I'm looking to get into swing trading and am wondering what people think are the best tools to use in getting going. Any comments?
www.quote.com .... ''livecharts'' $9.95 a month plus a couple dollars for realtime exchange fees once you start proving you can make money than you can move to a better more expensive software. seems like if you were ready to start trading that you would already know what you need. sounds like a question i would have asked when i first started. and i put myself in a -15k hole because of it. i would suggest reading and learning more before anything
Good intuition on your part. I'm NOT ready to play with real money! I'm gathering tons of information and reading and studying lots. Thanks for the link. What were some of the things that you did when first starting out? --pamo PS. Sorry for what my Vikes did to your 49ers.
It depends on your approach. If you will take stock picks off some web site or from a guru, then IB is all you need. If you want to watch your stocks carefully during the day, there are a variety of charting/data applications available, such as the one mentioned above, or QCharts for more sophistication. You really don't need to go to a full direct access package like RealTick unless you are daytrading, but if you're trading a ton of money, why scrimp? If you are selecting your own stocks, you might want to look at some of the s/w that does scanning for you. TC2000 and quotesplus are two popular ones, but there are many more. Use the search feature here to get other members' comments, as this subject has been discussed repeatedly.
Pamo - you can get QuoteTracker: http://www.quotetracker.com If you don't have a brokerage account yet, you can subscribe for a datafeed at http://www.quotetracker.com/money.net or get a cheapo datafeed from Scottrader.com and use that in Quotetracker, then move up to a better datafeed and/or integrated trading through QT once you are ready to get your feet wet.
Wizetrade. It's all you need. No, no, I'm kidding!!!! Actually, I'm doing okay with a 'starter' setup of QCharts (not the best, I know, but it works for the now) and some tedious, detail-oriented technical analysis. Works for me, but then, I am an OBSESSIVELY cautious person and analyze each possible trade the night before, looking for the best possible risk:reward ratio.
Thanks for all of your replys. Good, helpful information. I'll also take the advice and do a search of this site. Thanks! pamo