Why not? I use it for NQ and it works fantastic. My plan executed through IB puts new shirts and trousers on me when I desire them. I can't imagine it would be any different for ES.
Stephen, I trade ES intraday. I use eSignal for both software and data, and eLocal as my broker. eLocal offers a number of electronic platforms and charges $4.50 round turn for electronically traded markets such as the e-minis. They provide me with PatSystems' J-Trader as my order entry platform, and have telephone backup support when required. I am very pleased with eLocal. eSignal is a good data provider and offers fairly good charting software. It is not the best I have seen, but the data integrity for the e-mini indexes is excellent in my opinion. It is virtually synchronous with the streaming data of the order entry platform. (It is good to have 2 sources of data in this way in order to ensure that one is not lagging.) As for studies, I do not really use them, so I cannot comment. There are a number of canned indicators whose values can be changed, and there is a formula script, but I cannot comment on its user friendliness. For my simple mind, it seems a bit forbidding and I am thankful that my requirements do not include custom indicators either. The software is somewhat clunkier than, say, QCharts, but it is easy to use once you set up your charts. Other software is supposedly easier to program custom studies, but I am fairly oblivious in this regard. Horror stories? QCharts. I had subscribed to QCharts for quite some time until a few years ago. QCharts has an astonishing interface that is absolutely inspired. However, the data is for shit. It can lag several seconds frequently throughout the day, especially during heavy trading. The technical support people kept saying that they were addressing the matter. As I understand it, they are still sticking to this story and the matter has yet to be resolved a few years later. As you know, data integrity is vital. Some people had complained about eSignal's data quality, but I have yet to see evidence of this in the US equity indexes. I think that the complaints may have more to do with foreign markets, but I am not sure and therefore cannot comment definitively in this regard. Those are my 2 cents. Good luck.
Does eLocal (or anybody ) have this: " """I guess my question now would be: "What simulator would display tick data in real-time, and allow me to execute pretend trades?" """ Upon reflection, 'simulator' is a bad choice of word. These were suggested: """""Get a simulating software (ninja,zero,button),""""" I don't know if they will do what I want since I haven't checked them out just yet. Stephen Szpak
I have no idea if eLocal offers simulated trading. But you can call and ask: http://elocaltrading.com/html/main.isx If eLocal doesn't offer simulated trading, I am sure that other brokers do. Unfortunately, I don't know which ones offer this service. Hopefully, you will hear from more helpful respondents.
quotetracker is free, works with dozens of data providers (data-only and brokerages), and has dozens of technicals you can apply / create. for data esignal is popular, futuresource was good to me (now owned by esignal), many use IB as data source. i use OEC and like them a lot. i call i get a person, not menu options. i have one guy who manages my account, and my account is small. the main thing i didn't like about OEC was that their fee schedule wasn't posted on their site. and their fees are negotiable, so negotiate them. i have IB and MBT accounts but haven't traded through them. so far my non-trading experience with MBT has been very good. very helpful, very responsive. with more volume you might look at velocity or transact or something that gives pretty decent volume breaks. that's my current setup: esignal, market delta (discussed in other threads), and OEC. i would still use quotetracker (Jerry is awesome ) but i use esignal for Market Profile charting. hth take care and gtty - omni BTW: there's another charting option that i might try: http://www.atrader.demon.co.uk/ it looks like if you use IB with it you can pay for the whole thing in less than two months (depending on current esignal package). if anyone has any feedback on this charting package, do tell.