TradeStation Securities announces new commissions

Mike,

I agree that the pass thrus do have to be considered. I also heard something about certain ECN passthrus being reduced as well by PD but don't have any details. On a side note, if INCA and ARCA charge more, I wonder how b/d's can make any $$ at all with .0075 cents per share all inclusive of passthrus (example) when the trade is routed thru one of the more expensive ECNs? The b/d has to pay the clearing firm and the ECN, which leaves little if nothing left?!

If TS analytics are good, then you have a point about dropping RT as well. I suppose then it comes down to order entry interface/speed of execution. As I have stated many times before, PD Platinum is simply amazing in terms of speed. I have never traded on-or even seen-the TS order entry screens.

PD does not offer an ISLD rebate, and as far as short list, I have never relaly noticed a lack of shorts, but I really only trade active Comp issues. I have noticed that the beaten down techs (SUNW/AMZN/ORCL etc tend to be unshortable, but the good trading stocks are all shortable. I have no awareness or experience with BEST as a clearing firm.
 
Bear Sterns (Tradestation's clearing firm) is supposed to have one of the most extensive short lists. At least that's what they told me.
 
Couple of points.

Glad to see so many folks commission conscious. Make 'em sweat.

Other than the slow entry of routes THE FIRST TIME you put a symbol on the screen, IB is perfectly fine for scalping, maybe even faster than the other platforms. I can and do daily, round trips in 2 seconds or less on IB, using hotkeys. Keep in mind you can set up the BUY and SELL ahead of time, so all you need to do is move the cursor and press one key. Takes less than a second.

Silly talk saying it's not suitable for high speed trading.

There are some major features lacking in TS at the moment, the chart linking and integrated ecn books, both of which are promised. Still, would have to work without that for now.


Oh yeah, on a DSL line, the executions at IB are near instantaneous (on REDI and ISLD in particular). Claims that others are faster are ludicrous. Maybe we're timing with atomic clocks and talking nano-second differences . :p :p
 
Originally posted by stock777
Silly talk saying it's not suitable for high speed trading.
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Sorry I disagree (I am an IB client too, but I only swing with it)... by the time you have entered a scalp order on IB, I could already have executed it on an integrated platform... that second or two counts in scalping... thats why people who employ a scalping strategy pay up... but with the advent of Tradestation's integrated platform and commission structure, maybe we won't have to pay up any longer...
 
- i should have admitted that i havent checked nobletradings HP for several months now. last time i did they had $2.25 min + 1.x cts/share + ecn pass thrus.
in my opinion at least TN-MBT will have a problem in presenting a compting fee-schedule with cts/share because realtick charges TN-MBT $2.25 minium per trade (afaik). dont think that MBT is willing to pay this minium for customers.
dont have any experience with cyber but i think they have no such minium as it´s their own software.
further what should be put into consideration is that if you trade 1000+ lots you´ll go cheaper in using thet $9.95 flatfee.

- TS6: i think somebody got me wrong before, but in the last 4 weeks i had NO server crashes caused by TRAD. my dsl flat crashed twice so my whole internet connection was down.

in my opinion TS6 has a great potential (objecitv view) and if they manage to inplement the several missing features, the software is probably the closest RT-competior (if they can hold the server reliability). why not create a ´TS6 Improvements´- thread?
my experiences with customer support where really good so far.
charting is tremendous, just like in TS2000i. if they solve the liniking-issue they probably also fix the slowness in displaying charts. it would be also quite a nice thing to have an orderentrybox IN a level2 box.

we willo see. if anybody has questions about TS6 or anything else feel free to PM me as i´m away for the rest of the weekend.

HAPPY EASTER to all of you

kev//
 
Originally posted by DATTrader
Mike,

I agree that the pass thrus do have to be considered. I also heard something about certain ECN passthrus being reduced as well by PD but don't have any details. On a side note, if INCA and ARCA charge more, I wonder how b/d's can make any $$ at all with .0075 cents per share all inclusive of passthrus (example) when the trade is routed thru one of the more expensive ECNs? The b/d has to pay the clearing firm and the ECN, which leaves little if nothing left?!

