg the rest).
3) Speed. We have redundant 20 Mb lines tied to the cages below the CME floor. These are fed to a server whose sole function is to provide two computers market quotes and reply with our bids and asks. Orc allows us to mass quote both the puts and calls in every .2 to .8 (call) delta strike in multiple months using multiple hedge contracts in real time while dynamically adjusting our bait orders. I donât believe other systems can be set up this way. As best I can tell, I have never missed a trade due to speed.
As an aside, this is about the middle of what Orc requires. We have an 8-core server - the Orc folks told us this would be "more than adequate" for our two person operation. Similarly, we could have "gotten away with" a 5 Mb line.
4) Skew trading. At heart, all locals (even reformed locals) want to scalp the skew. If you don't trade S&P's or any of the other equities you may not know how these scalps work. Simply, during a rally calls move down the vol. curve so locals sell calls and buy the futures. At the end of the rally (because of the decrease in vol.), the calls are often worth less than they were at the pre-rally (lower) price of the underlying. The local will then buy back the cheaper calls and sell out his futures - making a profit on both sides. The same thing works on the put wing. Orc has great tools for changing your bids and offers the moment a rally or break occurs. You can do this in two mouse clicks. They tell me this will be reduced to one mouse click in Dec. when a new version is released. (BTW, I've seen several people in this forum discuss losing money on calls or puts when the underlying moves their direction...this is the reason).
There are other benefits to the tool set as well. I like being able to define different hedge contracts for different components of my portfolio. I like to define each portfolio to include only specific trade types so I can see how my calendar's are working versus my iron condors versus my flys or scalps etc. This may seem minor, but to me it is really informative.
This is not to say that Orc is perfect. I still can't get some of the volatility spreads to work the way I would like. You can't run both the trade hedger and portfolio hedger at the same time. The learning curve is enormous and, of course, it is a bit pricey.
We looked as several systems (six if my memory serves) and liked parts of almost all of them. Unless you are convinced you need the speed, power and flexibility Orc offers - you may want to consider one of the others.
Sorry this is so long but I didn't have time to make it shorter.
Regards,
Tower