Question about Mobile Platforms and Emini's

R

Robertwiz

Hello,

I am aware that there is a mobile platforms by Etrade for trading stocks and options.

There also is a Mobile platform for trading from FXCM to trade currencies via Iphones or Androids.

I am interested in the intraday trading of emini futures and am wondering the following:

1. Are there any good mobile platforms with good charting capapiities for day trading emini's.

2. If so, how do they compare in terms of:

A. Not getting dropped (booted off)/ reception

b. Charting reliability

c. user friendliness.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks
 
Ignoring my first obvious question, here are some that come to mind when I think of mobile trading:


Lind-Waldock http://www.lind-waldock.com/platforms/lindwireless.shtml
Cannon Trading via Best Direct http://www.cannontrading.com/platform-pfg-best-direct.php
Mobile App for NInjaTrader http://www.ninjaterminal.com/
Optimus for the above ^ http://www.optimusfutures.com/forum...ile-futures-trading-platform-ninjatrader.html
And you mentioned E-Trade, I believe they do also have a mobile platform for trading futures.. though I'm not certain. All of these are off of the top of my head, I may be missing some.


Now, my obvious question. Why do you want to do trading on a mobile platform? There are certain latency and technological hurdles that no broker or software provider can overcome yet, and the repercussions could be terrible if you can't complete a key action when you need to. I can't think of any situation in using your phone would be better than calling your broker to place a trade or just carrying around a laptop. I mean this question honestly, what are your plans for it?
 
<<<Now, my obvious question. Why do you want to do trading on a mobile platform? There are certain latency and technological hurdles that no broker or software provider can overcome yet, and the repercussions could be terrible if you can't complete a key action when you need to. I can't think of any situation in using your phone would be better than calling your broker to place a trade or just carrying around a laptop. I mean this question honestly, what are your plans for it?>>

Okay, here is a hypothetical scenario.

Let's say you have some a new intraday system that you think has great potential. It could make you within a few years as much as your day job.

You don't want to be one of those dreamers who thinks they found the holy grail and quits their job (quiting a job is a no no in this economy) .

However, you want to start your day trading of emini's while at your day job as a test.

In certain jobs where you are genuinely occupied and the tasks demand your full attention that would be an ethical no-no. I would put a paramedic on criminal charges for instance who did something like this.

However, your current job is a red tape paper pushing job performing a staff function with tons of downtime.

Much of your group has hours to spend going to Starbucks for coffee, arguing about whether Bush or Obama stinks ( we have both hardcore liberals and hard core republicans in our office), planing diet regimes, etc.

However, using office computers for unauthorized money making purposes is a NO-NO-NO.

The culture is that a person can spend a whole year leaving to pick up their kid from school and go back to office on company time or spend an hour a day trying to make their co worker switch political parties, but anyone that dare makes 100 dollars on Ebay as a one time thing is in HOT WATER if done on office computers.

So, in this scenario you want a way to access the market but using during the day but using office computers or even office Wifi to plug in a lap top for trading is a NO-NO-NO. You have a semi-private office, but just don't want to use office computers.

Thanks
 
I use iBroker with PFG only for emergencies when my internet goes down. The smart phone has too small a screen for charting and the functionality of even an ipad is too limited for serious trading although fine for exits and checking the account balance.

Yes I know I can place a call to my broker, but trading desks these days have a very limited staff and would be overwhelmed with an avalanche of calls coming in. Would you like to exit your trades in two minutes or 5 hours in an emergency?

My android smart phone is useful for other purposes when it's not sitting around waiting for a worst possible failure situation at the trading desk and iBroker is free unless I use it and then its just 20 cents extra per rt.

Then only extra feature I would like to see is a flatten everything button but that's not a big deal.
 
That's a pretty persuasive hypothetical example... if you're always on a Wi-Fi connection with your mobile device then I suppose it's not *too* risky, and if you're trading risk capital then it's better than not trading at all! As they say, fortune favors the bold.

In this case I'd recommend either Lind or Cannon's offerings. Lind probably has astronomical rates but (may?) have good service. Cannon's rates are usually at the lower end of the group of discount brokers, but the mobile platform may not be better than Lind's.

It appears iBroker may also be a good solution ^. I'm not sure whether this is different from Cannon's offering of Best Direct or not, you'd be best off just calling the various brokers I think. Sounds like the four you would want to contact are:

Lind
Cannon
PFG
Optimus

Good luck!
 
And what happens if you drop ur mobile device?.... on the floor, into the toilet, or you just accidently leave it somewhere?.... not to mention cell signals that drop off without warning. You think your broker or cell co. is gonna reimburse you for your trading losses?
NOT !!!!


Very bad idea
 
I have two cell phones. One Verizon smart phone and one simple AT&T simple cell phone that is always kept at my trading desk, no where near the toilet LOL. I also have a VOIP phone and Skype which both obviously depend on an internet connection.

The AT&T tower happens to be on my chimney so 5 bar reception is not really an issue.

There are no absolutely guaranteed solutions but I do have an emergency stop order for all trades residing on the exchange server and sufficient margin to carry overnight if need be. This seems to have worked out ok for a number of years.
 
So I got curious about the mobile futures trading platform offerings and shot a quick email to my broker... apparently OEC also offers an app for iPhones called "iRunner". My account is with cannon so I know you can use this platform through them... The platform is obviously also offered by OEC, so you could go through them as well.

Just wanted to give an update with another option, let us know which one you choose and how you like it.
 
So this thread piqued my interest in a mobile futures trading and I got the itch to try one out... and last night I signed up for a demo of iRunner, the platform I mentioned a few days ago. I feel like an idiot for having to call my broker about it because there's actually a page for it on their website.

If you're interested here it is: http://www.cannontrading.com/futures-trading/mobile/platforms.php it's pretty slick :cool:

They have screenshots of the platform on that page. I signed up for a demo from that page, it was pretty easy.

I'm only playing around on it right now but their margins on eminis are really good so I might decide to trade on it later.. I can definitely see the appeal. I think if you were always on a Wi-Fi connection and had a stable iPhone 4 it might be worthwhile, but IMHO there's still quite a bit of risk involved with it. Regardless, I think the demo is worth checking out just to see cool technology of our modern age :).
 
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