Real discounts for using partner broker with eSignal

S

seldin

I don't like to pay the high fees for eSignal real time. A tech rep told me they have partners with some brokers so that if you use the partner broker you can get reimbursed for your eSignal data feed either all or in part. Obviously, you have to make enough trades.

Anyway, I went to the eSignal site and looked for brokers that support Futures and Futures Options on Commodities that may provide a link to eSignal.

When I clicked on the eSignal link there is no information on any deals. I did contact the broker web sites of

Man Financial
MB Trading
Intesa Trade

Only MB trading was able to respond and also said they do not handle Futures Options on Commodities.

I contacted eSignal for more information. The tech rep said they are not responsible for any deals. I explained that can't you point me to someone who at least knows a person to contact on these offers. They told me no.

So do any of you use any brokers who rebate for eSignal?

Thanks much,

larryTAKEOUT@seldin.net
 
Quote from jimrockford:

Why do you need Esignal?
More...

Jim,

I am a mechanical trader. I back test all of my trading systems and so I need access to data. The nice thing about eSignal is they also have a feature called a Continuous contract (for the futures market), which is what I specialize in. So that I don't have to manually tie all of my contracts together. Their history data is excellent.

In addition, I would love to have eSignal in real time, without it being so expensive, because my Options Software (Optionvue5) has a hook (an expensive software), that uses data from eSignal.

So I would love to have eSignal in real time, with out having it to be so expensive.

So basically my first choice would be to have esignal in real time rather than use another vendor. Most of my software can use eSignal for it's data feed.

What I do now, is subscribe to EOD data from eSignal which is not expensive, so I can backtest and then for real time trades, I futz with data from other sources. Such as my brokers data feed is free in real time, so I can use it for Futures. However, for Options, I pay another vendor (OptionVue5) for delayed data to feed (their software). However, if I had eSignal real time it would be better for my Options software.

Presently, eSignal would cost over $100/month for real time and I pay $50/month for data for my Options software. I don't like paying for the Options data because that data feed is very specialized and I can only use this data for their software.


larryTAKEOUT@seldin.net
 
Quote from jimrockford:

Why do you need Optionvue? Who is your broker?
More...

Jim,

OptionVue maintains a history database of all Futures and commodities for 6 years. So I can manually go back for a 6 year period and track my buy and sell decisions on options.

Very few vendors offer any facility at all for back testing options. Even OptionVue really just maintains a database history of prices, but at least I can manually go back and do my own back testing.

I use IB.

larryTAKEOUT@seldin.net
 
Quote from seldin:

Jim,

OptionVue maintains a history database of all Futures and commodities for 6 years. So I can manually go back for a 6 year period and track my buy and sell decisions on options.

Very few vendors offer any facility at all for back testing options. Even OptionVue really just maintains a database history of prices, but at least I can manually go back and do my own back testing.

I use IB.

larryTAKEOUT@seldin.net
More...

Let me see if I got this straight.

You are paying $150 per month, so that you can maintain access to a database of price histories going back 6 years?
 
Quote from jimrockford:

Let me see if I got this straight.

You are paying $150 per month, so that you can maintain access to a database of price histories going back 6 years?
More...

Jim,

Not exactly. I pay eSignal $300 a year for EOD data that I can access after all of their data after the market closes. This gives me access to all data available. Just not during market hours. I presently download this data into WealthLab which is my back testing platform for testing my trading systems.

I get free real time data with very little history from my broker. So I back test with eSignal and then use WealthLab/QuoteTracker with my broker data feed to give me my mechanical buy and sell signals (not for options) in real time.

I also paid this year $650 to OptionVue5 for access to their history database and updates to their software.

I have tried every way possible to not have to be tied to the OptionVue5 yearly fees. Basically, if you use their software you must pay them for their data feed. In reality, they will not setup their software so that you not have to.

The only alternative is to use software from another vendor. Some brokers provide good Opton Software like OptionExpress. The problem is again, I need to back test even my Options strategies, so I grudgingly pay OptionVue5 for their data feed.

