I'm now using a Mac and very happy about it. However, charting software like E-signal and Tradestation are designed for PC. Any suggestion for charting software for Mac?
I've been happy using TC2000. http://www.tc2000.com/ I think it uses Microsoft Silverlight, so it's cross platform.
IB has a Mac option for their trading/charting platform. https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=674&os=mac&ib_entity=llc
I also prefer Macs. However, not having much luck in locating decent trading software. As an IB customer I can say that while TWS has a lot of potential it comes up short in some areas. Among those are: - frequently does not honor configuration settings - some of the indicators are not correctly coded (e.g., moving averages) - does not currently support multiple desktops (though it used to) - it works well enough that you can trade with it { I've used both the Mac and Windows versions. The Linux version is probably okay though I've not tried it and I've not had any luck getting the web version working.} I've been trying out the following using Parallels 8 w/ Win8.1: - NinjaTrader -- it works, but leaves a lot to be desired - MultiCharts -- a lot of promise and extremely nice help desk, but there are some issues I'm not sure I can accept. The most serious one I've experienced is they don't always print the High or Low for the bar -- a problem triggering some signals. I'm getting ready to try out R Trader. The demo wasn't very impressive, but I'm getting desperate and I think Rithmic may have a very good data feed. Though R Trader does require Windows. I traded (10 yrs ago) on a PC using eSignal and was happy with that. However, I've not had good luck getting a straight answer from the eSignal sales staff and have not been willing to give them $300 for a "free trial". In the end I suspect I will build a workstation to run Windows and jump in with eSignal.
IMO if you want to trade you must accept that Windows is dominant. Besides, I recently used a Mac PC for a few months and I see no advantage whatsoever in using it. As a matter of fact I find its UI complicated and Windows is much easier to use AFAIK. More importantly, Apple will render your OS obsolete quite often but Microsoft has been updating XP, for example, for more than 10 years. If you have a 5-year old Mac, most browsers will not run on it and you will have to pay to upgrade to another OS. I see the use of Mac more as a trendy thing rather than due to distinct advantages it offers other than purported safety from attacks which is irreverent to people who do visit conspicuous websites. Nevertheless, you could use a software like VMware to run any windows software on a Mac. Has anyone of you tried that?
I've been using computers since before Microsoft and Apple. As a professional IT person with a bachelor's in Computer Science and a master's in Software Engineering, I've been exposed to many operating systems. I won't go into the pros and cons -- however, I find UNIX (OS X, Linux, etc) to be a better OS. It does not take long to learn the Apple UI and once you've done that, you won't want to turn back. However, I agree that one most likely is condemned to use Windows if you want to be a trader. Windows is adequate for what most people on ET want to do. The folks putting in the money for co-located servers and doing their own programming (C/C++/Java) to play in the UHFT arena are typically not running Windows. Regarding using virtual machines: while I am a big proponent of VM, the versions available for OS X (Parallels, Fusion, others) don't overcome the shortfalls of Windows and are inadequate for a trader workstation. I currently use Windows 8.1 under Parallels 8 under OS X 10.9. However, I am in prototype stage and can live with the shortcomings. I will be building a workstation with Windows in 2014. If you make your living as a trader you should upgrade to a new workstation and at least Windows 7. [IMHO, Windows 8 UI is horrible, but you can get used to it.] Be Happy and Prosper
If you want to program your own indicators in Java you may find jTWScharts interesting (do a web search for jTWScharts - the first non-paid search result should point to its web-page).