Tradestation, cost, & which broker to use.

F

feyri

I’m considering getting tradestation and have been analyzing the cost.

If you just lease the software and use your own broker it costs between $300 and $420/month depending upon what you have and whether your classified as a professional or not.

If you get the software and trade through Tradestation Securities at first glance it seems to be a lot cheaper. But if you are trading futures, the real cost seems to be in the Data fees. Each exchange costs approximately $60/month in data fees, so if your trading all of the 5 major US exchanges (CBOT, CME, COMEX, ICE, NYMEX) that’s going to cost you $300/month. Additionally it appears that the commissions are approximately $0.35/side more expensive than say Interactive Brokers. With all 5 exchanges and 200 round turns/month this equates to about $440/month more than IB.

So it seems that the two options cost almost the same. So are there any obvious advantages/disadvantages of using Tradestation with IB or Tradestation Securities (or any other broker) that could tip the balance? Is there anything obvious I am missing?
 
No, you are not missing anything. IF you do indeed need all futures exchanges, you are screwed with TS. Consider:
  • iqfeed if you are okay using one of the brokers mentioned and use one of the software packages mentioned + want to / okay managing your own data. Interactive Brokers isn't an option
  • Use eSignal if you don't want to bother saving your own data. Prices are steeper than iqfeed. Can use Interactive Brokers.
  • Even cheaper is kinetick. NinjaTrader provides data & charting - with a good selection of brokers, including Interactive Brokers. Need to pay ransom fees to TT if you use NT dom.
 
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