Hey guys, We all know IB data feed is slow and I am looking for a 3rd party trading platform and use a different data feed such as IQfeed. However, I like TWS as a platform. If I subscribe to Esignal market data, can I use it in TWS instead of IB data? If so, will the data still be slow? Thanks
I've tried but failed because it's an older ESignal plug-in that isn't supported or updated, and requiring 32-bit version of TWS. And when I discovered this, ESignal didn't want to provide full refund and charged some activation fee. Some people reported that it works for them with 32-bit version of TWS, but I didn't want to use it. Feel free to try if you want.
You can use eSignal's data in TWS. If you are trading futures, around 3 years ago, eSignal changed the symbols (added an extra zero, or something like that), and the futures quotes could no longer be seen on TWS. I got around this by creating an eSignal Watchlist, and placing it side by side, essentially blending it (like same font & everything) with the TWS Watchlist, that lists the futures contracts, but no quotes. So I execute on eSignal's charts, see my quotes/other on the eSignal platform. And see my P&L on TWS, right next to the eSignal watchlist. Stocks are fine. If you are just using eSignal for market data, and you trade futures, TWS will not show any quotes. And the only way to get around this, is described above. I already spoke with IB support regarding an updated plug-in, so that the futures quote issue could be fixed. After lengthy conversations, back and forth, they told me straight out, that it's "not on their priority list", meaning that they will never fix it, and being honest about it: it's never going to happen. In terms of technical questions, I would just call eSignal, as they have good customer service. IB, not so good. Data's speed should be perfectly fine...
So actually it also depends what are you trading and charting. For example eSignal doesn’t provide option quote history and cannot beat IB in this area.
Would the data still be slow to load? A lot of times on TWS I get "Attempting to retrieve data", will this issue be gone with esignal data?
do you have esignal s/w in the first place? if you don't have, you have to subscribe to it. You have to pay $176 / mth to use the esignal Signature charting software (in this case, you wouldn't be using the charting s/w feature but you still have to pay $176 / mth). on top of that, you have to add on data fees. I tried channeling data feed from here to there before. It was no fun. mostly it didn't work. or you have to use the outdated / very old software version. you should evaluate different brokers / trading platforms. You will be amazed different brokers / trading platforms give you different speed / quality / reliability / features ....
yes that seems not worth it. With this price I can get another trading platform and add Data from a Data vendor I am trying to look for another platform. So far I narrowed my choices to Multicharts and Motivewave