Tradescape--getting better?

M

mjt

I haven't heard any talk on Tradescape lately. If you are using them, is their reliability improving? I'm going to keep their software running in the background for a while just to see if it freezes or crashes. I normally wouldn't consider using them, but my quest for a reliable broker with a smart limit order has been fruitless.
 
Looks good to me recently, although I haven't used it much since I'm trying to learn and use Graybox. Like you, I keep it up in the background just in case Graybox crashes.
 
So it doesn't freeze on you or anything? Were you trading with it fairly regularly before using Graybox?
 
Notice I only said it looks good "recently." I've experienced freezes many times since I started with them in Dec. 2000. "Many" does mean less than, oh, 20, though. Sometimes I can't even login to their website. The last 3 or 4 weeks have been pretty smooth. I stay with them because I trade small shares and like the teeny commissions and easy interface. If the software crashes and I'm in a trade, I can quickly reach someone on their trading desk and they'll get me out fast.
 
I'm going to have to answer my own question here with a no based on what I'm seeing right now. It's about 8 minutes into the open, I'm watching JNPR on Graybox, Redi Plus and Tradescape all at the same time. Tradescape appears to be about a full minute behind the other two, which are updating almost exactly in step with each other. I've watched it during slower market times, and it seems to be only about a second behind. I'd hate to be trading with Tradescape during any kind of a fast market.
 
I just noticed in the message bar at the top that they're acknowledging that they're having a level 2 quote delay problem. I'm not sure how often this happens. I do remember that yesterday the charts and something else were screwed up though.
 
Yes, they've had trouble today and yesterday, but I haven't traded with them for at least the past week and a half because Graybox has been working really well, with no frozen quotes to be seen. I entered an order on Graybox today specifically targeting REDI and got an execution that was as fast as if I was hitting ISLD. It seems whenever I'd try that on Tradescape I'd rarely get a fill, as though REDI (happens with ARCA, too) quotes were illusions or maybe delayed.
 
I have tried Tradescape and have found it impossible to trade since you must cancel a prior sell before entering a new order. It takes 10 seconds or more to receive a confirm of a cancel. It is almost impossible to get out of dropping stocks quick enough.
 
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