Quote from version77:
Has SimTrader been banned or has just some of the posts in this
thread been deleted or changed?
V77
Which would you prefer?
To continue the discussion about native vs non-native orders:
I agree with Scientist that there are times when a person may want to use non-native orders or 'simulated' orders. For example, NinjaTrader has a bunch of features that are great tools for order entry/exit/trade management which are 'simlulated' orders at the price you want them to trigger. I know that some of the other front-end products also have similar advanced features. These tools can have you shave an extra tick on entry/exit ...stay in a trade when you would otherwise have been stopped out, etc. These are all valid tools with valid trading logic behind them, which a great many people appreciate. The developers of these front-end programs did us all a huge favour. If you have only traded via the TWS window, you will marvel at how you can now trade with one of these programs.
Just be informed enough to know that ALL non native orders (whether they be held on IB servers or simulated by an IB front-end program) carry the additional risk of you getting creamed if you have local PC problems or IB server problems at precisely the wrong moment i.e. when you expect your order to get filled! For this reason, I stick only to natively held Stop-Limit orders when trading ES/NQ. They are sitting at Globex and are safe. Not to mention timestamped and queued ready for filling ahead of the guys using non-native orders at the same price.
Simulated orders in a front-end product have their use. But in my opinion, simply using the plain (colour blue) stop orders held on IB servers have no benefit whatsoever and only carry additional risk. The guys using the free front-end product "TSim+" are only ever using plain IB server-held stop orders for the ES/NQ. By not having the ability to use stop-limits they are doing nothing but increasing their risk, and they don't even get the benefit of the simulated features used by other products. It's the worst of all worlds. Get creamed just ONCE when the market blasts through your plain IB stop order and doesn't get executed. Then come back and see whether you want to use stop-limits next time!
Like everything in life, you get what you pay for. TSim+ is free. If you're an active index futures trader, then it likely isn't good enough because it only uses IB server held stop orders and doesn't offer the possibility of a stop-limit order. In my opinion, it's better to pay for a quality product and get the features and service that you need. NinjaTrader is my favourite but that's just my 2 cents.
