Just Cybertrader. I have even used it on dial up. Not a resource hog and the data stream is good. No frozen data.
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What are the downsides to TradeStation?
- Thread starter AcoosticAnt
- Start date
Just Cybertrader. I have even used it on dial up. Not a resource hog and the data stream is good. No frozen data.
Quote from TorontoTrader2:
Just Cybertrader. I have even used it on dial up. Not a resource hog and the data stream is good. No frozen data.
use schwab street smart pro instead of cybertrader if you're going the schwab route. street smart pro is the same platform as cybertrader, without the ridiculously high minimum trading requirements. however, cyber has futures trading, streetsmartpro does not. which may be a big factor for some traders.
Quote from whoknows?:
Interactive Brokers is much better.
You said TS was good for a beginner. Why would it be better than Interactive Brokers? I have taken a long look at their site and I like what I see so far. Is there a reason, as a beginner, that I should stay away from a platform like this?
Quote from AcoosticAnt:
You said TS was good for a beginner. Why would it be better than Interactive Brokers? I have taken a long look at their site and I like what I see so far. Is there a reason, as a beginner, that I should stay away from a platform like this?
I think TS has great charting and monitoring of real time markets. I always liked the look and feel of that system. With IB, I don't really like the platform, and the charting is crap, in my opinion. It's gotten better, but still not what TS has.
It is probably better to just get used to IB and use them from the start. Their prices are better, and you have lots of options for add-ons or external charting, ATS, etc.
The only reason I caould think of to stay away from IB is their notoriously sub-par service. I guess that's the price you pay for exceptional pricing and access to everything you need. However, I have not experienced this yet, so I don't know. I am pretty experienced though, so I don't know if as a beginner I would have struggled. I actually had a great experience with the sales team. As a beginner, you could probably get lots of support here. I have found ET to be a great resource for everything about trading, both beginning, advanced, and even the esoteric.
Good Luck.
I think the customer service is probably a moot issue anyway being that I have not heard great things about TS's relationship to the customer either.
A big thing IB has going for them is that their commissions are half the rate of TS for 500 shares and under. And while that may not be a very big deal over the short term, I imagine that over the course of a couple of years that could add up to significant figures.
Is there a particular 3rd party charting service that you recommend for use with IB (real time is a necessity)?
A big thing IB has going for them is that their commissions are half the rate of TS for 500 shares and under. And while that may not be a very big deal over the short term, I imagine that over the course of a couple of years that could add up to significant figures.
Is there a particular 3rd party charting service that you recommend for use with IB (real time is a necessity)?
AcoosticAnt, I think you should give TS a shot. You won't be disappointed.
I've used TS for my trading for a few years. It is an excellent platform. For charting, it comes with an extensive library of built-in indicators. If you don't find what you want, you can pretty much find any custom indicators imaginable from the user community free of charge. If that's not satisfying your needs, you can program your own indicators easily, or look for commercial add-ons, which are numerous due to the popularity of the platform and the open architecture.
Even more important, the TS data network is among the best out there. EOD data goes back decades. You get YEARS of intraday historical data down to 1 min. Tick data goes back for 6 months as well. This is unheard of compared to other providers. Better yet, all you need is a basic subscription to access the historical data for ALL markets with a 30 min delay (they have all US market data. Now adding European exchanges as well). You only need to pay for exchange data fee if you need real-time data. With other data vendors, most wouldn't allow you go look at their historical data if you haven't pay for real-time data for that particular exchange.
Customer service is about average, on par with the industry in general I think. The user forum is a big plus as many helpful power users are there to help.
Tradestation is a great charting package, and I think it is among the best. But its true strength lies in backtesting. TS has greatly simplify backtesting by creating a language call EasyLanguage. The syntax is easy to understand and intuitive to use. Most importantly, it encapsulates all the underlying data series manipulation, so you don't need to do a lot of for-loops with your data series. All you do is to work on the chart data and almost what you see is what you get. It is amazing how much can be done with such a simplied model, and with a little work around and creative programming, it can satisfy almost any trading needs.
I highly recommend you start with TS, it actually teaches you many concepts about system trading and great for education.
There are some limitations with TS that people keep mentioning. For example it doesn't support portfolio backtesting. It has no built-in genetic optimizer. It can't connect to other brokers. It can't connect to other data vendors.