DATTrader

Maybe they're able to cover it with the bankroll they made from all of those $23 per side orders from the "old" days that you mentioned. ;]

I've noticed that the ecn fees can really vary from broker to broker. I suppose the TN ARCA fees are only .003 because they're associated with each other. It looks like it's open to negotiation and what the brokers then feel they need to charge their customers. Also, since ISLD is so popular and widely used, PD and TS will gain some ground by keeping those rebates.

Magna has a good post on another thread comparing Cyber/TN and the differences in the flexibility of ARCA between those two companies is significant. So this brings up another point I'll be interested in checking out with TS/PD. While the change order feature isn't quite as important with a per share cost basis the ability to hide size is important, imo.

I've seen mention of the lack of "linking" capabilities of TS charts and stock777 recently posted about their lack of integrated ecn books.

This site is great for bringing up those hidden surprises that can be disappointing when you don't find out about them until after the change.

Thanks to all,

Mike
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Have already commented on this in product review and in response to a multi-monitor question, but I'll put it here, too: Lack of chart-linking IS a minor defect in TS, but overrated: You have to use TS differently than you use RealTick or CyberTraderPro or similar set-ups, though, at this point, those and other platforms, especially as standalones, probably ARE superior for certain styles of daytrading - until and unless the next upgrade addresses certain issues (that will be utterly insignificant to other traders).

As for the linking issue specifically, instead of saving just one or a handful of "layouts" as in RealTick or CTPro, and entering new tickers, you just need to save however many unique "workspaces," and switch between them at will. Each workspace should already have L2, intraday and daily, market analysis, etc., already loaded. You then switch between workspaces at will, clicking folder tabs, with whatever unique work saved in each workspace (always fully accessible and analyzable later on). It's virtually instantaneous, so comparing speed to linking features seems superfluous. Better order entry linking (TS has only a limited L2-clicking feature in this regard) would be an improvement - as would hot-keys and so on. They've promised such for the next upgrade, along with enhanced scanning. I'll believe it when I'm USING it, but it's not a major issue for me for the moment.

You can likewise save however many workspaces, each loaded with however many quote sheets and charts + indicators, etc., and effectively create a uniquely sophisticated "scanning" capacity.

For me, the "intelligent drawing tools," advanced order entry, customizable indicators and systems, and so on, easily outweigh minor defects and difficulties. I don't use true "automation" and don't use pure trading systems, but I do use EasyLanguage to write custom indicators and trading signals - such as trendline-activated buy/sell stops.

OTOH, if you don't want to use the TS unique features (and your head), stick to RealTick or Cyber or some other platform.
 
dont agree.i have ts and and i also have raven quote.raven costs me 180 a month and ts is free.still i use raven with ib because ts charting ect seems so lame next to raven.the ability to scan a whole quote sheet of stocks and the color studies\signals that raven has plus the ability to easily program any kind of formulas make ts seem like it was designed 5 years ago and just forgotten as far as upgrading.
ts knows the linking issue is a non strater for most pro trades and still they refuse to fix it. makes me wonder if these guys have any clue what traders need or want.
maybe they should get on this board and get ideas to fix their product.im sure if they listened to us and implimented some of the ideas they could have a competing product.after all they should have the programing talent available after all these years.
 
I still prefer TS myself, for the reasons indicated and others, but, if Raven or rather ErlangerQuote works for you - fine with me. I'm happy to admit that it has some unique, excellent features.

I've had fairly extensive correspondence with the TS product devlopment dept., and I agree that they're well aware of criticisms. I can add that they do intend to address them, but I'll also admit that I'm disappointed in their tardiness with a new major or semi-major upgrade. I hope it means that all or most issues will be addressed successfully, and that a few extra goodies will be included, but I'm not holding my breath, and, anyway, it's not a major issue for me.
 
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