I completely disagree. Case in point: TD Ameritrade uses a "filtered" data-feed called streamer that is still not up to robust standards. The Level-2 lags substantially during heavy volume and price activity. As a result, you have to use another data-feed in order to supplement a trading platform such as Quotetracker via Ameritrade. With DTN's "IQ-Feed" you at least have a chance at getting real-time tick data for Level-1. If you choose to go without such a real-time tick feed and rely on Ameritrade's "streamer" ( which lags and is filtered ) you are just asking for trouble. NOTE: I too, am based on the West Coast and am cognizant of all sorts of latency issues.
This is a valuable good information to know. It turns out it is not different from Schwab. I was thinking to look at Ameritrade too. I agree but I doubt I can find a good enough "real time" data feed unless I am located at the exchange. Yes, definitely.
Of course, when we get hectic during let's say a Fed announcement, and the real time tick data starts lagging, I don't know how you're going to "scalp". By the time you see the data it won't mean anything. And let's face it, if you're see a "snapshot" 6 times a second, how much do you really think your eye is capable of seeing? That said, anyone who thinks they need every tick should get it. I just wouldn't count on it at any of the important news events or heavy volume times. Then too, I guess the definition of "scalper" varies depending on who you're talking to. I think of it as a guy whose going for a few ticks. And personally I think there are more profitable ways to trade. Just my opinion. If you're a guy whose making several trades a day off of the chart, I don't think you need to see each tick. There's more important information than that. Just my opinion. OldTrader
::Yeah, IB takes a snapshot. Matter of fact, it takes something ::like 6 snapshots per second. Trust me, you aren't going to miss ::much. And if you're that focused on each and every tick, my ::guess is you're headed down the wrong road in trading. This is bullocks. I dont do millisecond trading and still need a tick feed. Why? TICK CHARTS. Hard to build a 89 tick chart (a bar every some seconds in active markets) when you simply dont have reliable tick information to start with Thanks for me there is zen-fire Not trading stocks here, though
Thanks for that! It works. I had no idea you could do this. Its not tick data though, I just tested it. TS volumes are in chunks. no disrespect on my bandwidth meter light speed does 30KB/s, instaquote does 7KB/s, IB does less than 1KB/s. I can see how it would be an issue if your on dial up. Even if IB takes 6 snapshots/sec it then chunks all those trades in a sec as one so on the TS you see a trade with a large volume although it consisted of several individual trades in reality. Even during news announcements and such lag isn't a issue from the testing I've done. Why would you be in a position in the first place during scheduled news releases. I just tested TD Ameritrade streaming feed with my LightSpeed and completely agree with you. Its not tick, It lags for less than a second but what annoys me is the how it chunks the volumes as one trade on the T/S within QT. And yes Im a scalper so raw data is important to me. I've done some testing on varying feeds and will post the results on youtube if anyone is interested.
well i tested ZEN and DTN, in periods with higher volume i had lags from 5 to 10 seconds, on IB NO LAGS i dont care about ticks i care about price )
I use ZEN here and NO LAG AT ALL Hm, so maybe it was your software. Ninja? Hm, yeah. Stupid T&S windows really can overload the system Pretty often it is the front end not able to cope with the data.
I didn't say take a position, just see how it handles the data under stress. I often take a position because it suits my style but that's not for everyone but to answer your question, violent moves obviously produce fast profits IF you know how to trade them.