What is important in a trading platform?

H

hpe

Of the following features of a retail trading platform, indicate with scores of 1-5 how important the particular feature is.
1 - useless (no impact on platform choice)
2 - rarely useful (possible useful but might not notice if absent)
3 - basic expected feature (expect all platforms to do this)
4 - very useful (large impact on platform choice)
5 - critical (might choose platform for this feature alone or would never consider platform without this feature)
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A - Technical aspects of trading platform
Charting
Click to trade in chart
Multi-monitor support (take advantage of a multi-monitor set-up)
Broker independence (ability to connect to different brokers)
Multi broker capability (use more than one broker at the same time)
Technical indicators
Custom technical indicators (with parameters)
Custom technical indicators (via script)
News feed
Chat (ability to chat with other users of platform)
Sentiment analysis (eg analysis of Twitter feed)
Scripting for auto-execution (build your own auto trading bot)
Pattern recognition on charts
Fundamental analysis support
Portfolio rebalancing features
Portfolio performance tracking
Option strategies
Backtesting capabilities
Backtesting performance
DOM interface
B - Instrument coverage
Stocks
FX
options
futures
CFD's
Advanced derivatives or structured products
C - Technical on system level
Database agnostic (runs with any RDBMS)
OS support (eg can run on Linux or Mac)

I will randomly pick someone that answers this and give him or her a gift certificate of his or her choice. The amount will be determined by number of replies 10-100$. Thanks in advance
 
At this point I am interested in the disconnect.
I have worked with building (mostly extending existing) trading platforms for "professional" traders, ie traders working for investment banks and private banks, for about 10 years. There seem to be a disconnect between the platforms the retail traders use and the platforms the pros use.

I understand that the usage is very different, eg a retail trader would never flow trade or market make, but the overlap should be bigger. I am trying to understand why the (from my perspective) overlap is so small. If I would have blindly guessed, it would me quite a lot bigger.

I do not mean to say that users of your system are not pro but in the banks I have worked, they typically use Front Arena, Murex, Summit or ORC. Really not interested in trying to compete with those guys. Thus, building my own platform is not in scope at this moment, I do not have the time or the funding to put in the thousands of hours required to do it right. I might, depending on if I come to understand the disconnect, build my own module for either a retail platform or a professional one.

/Peter
 
Robert Morse said:
May I ask what the purpose of the survey is? Are you looking to build your own platform?
More...
I think I answered your question already but may I ask something... are your company selling a trading platform or are you a brokerage house?
 
The most important thing for me is to free-scroll the chart. Even the best trading platform in the world ninja-trader doesn't do this perfectly.
 
I would not say there is NOT a "disconnect", but the needs and requirements are different. Retail traders want a lot of general information for very little cost. Active retail traders want speed and access to DMA. Institutional accounts want a stable platforms that can access the markets they need, but service and support become more important. Large hedge fund are a different story. They want to connect their own OMS to manage risk and everything else. They only look at the platfrom as a software tool and often use brokers to trade.
 
CBC said:
The most important thing for me is to free-scroll the chart. Even the best trading platform in the world ninja-trader doesn't do this perfectly.
More...
What do you mean by free-scroll? Set a window and scroll the time window with the wheel of the mouse of sorts?
 
I mean you have your chart open. Then left click mouse and move the mouse and then you can move the chart / bars around.

That is my only want :)
 
I have charts that auto scroll for a specified amount of time, meaning it goes through my lists of symbols and display the charts for each one - this saves me a ton of time, ensures I don't miss anything, and allows me to do everything from on monitor. The other thing I have is a way to be stealthy (deceptive in the order book) and aggressive in getting good fills which is automated. This also saves time, mental energy, and capital.
 
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@hpe "retail" is not one group. There are varying degrees of experience, and some are not any less sophisticated than institutional traders/risk managers.

However, I have found that the more experience a trader has the more he is focused on execution and reporting, and those who are starting out and/or beginners look for number of users. They want to know how many use that platform so they could be in a large group of users. Also, they look for feature rich capabilities even if they don't always use them.

This is typically what I have found, and of course there are exception to every rule.
In my personal opinion, after looking at your questions, your survey will be skewed and may lead you to the wrong conclusions. If you are seeking to build a software, built it for yourself as a trader. Focus on this you would want as a trader, and I bet there would be others that may look for the same features.

Although I worked with retail traders for almost 2 decades, I still listen to each trader to see what they need precisely and what is important to them. Everyone is different.

I hope this helps.
 
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