Hey i am an active trader and have been looking for a direct access broker. I have seen numerous firms and currently am looking at Tradestation, Realtick,Cyber Trader and interactive brokers. I am looking for a good trading software, and want to make sure it has the most features and information in one program. I currently am favoring tradestation, but ever since i ran into this site i am not sure if its the best. Any opinions on guys, would help me a lot.
If you want a multi-platform, where you can trade futures, Forex, CFD and shares, and get free streaming news and quotes and free live charts, try this one: http://www.saxobank.com
I've been with MyTrack since the beginning. But IMO, it depends on what you're going to trade. Many will balk at the 12.95 cost per trade. But if you're going to trade more then 1000 share blocks, it doesn't much matter. MyTrack is king for the best cost for trading BB stocks. My basic setup so far is MyTrack for trading and news and AlphaTrade for Level 2. The two packages cost about 50 bucks a month. If anyone has a more inexpensive approach, I'd love to hear about it. http://www.mytrack.com/ http://www.alphatrade.com/
I had an account with tradestation and it has everything: except that the platform was unsuitable for scalping (in my opinion). If you are a swing trader it would be fine. I think saxobank has very wide magins on their CFD's, not worth considering unless you are only using it for practice. I now use IB which has many good points and a choice of frontends but poor service...
I am down to three choices. I find interactive brokers idea of being able to do futures, and internation trading, and regular stocks nice, but it seems like there site needs a little improvement would probably use esignal with them. Tradestation looks very clean and has many features, but not sure on the overall performance since i will being in and out trading. Any additional opinions on the top two be greatly appreciated. Thanks
*In and out trading*? Do you mean scalping? In that case when I used TS its platform wasn't very suitable, might have improved it now. If you use TS you won't need esignal which is a big advantage. BTW I meant saxo bank has wide SPREADS, not margins.
I have to take back what I said about TS for scalping. I just checked out there site and they have recently added what looks to be a good DOM/matrix well suited for all types of orders including scalping. If anyone is using it would like to hear comments? see the gif
I don't see what's so great about the TS DOM, at least for equities. How is it better than a Lev II box? It also seems to use up an awful lot of screen space.
Interactive brokers seem to have a lot of problems with there service and site, since i have seen so many complaints, but overall i like them. because of all the features.
Are you trading futures or equities? What type of rates are you looking for and how many RT's are you doing in a month? All this will help you make the right decision on what company to go with.