I have been an avid Realtick user for about 6 years now. I love realtick charts but am thinking of shifting the bulk of my trading elsewhere and so I do not really want to pay the big amount that realtick costs (it gets rebated when you trade with Terranova)... Anyway is there anything out there that is comparable with realtick to use for charting? I have hammer for level II and openbook, etc so just really need something that has nice charts and is cheap!!! Thanks, Guru
I am in the same boat, although I would probably switch to IB, so I need a reliable Lev II display that includes ecn's. I think QCharts separates ecn's, and I don't like esig. Maybe going to the hammer would be an option , but I'm not really a scalper.
Esignal Advance chart is easy to use just like qchart, probl is they want $104 for that charting capacity alone.
I am afraid the answer is no, if what you are interested in is the quality of the data feed. I am not all that impressed with the RT charting myself, and things like the new Tradestation 7 are at least as good. But as far as the RT datafeed itself goes, I belive that it is unparalleled at the Retail price range. It is important that you seperate the datafeed from the charting software - some systems are better than others in one or the other, but rarely both. For example, I absolutely love the look and feel of QCharts, but their dataservers are HORRIBLE. I believe that TS allows you to have access to their 7 platform for $99/M if you open up a futures account with them. That requires a min of $5K. That may be the best route for you if you are looking for high quality charting with decent simple backtesting capabilities, and IMHO, a decent datafeed (Though they were having problems with e-mini quote speed at one time.) Otherwise, if cost is absolutely critical, then probably something like IB data (need to have an account open) or IQFeed for the data part, and QuoteTracker for charting, may be the "best" solution. nitro
Personally, there are no charts crisper then SierraCharts. It works with IB and MyTrack or for eod you can use H-quotes although it's a bit bulky. I use SierraCharts with Mytrack data feed, and the monthly bill is around 50 dollars. They do offer a free trial. http://sierrachart.com/
I was tired of paying $15 commissions at Terranova so I decided to give IB a try. For charts, I tried among others eSignal (did not like the software) , and Qcharts (loved the software but totally unreliable data). So I finally went back to RealTick, in my opinion the best by far both in terms of data reliability and depth of information. If you trade 200-300 shares on average per trade, using IB with Realtick (the $260/month one) comes out to a commission of about $5-$7. It did take me a couple of weeks to get used to dealing with 2 seperate platforms at the same time. And it does require a computer system that is powerful enough to handle 2 robust data feeds like IB and RT.
I used RealTick since 1995 (when it was called PC Quote), and I dumped them. I now use eSignal. The charts are awesome and all of the tools I need to trade are there. I have watched them build a great system over the years. Black boxes and order entry systems are using it more and more, due to the "open box" architecture of the software. eSignal is very reliable and far less expensive than RealTick. In my opinion, RealTick has been on a path to self-destruction. They have been down too many times, and rarely provide and answer or status as to when they are coming back up. The domino effect paralyzes their order execution system and ARCA. eSignal's broker neutrality allows them to focus on delivering accurate information quickly. Other feeds have other areas of the business to protect (order entry, ECNs, etc). Lots of prop firms and hedge funds are switching over to eSignal. The price for a professional and reliable system is secondary. If you're trading for a living, the cost of your tools should not be the determining factor. I know of auto mechanics who will think nothing of price when it comes to buying tools. I buy the best, because that helps me get the best results. My 2 cents.