Very good helpful info. Still I would like to understand that Order bar country..........seems comlicated if you have not used it. Thanks.
Can't help you there that thing looks like a mess seems like it would make a good case study in poor ui design... I mostly use BookTrader in TWS and Matrix/Chart Trading in TS but again I don't need fancy just Limit/Stop/Stop Limit orders.
Iam not too fancy either so I will have a look at Chart Trader. Or maybe stick with funding at IB and TWS....that I like......However I have recently had other big traders scarying me a little on IB segregated funds. One trader I know lost 1 mil at PGF and he fears IB and TS.
I think the rating agencies are insane giving IB a higher rating than Golman or Morgan. When are these lunatics going to aquire a nodding aquantince with the real world!! Clearly GS & MS are too big to fail. As long as the the Fed and even Treasury have the caital or ready credit (same thing) to stand behind them ... they will. While IB might be TBF it might not. Not to recognize that in any distress counter party situation that status is likely to have enormous value is batshit. This no knock on IB. I deal with the firm and am comfortable with them as a counter party. That said, if it all hit the fan, I would rather have TBF as additional comfort even over a bit stronger balance sheet.
IB compares very well. If you move, consider the solution presented here: http://tradersplace.net/forum/thread/63/g-bot-algorithmic-trading/
IB is a publicly traded company - IBKR. TS has been owned by Japanese firm Monex for several years now. The former stock symbol was TRAD. I know it is an old post but I am considering switching so I am reading up on it. Any feedback on how execution fills compare?
It has been years since I migrated from Tradestation to IB, never looked back. 1, (TS) Fills? heavy slippage 2, (TS) Lagging data in fast markets 3, (TS) Had a phantom order execute. TS showed I was in an active position I DID NOT execute, contacted Customer Service to confirm account status and go FLAT any position. Response was bone chilling: "WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOUR POSITION IS, CALL BACK DURING REGULAR BUSINESS HOURS" that was >4 hours away.... Needless to say, I emptied my account and voted with my feet. 4, (TS) No universal account, must maintain separate funds for Forex, Equities, Futures... 5, (TS) Tax documents were unavailable at the time (I believe for Forex) forget exactly now, been many years... 6, (TS) etc... etc... etc... #3 was enough for me... the rest were just Frosting on the cake. Inadequacies which I accepted at the time, because I liked the charting historic data... MC/with IB snapshot data is more than sufficient and keeps up during fast markets for executions MC/with data subscription solves charting. Forex & Futures IB data is fine for charting TradingView for longer term Equity charting if one needs to save a buck is one of many options. IB fills are consistently good - occasionally even provide price improvement... Portfolio margin is very convenient and efficient.... Commission is acceptable - there are cheaper options than IB... But with IB I have a greater sense of security, they are strict on those that over leverage. They are a solid Brokerage, that has immense value. Since to me, Capital preservation is paramount to all else... I took a full emergency account stop during Flash Crash with IB, it hurt... but that is part of trading, I accepted it and moved on... THE EMERGENCY STOP on the Account worked as designed.... I can only imagine what may have happened if I was with Tradestation during that event... As I said in my previous post IB/anything > Tradestation.... I seldom post this much on ET, but still after all these years I remember how furious I was when my Broker (TS) told me they didn't know my positions and I needed to wait > 4 hours to close... (IF in fact it was a position and not a false reading of the platform) - Just the name Tradestion gets my blood boiling... Caveat Emperor....
Thanks for taking the time and effort to to respond NoBias. I am now leaning towards IB and working on getting that going for full-time trading. I already have an account there. I was trading on the Flash Crash day also. I was flat when it hit but TS was lagging badly during the downward crash so I waited, but was able to trade the retracement back up. It certainly won't hurt me to use IB full-time for a while to see for myself. I also am concerned with broker stability. I recall Lehman Bros., MF Global and PFG Best. re: your phantom order: I seem to recall a 2 or 3 of those myself.
No experience with TradeStation but IB is the real deal. Not perfect but solid and if you are a small/medium retail trader it's the best you are likely to find. In a prior post I commented on why I think IB is far and away the better counterparty risk and I stand by that earlier opinion.