Satellite? Does it work well for trading?

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plumlazy

I live in a place where I can't get cable or dsl. My isp connection just doesn't cut it for trading nasdaq e-minies. Does anyone know of anyone using the Direcway/ 2way satellite system that could shed some light on whether or not using something like this would be a viable option for me. I have heard/read, that there can be a several second lag with satellite data, but maybe that would be better than data stoppage, which is what is happening currently during the least bit of a fast market with my isp.

Thanks in advance for any comments/knowledge on this! E. Killian alias - plumlazy (an opposites handle)
 
Depends entirely on your style. I'm a swing/position trader, and my DirecPC connection has worked well for me. There is a 600ms ping tho, so for a fast fingers scalper it would be iffy. Bandwidth is never a problem, I have multi monitors running with almost 20 charts.

Worth a look, once you get it set up, it's nice and stable.

-Bo Yoder
 
I used BMIs satellite data for several years before I found
a program (Dynastore) that would allow tradestation to work with eSignal. I didn't even realize it until I compared them(I still had BMI while I was testing dynastore) and discovered the satellite feed was sometimes 2 handles behind the eSignal.


For example, the markets going up and eSignal shows 1065.25
on the ES. My TWS (trading platform) shows maybe 1065.50 and
my satellite data is showing 1063.00 or so. Not good, if you put
in a market order thinking you're going to get a fill around 1063.00.

I had always attributed it to slippage. Heck, I thought satellite
was as fast as it got. lol


The bottom line is, if you're going to be trading intraday, don't
even consider satellite. You're better off occasionally losing
your internet connection.

Hope this helps.
 
Originally posted by plumlazy
I live in a place where I can't get cable or dsl. My isp connection just doesn't cut it for trading nasdaq e-minies. Does anyone know of anyone using the Direcway/ 2way satellite system that could shed some light on whether or not using something like this would be a viable option for me. I have heard/read, that there can be a several second lag with satellite data, but maybe that would be better than data stoppage, which is what is happening currently during the least bit of a fast market with my isp.

Thanks in advance for any comments/knowledge on this! E. Killian alias - plumlazy (an opposites handle)
More...

Depends on your style. Not good for scalpers... you're better off with dial-up and don't try to watch the whole market.

There's an inherent lag in satellite. It's generally 1/2 sec to 3/4 sec each way. That means that if you're trading against someone on DSL/Cable, and you both react as soon as you get a quote, your order will get there than a second behind him.

But if a second is OK, then satellite can give you plenty of bandwidth.
 
I had starband and pretty much agree with the previous posts....ping times > 600ms are common. Heavy clouds, rain and snow can knock you off line from time to time so be ready for that. It would be fine for swing trading but if your style is of a time sensitive nature, you'll be better served by something else.

For my purposes, getting a frame relay line was the answer but out here in the sticks, it is really expensive.

Do a search here on ET and you'll find a ton of information... after that, if you still have questions, just post them..

Good trading!

Jim
PS- I sure miss Starband for those big file downloads though...when it gets going, the speed is astronomical.
 
You may want to look at "shotgunning" two or more modems together to give a bigger "pipe" to work with.

The best are hardware based but the software based shotgun modems are still a lot better than just one.

also remember that a 56K modem is only 56K max coming down to your computer and 33K max going up. While two modems shotgunned together should in a perfect world give you 112K you will be lucky to get 70-90K. BUT still a lot better than the 25-45K your probably getting now.

another big factor that many dont think about is the quality of the ISP. If they have one T1 line and 3000 customers (total) your screwed no matter what you do. ( a lot of the country ISPs with little compitition are known to step on their T1 pretty hard). So it may be wise to spend some time figuring out what is the best ISP for you.

External modems are a little faster than internal modems as well.

An ISDN 112K connection will be a lot faster than a shotgunned 112K connection due to the fact that the ISDN will be running on a cleaner digital pipe.

hope it helps
 
Originally posted by 1Reason
You may want to look at "shotgunning" two or more modems together to give a bigger "pipe" to work with.
More...

Be careful with shotgun technology. It's good for webpages, but not streaming quotes as it splits the signal into two paths that each go their own way. Your streaming quotes need one path. You may want to check on multilink connections as they bind into one path. This thread has more info on it:
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3501

I once multilinked 4 phone lines for a speed of about 200K.

But your ISP has to be set up for it or it won't work and the big boys don't do it, just the small local providers.
 
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