To address the many questions:
1. I donât pay anything to use Trading Technologies software. I donât understand why people are paying to use it or anything else. I can only guess their FCM is recovering some of their cost. If youâre paying anyone for software, you may want to consider what broker youâre with and/ or (re)negotiate. With my current FCM I enjoyed the teaser rate for 90 days, then called on day 91 and negotiated fees at about a 65% discount to their published fee schedule. It is my volume of contracts per day/ month that convinced them to work at the rate I was offering to pay. EVERYTHING on the planet is negotiable and it costs nothing to ask. They are better off getting half of something then all of nothing. Shop things out and tell them what others are offering and if you want to stay with them, tell them that but they have to make it financially worth your while.
2. My connection is from my system to a Financial Market Data Server (FMDS). Does this mean I am connected directly to the exchanges I trade on? I donât know but the realization/ perception is that I am. Having orders filled in 3/1,000th of a second is pretty darned quick. It sounds like from others responses that they are connecting to a data providerâs server, then to a brokerâs server and from there they need to get to the exchanges. This may explain why some people experience latency/ unfilled orders/ uncancelled cancellations/ etc. We all know that the more connection points added in, the more potential for problems and latency.
3. Someone mentioned that âTT is in the testing phase of connectivity to Eurexâ¦â Iâve been connected to Eurex via TT for quite some time. Maybe their broker is in the process of implementing a currency exchange methodology or similar. Again, a broker issue and not a TT issue.
4. Some people are asking who my broker is and other questions. No offense intended but I donât disclose financial information on the internet nor my connectivity other then bandwidth.
5. My bandwidth is awesome and cheap. I am literally one block from a looped fiber optic trunk line. Going both ways on that line there are mega-switches owned by Williams Communication, Sprint (in its day the biggest switch on the planet), and one other company whose name escapes me at the present. I donât know which of those switches I am going off of but thatâs moot since all this infrastructure is here.
6. Monitors- I use cheap LCD tvâs for monitors. Vizio brand 1080p 42â. My first one cost $1299 and the rest I got for $899 on a Costco closeout. The resolution is 1920x1080. I canât see burying my face in little screens all day and night to trade. My trading station in my office is very cozy with awesome views across the water in tropical paradise. No I donât have any pictures and my digital camera battery charger is at a girlfriendâs house up north so until I get back up there or she comes here my cameraâs down. Connectivity from pc to monitors is HDMI. I also run CATV so I can watch awesome digital football, movies, etc. I watch CNBC in one of the small PIP windows on one screen during market hours. Someone said I could get more charts on a 30â screen with higher resolution; I agree but donât understand how I would be able to read them at that high a resolution. And with TT you can zoom in and out on everything; most people donât know this. I fit lots of charts on my 42â monitors.
7. X_Study charts on TT. I enjoy them very much. If you donât enjoy them, look at all the tools and studies you can put on them.
8. As others have stated, I too take comfort in knowing Iâm using the same software I see at the exchanges. Someone in a pit has to scream to someone operating that system. But for me I just click and its done. There is no way those guys (and girls) on the floor are getting orders in faster then me. I feel I have an advantage over the people in the pits.
9. Itâs too damned nice a day here to sit at a pc. Iâm going to inspect some bikinis on the beach. See yâal Sunday night!
