I use (and like) CQG-Trader and X-Trader. Any questions on the two I would be happy and try to answer.
Hi there. I like the look of CQG and am mainly interested in how reliable the execution is. Have you ever been disconnected for more than a minute? I have heard that there feed is very reliable. Basically what Im hearing is that there should be an API in the next few weeks and when it arrives I think that it could be a very good option.
One thing to keep in mind when selecting a trading platform is the FCM that you use should have a relationship for pit trading. While it only happened to me once, I was short e-mini S&Ps when Globex went down for the day a few years ago. My FCM did not have a way for me to arbitrage my position in the pits. I opened an account the same day with eFutures, and they could get me long through Cargill in the pit traded S&P to lock in my loss. It would have been a lot worse had I not done that. I have a market blog www.hartleandflow.com.
Open E cry - easy to master, easy to trade with, FREE to use FREE to sim (for 14 days). Commish is in line with the rest - remember, you can ALWAYS negotiate that fee. Also comes with free charts. Very stable. Ninja Trader - new ver. 6 looks cool, free to play with and experiment. More features than Open E cry Dom but in order to use it for real trading you need to pay. Nevertheless, a good choice. Try both and see which one floats your boat.
Sorry for the late post, been busy. Regarding "R/T per month", on average circa 1000 at that time; but I am no longer with them now. Openecry is very negotiable on commissions and your commissions are based on trading frequency and deposit amount.