Best ES Simulator ?

Just wondering what people consider to be the best simulator for daytrading the ES ?

I have some ideas I'd like to test out, but I dont want to commit actual $$$ until I have some idea that they work under actual live market conditions.

Most of my ideas are what I'd consider to be "rules based discretionary trades", so I'd rather "forward test" on a sim versus backtest from historical data.

Something thats as close as possible to moving at the speed of a live TT ladder would be idea. However, I've been on a few TT sim servers and they never seem to work, so I'm wondering if there are any vendors that specialize in a top quality sim.

Thanks,
T

 

NinjaTrader/Zen-Fire will do the trick for free!

 

I agree

 

have some "interesting ideas" to trade the ES?

This should be an interesting thread to watch.....

Dont worry so much about the quality if the simulator. One major thing a sim does not prepare you for is the fight to hold back emotions when you are trading with real money. Good luck..

 

I've papertraded, sim traded and everything...NOTHING can prepare you for real trading with real $$$...NOTHINg

 

Thanks everyone for the tips & suggestions.

I'm going to check out this ninja trader simulator.

It looks like they support a ton of various data feeds:

DTN.iQ
eSignal
OpenTick
GAIN Capital/FOREX.com
Interactive Brokers
MB Trading
Patsystems
Simulated Data Feed*
TD AMERITRADE
TrackData
TradeStation
Trading Technologies
Zen-Fire

I've seen ES trade live on TT screens at the CME building, and it was lightning fast. Does anyone know if any of these feeds are better than any others for getting the simulator close to replicating a live trading screen ?

Otherwise, I'll probably just go with DTN.IQ because its what I'm using to feed my MarketDelta. I'm guessing I'm going to have to upgrade to "Level II" if I want to see the entire order book. Right now, I think all I get is the bid and offer as recorded everytime a tick is received.

And finally, I realize that success in sim trading does not mean I'm ready for the psychological impact of trading my own dough. But then again, its like saying that hitting balls at a driving range doesnt prepare you to be a PGA golfer. Its entirely true, but you have to start developing skills somewhere.

-T

 

I use TT. It's the best I've tried...and I've tried a lot of them (e.g, e-signal, dtn, IB, TradeStation, etc.)

 

Patsystems has a very good simulation environment as well, and they are much more cost friendly.

 

ensign software

 

I have not seen a better simulator than Ninja with zen-fire feed.

As far as live trading going either TT or Ninja/zen-fire are great.