I didn't read the whole thread, so bear with me. I also scalp the FDAX with some heavy volume. A couple of things don't make sense to me:
1. You are in Europe yet you use a US based clearer? You are adding a lot to you latency this way unless they have a clearing arrangement in Europe with a direct connection to Frankfurt.
2. Your latency of 100 ms for IB or 80 for Velocity doesn't make much sense to me. Where are the packets going? I'm assuming that you are going to Texas with Velocity. So you are doubling the latency that I already have through Chicago and I think it already sets me back just going one way over the ocean.
3. You said you have a wireless gateway. Do you have a hard wire plugged from the gateway to your machine or do you trade wirelessly? If wireless, then you are a few clicks from committing suicide if you are scalping. I would trade with nothing less than a wired connection using a wired mouse. The difference is not in the speed but in the stability and consistency. There is plenty of fluctuation in your latency using a DSL connection and you are adding to that with your wireless in addition to a few ms lost between your gateway and computer.
4. Be sure to exclude your IB, Ninja and eSignal directories from your Windows Firewall AND your virus scanner/ad scanner. Those programs have little to no chance of being infected and your computer is wasting many cycles scanning them in realtime while you trade.
There is a big difference between IB's update speed and X-Trader's. I have an account with IB and I have had one of my techs run a test using Excel with both accounts. IB is typically 600 to 800 ms behind TT (that's an average). The range can be as far as 1.5 seconds behind. In fact, IB is behind CQG by a narrower margin. Be careful. If you intend to do this professionally, then find a professional clearing firm and do your business through them.
If you plan to compete with pro's on a professional level especially in a product as strong as the FDAX, then you really want to make sure that everything from your hardware, software and cost structure is in tip-top shape. If I can cut the 100 ms between Chicago's Eurex hub and Frankfurt, I would do it so it makes no sense for you to use anyone other than a clearing firm in London, Gibraltar or closer to your location.
Best wishes and good luck.
1. You are in Europe yet you use a US based clearer? You are adding a lot to you latency this way unless they have a clearing arrangement in Europe with a direct connection to Frankfurt.
2. Your latency of 100 ms for IB or 80 for Velocity doesn't make much sense to me. Where are the packets going? I'm assuming that you are going to Texas with Velocity. So you are doubling the latency that I already have through Chicago and I think it already sets me back just going one way over the ocean.
3. You said you have a wireless gateway. Do you have a hard wire plugged from the gateway to your machine or do you trade wirelessly? If wireless, then you are a few clicks from committing suicide if you are scalping. I would trade with nothing less than a wired connection using a wired mouse. The difference is not in the speed but in the stability and consistency. There is plenty of fluctuation in your latency using a DSL connection and you are adding to that with your wireless in addition to a few ms lost between your gateway and computer.
4. Be sure to exclude your IB, Ninja and eSignal directories from your Windows Firewall AND your virus scanner/ad scanner. Those programs have little to no chance of being infected and your computer is wasting many cycles scanning them in realtime while you trade.
There is a big difference between IB's update speed and X-Trader's. I have an account with IB and I have had one of my techs run a test using Excel with both accounts. IB is typically 600 to 800 ms behind TT (that's an average). The range can be as far as 1.5 seconds behind. In fact, IB is behind CQG by a narrower margin. Be careful. If you intend to do this professionally, then find a professional clearing firm and do your business through them.
If you plan to compete with pro's on a professional level especially in a product as strong as the FDAX, then you really want to make sure that everything from your hardware, software and cost structure is in tip-top shape. If I can cut the 100 ms between Chicago's Eurex hub and Frankfurt, I would do it so it makes no sense for you to use anyone other than a clearing firm in London, Gibraltar or closer to your location.
Best wishes and good luck.
