Hi, I've been actively researching the various Electronic Trading Platforms and FX Broker combinations in order to find the right combination to serve my needs. I'm looking to do reasonably serious backtesting with high frequency Spot Fx data. Here is what I have so far: Tradestation ---------------- Pros: Like the overall capabilities and software Cons: Gain Capital as the only choice of an FX Broker?? From what I have read, Gain Capital has some very poor reviews though they do seem to offer intraday historical data going to back to 2000/2002...Only one choice of a FX Broker... Esignal: ----------- Pros: Oanda plugin, many choice of FX Brokers, including MBTradinig and possibly even HotSpot... Cons: Reliability of Esignal platform? Backtesting not as powerful as with Tradestation or Wealth-Lab? Wealth-Lab: ---------------- Pros: Great for portfolio optimization; very active user community Cons: Seems to have some Fx specific issues; also have to go through Fidelity if a US Citizen (big negative); does not seem to offer a seamless plugin to a reputable FX Broker as far as I can tell... MetaTrader: ----------------- Pros: From reading the boards here, it seems to have lots of satisfied users... Cons: Interbank Fx feed? Lack of an Oanda plugin? Did not recognize many of the FX Brokers that were listed... Thus, I'm currently thinking of using Tradestation strictly for backtesting/development, and then another platform for trading, but this brings up the issue of backtesting on historical fx data different from the broker actually being used?? (ie Tradestation uses Gain Capital Vs. Actually trading with Oanda, for example) Thoughts? Right now I'm thinking of bringing up both Tradestation with Gain (since that's the only choice there) and ESignal with Oanda and running them side by side for awhile to see how they compare... Any thoughts or feedbak much appreciated. Regards, Transatlantic
Backtesting is one thing. Trading is another. If you are using a fixed spread broker then you are throwing your money away. There is a much better alternative. Find a FOREX broker that offers real time Level II. I can buy/sell for a profit with a 2 pip move. On those fixed spread brokers, you have to make 3 pips or more just to break even! Remember, you are on the internet... if you (google) search, you'll usually find what you are looking for.
Just a note: you can't rely on Metatrader backtest results. Metatrader does trade about the same in forward test via demo and in live mode (depends on the broker) with InterbankFX though you will get a few some requotes and trade errors in live trading that you won't see in demo.