Their product is good and their software is very, expensive. I paid over $3K for their software. However, they also want money every year for their data feed.

I find their product is excellent, except for the yearly subscription fee.

So yes, the fees I pay every year are expensive.

larryTAKEOUT@seldin.net
 
Can't you purchase your historical data from a reasonably priced vendor, purchase some reasonably priced options software or get some for free, and then ditch Optionvue and Esignal? Wouldn't this be cheaper?
 
Quote from jimrockford:

Can't you purchase your historical data from a reasonably priced vendor, purchase some reasonably priced options software or get some for free, and then ditch Optionvue and Esignal? Wouldn't this be cheaper?
More...

Jim,

I have been that route. It may exist for others, but not for my requirements.

I like the continuous contracts that eSignal provides. Makes it much easier to back test and not have to concatenate each contract as it's expiring.

Other vendors can provide data such as Yahoo. Except Yahoo does not provide Futures data and does not provide continuous contracts.

As far as OptionVue5, I don't know of many vendors that provide that history database.

So I look at it this way. I paid a ton of money for OptionVue5. Their software provides a lot of functionality for me. I am also used to it, so there is no learning curve.

I would really enjoy 2 things:

Somehow getting eSignal for a cheaper price. There monthly fee for Futures and Options in real time is well over $100/month plus other fees. It may be around $125 to $150 a month (ouch).

It would be great, if OptionVue5 would support other data imports. They don't and just so you know, I paid $400 for the interface to eSignal for OptionVue5. So each interface that they do provide costs "a lot of money". And that's besides the yearly fees they enjoy.

Since I trade Futures and Options I guess this is the cost of doing business.

However, that's why I am here, to find out other alternatives from traders such as yourself.


larryTAKEOUT@seldin.net
 
Quote from seldin:

Jim,

I have been that route. It may exist for others, but not for my requirements.

I like the continuous contracts that eSignal provides. Makes it much easier to back test and not have to concatenate each contract as it's expiring.

Other vendors can provide data such as Yahoo. Except Yahoo does not provide Futures data and does not provide continuous contracts.

As far as OptionVue5, I don't know of many vendors that provide that history database.

So I look at it this way. I paid a ton of money for OptionVue5. Their software provides a lot of functionality for me. I am also used to it, so there is no learning curve.

I would really enjoy 2 things:

Somehow getting eSignal for a cheaper price. There monthly fee for Futures and Options in real time is well over $100/month plus other fees. It may be around $125 to $150 a month (ouch).

It would be great, if OptionVue5 would support other data imports. They don't and just so you know, I paid $400 for the interface to eSignal for OptionVue5. So each interface that they do provide costs "a lot of money". And that's besides the yearly fees they enjoy.

Since I trade Futures and Options I guess this is the cost of doing business.

However, that's why I am here, to find out other alternatives from traders such as yourself.


larryTAKEOUT@seldin.net
More...

I don't know about specific alternatives for your particular needs. You need to research them. I think that you are being scammed. You should be able to make your own continuous contracts using MS-Excel. You should be able to purchase historical data by paying for it just once, and then never paying for it again. You can update the data for free by using IB's data. I am not very familiar with Optionvue, but I imagine you are paying through the nose because you aren't doing your homework or tolerating your learning curves on how to find reasonably priced and reasonably flexible software to do what you need.

If you choose to be lazy, then you will pay a high price for this choice; and in that case, you are exactly the type of person at whom Esignal and its allies aim grossly overpriced products. I'm trying to be helpful, not insulting.

I doubt very much that paying for Esignal and Optionvue are a cost of doing business. I suspect that doing your homework and climbing your learning curves are the only costs you need pay. But if you are hugely and consistently profitable long term, I guess you can afford to throw your money away. Most traders are not profitable, and so, they cannot afford to be taken by E-signal pricing, and they should do the work required to minimize their costs.
 
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