But all of the above can be solved with a third-party commercial product, and the quality of the commerial add-ons often surpass the functionality of the built-in features in other packages because the third-party companies specializes in their own field.
The only draw back I find about TS is that there are some limitations in working on the data series directly. Because of its simplified programming model, all data in TS comes from the chart. You can't work on the Data series directly and that limits some of your flexibility. If you want to work on very high frequency data, then you will be operating on a chart full of Ticks which doesn't tell you much visually. There is a work around from a power user (free from TS forum) that lets you synchronize tick data with higher time frame data and that solves many of the problems.
In short, I think TS has packaged a very comprehensive package for a retail trader.
Despite my enthusiasm about TS, I have left TS for a more proprietary platform. It is true that sooner or later you will hit the wall and can't workaround your problem anymore, but before that, I think TS has the most comprehensive package around. I still miss all the convenicence I used to get from TS. You can easily spend ten times more in programming hours to develop the same trading system with a "real" language on a proprietary platform than using EasyLanguage on TS.
Do yourself a favor, and start your trading with TS.
I've used TS for my trading for a few years. It is an excellent platform. For charting, it comes with an extensive library of built-in indicators. If you don't find what you want, you can pretty much find any custom indicators imaginable from the user community free of charge. If that's not satisfying your needs, you can program your own indicators easily, or look for commercial add-ons, which are numerous due to the popularity of the platform and the open architecture.
Even more important, the TS data network is among the best out there. EOD data goes back decades. You get YEARS of intraday historical data down to 1 min. Tick data goes back for 6 months as well. This is unheard of compared to other providers. Better yet, all you need is a basic subscription to access the historical data for ALL markets with a 30 min delay (they have all US market data. Now adding European exchanges as well). You only need to pay for exchange data fee if you need real-time data. With other data vendors, most wouldn't allow you go look at their historical data if you haven't pay for real-time data for that particular exchange.
Customer service is about average, on par with the industry in general I think. The user forum is a big plus as many helpful power users are there to help.
Tradestation is a great charting package, and I think it is among the best. But its true strength lies in backtesting. TS has greatly simplify backtesting by creating a language call EasyLanguage. The syntax is easy to understand and intuitive to use. Most importantly, it encapsulates all the underlying data series manipulation, so you don't need to do a lot of for-loops with your data series. All you do is to work on the chart data and almost what you see is what you get. It is amazing how much can be done with such a simplied model, and with a little work around and creative programming, it can satisfy almost any trading needs.
I highly recommend you start with TS, it actually teaches you many concepts about system trading and great for education.
There are some limitations with TS that people keep mentioning. For example it doesn't support portfolio backtesting. It has no built-in genetic optimizer. It can't connect to other brokers. It can't connect to other data vendors.
But all of the above can be solved with a third-party commercial product, and the quality of the commerial add-ons often surpass the functionality of the built-in features in other packages because the third-party companies specializes in their own field.
The only draw back I find about TS is that there are some limitations in working on the data series directly. Because of its simplified programming model, all data in TS comes from the chart. You can't work on the Data series directly and that limits some of your flexibility. If you want to work on very high frequency data, then you will be operating on a chart full of Ticks which doesn't tell you much visually. There is a work around from a power user (free from TS forum) that lets you synchronize tick data with higher time frame data and that solves many of the problems.
In short, I think TS has packaged a very comprehensive package for a retail trader.
Despite my enthusiasm about TS, I have left TS for a more proprietary platform. It is true that sooner or later you will hit the wall and can't workaround your problem anymore, but before that, I think TS has the most comprehensive package around. I still miss all the convenicence I used to get from TS. You can easily spend ten times more in programming hours to develop the same trading system with a "real" language on a proprietary platform than using EasyLanguage on TS.
Do yourself a favor, and start your trading with TS.
Quote from laputa:
AcoosticAnt, I think you should give TS a shot. You won't be disappointed.
Despite my enthusiasm about TS, I have left TS for a more proprietary platform. Do yourself a favor, and start your trading with TS.
What platform are you using now?
What is better than tradestation that you left them for another?
You might as well experiment. FYI: I did not use TS for brokeradge, just data and charting. They billed me for 4 months ($800+) after I cancelled. I complained, but I never did get it back. They kept forwarding to other areas that "have to deal with that stuff." Don't get me wrong, they are a good company and won't steal your money or anything. Just watch the fees and make sure they are right.