TradeStation - give me the real picture

J

journeyman

TradeStation bashing seems like a given in most forums.

I am actually considering moving to :eek: TradeStation from a more "sophisticated" bundle of platforms.

There is a high proportion of losing and whining traders. More traders use TradeStation than any other platform. Therefore more whiners and losers write about TradeStation.

I know it is just not the trading platform, but data plus brokerage as well.

But is TradeStation really so bad? Is there anyone trading futures on short time frames (sub 250 ticks) who uses TradeStation and loves it? Or at least are trading trouble free?
 
I like it. I don't trade "sub 250 ticks", but do many futures trades very short-term. Usually works very well.

I have had the data go away for 5-10 minutes during very heavy markets twice in the past 6 months. Luckily I was not in a trade I was "babysitting" and it did not effect me. it did piss me off, but I did not lose money and thats what counts.

I like the order execution matrix. The only thing I would like to change is the P/L keeps track of the entire day, I would like to see that keep track of each individual trade. meaning if I am up $550 and take a second trade, it immediately starts at plus $550, I would like it to show $0 for the new trade. but thats a very minor personal preference.
 
You will not find a better charting package !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
no way no how.

Can you get better DOM or a feed like ZenFire as with Ninja
Trader, sure it may work better under heavy stress but you should have your stops in anyway

I have had TS for 8 years and do not plan to change anytime soon!

I trade e-mini futures, Stocks & Options full time I find they are
the best out there !

But many will bash and say they suck but I have tried other
platforms and they all have there quirks

TS is a little slow under news reports, But I feel you should not trade news reports anyway!

Take Care,

Joe Baker
 
Tradestation's data is, generally, excellent. As a charting platform, it's o.k., but runs second to the other EasyLanguage-platform, MultiCharts.
 
I would have to agree with Joe B - I love TradeStation's platform for charting. I am not a short-term scalper, I average 2-3 trades per day and it works for me. I have read on numerous forums that active scalpers are not happy with TS, but again, not something I do. Also, if you are an indicator junkie there are truckloads of custom indicators available on the TS forums and other sites as well.

My main complaint would have to be the data bottleneck that occurs with almost every high impact report or news event (fast markets). TS needs to improve in that area, period.
 
Quote from bh_prop:

My main complaint would have to be the data bottleneck that occurs with almost every high impact report or news event (fast markets). TS needs to improve in that area, period.
More...
Yeah, but this has been mentioned and discussed "ad nausium" for months and months. Why hasn't there been any progress made ? Reason: I think Bill and Ralph are shopping the company.
 
Three points regarding TS:

1) It is a CPU hog and you might need to upgrade processor speed/cpu's every 12 months or so, as each new version seems to require more speed/fsb, etc. If you don't use many customized indicators nor need to use automated trading, you might be "okay" for awhile.

2) Some of the brokerage policies are absurd. ie: I already get quotes from the cbot from another source. TS will not let me trade cbot products without paying them the cbot fee for a duplicate service. They have missed out on a huge chunk of commissions, as all of my grain trades have gone thru IB. There is not another brokerage firm in the world that requires you to pay them for an exchange fee in order to trade products on that exchange.

3) It is a great charting package and I use the brokerage account as my back-up and do the 10 rt's/month to keep it free. I would do a lot more trading if they eliminated the policy in #2.
 
Quote from tortoise:

Tradestation's data is, generally, excellent. As a charting platform, it's o.k., but runs second to the other EasyLanguage-platform, MultiCharts.
More...


You must be kidding... Are you comparing with yahoo finance? LOL...

TradeStation has one of the crapiest data feed I know. I scalp with TS Matrix and I have to use IB Booktrader in conjunction to be sure there is no size missing in the book... Watch TS matrix for any product and compare with IB or Open e cry, you will see... There are missing sizes everywhere...and loads of trades are not reported in the T§S.... That's the only thing that has been really bad with TS( futures ).

I like the platform, i like their order entry with the matrix, i like their automation, the fees are not bad and there are not so much server problem/ disconnection( apart from the last 3 days...). Overall, it's good but don't say datas are accurate, i don't know worse datas( level 2 )...
 
Quote from Surdo:

Bill & Ralph have been selling their TRAD stock since February and are still sellers.

http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/invsub/insider/trans.asp?Symbol=TRAD
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It seems TS hasn't made any real improvements for some time( last was forex automation ). They're not offering new markets like ICE, they don't give access to a lot of ECNs for stock traders, they are just creating some useless order entry macros...

Even the cruz brothers are not implied in their company anymore...
 
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