Hi. I'm looking for a reliable broker and easy to use trading platform to trade the e-minis. I don't need anything fancy, and would actually prefer something with fairly simple order entry capabilities. Any suggestions are appreciated. Wally
QuoteTracker - http://www.quotetracker.com/ Works with various futures brokers including Interactive Brokers, MB Trading, CyberTrader, RML Trading, and can get you a configuration for Open E Cry.
I would look into Proactive Futures. They offer several different platforms, good margins, competitive commission structure, and their CS is very good, even during market hours, when it's the most important time to be able to reach them. Ask for David, he'll answer all your questions. They clear through Alaron. http://www.proactivefutures.com/ Don-
I'll second that, Quote Tracker is great for charting, and if your futures broker of choice doesn't offer a DOM style interface for order entry (hint hint Jerry ), QT works well for that too. Jerry and his team provide the best support of any charting platform I have used. Most email questions are answered thoroughly almost immediately. Best part about it though, check the price! As for brokers, I still trade equities on occasion so my main account is with MB Trading, which enables me to trade eminis and stocks from one account. MB also has outstanding customer service. You can find cheaper rates, but for my style of trading and purposes, they are perfect. They do limit you on overnight trading hours in the futures market, so if you want to trade overnight, it might not work for you. But like I said, for me they are my favorite broker so far. I have had accounts at IB, which is cheaper, but I am not a fan of their customer service or platform. Lots of folks here love them, so they might be right for you. They have some great rates for a retail trader, no doubt, and also let you trade all kinds of securities from one account, no limit on hours or anything like that. If you trade volume, you can negotiate rates through many futures specific firms. I have a small account with Infinity, and I like them too. If you are just going to trade futures, that kind of broker may work for you too.. Best bet is too visit the Broker and Software reviews here on ET: http://elitetrader.com/br/ http://elitetrader.com/so/ and then visit some sites and download some demos, etc. Enzo
IB, and zeroline trader as a front end and maybe sierra chart for charting ( zeroline + sierra chart = $180 per year , can't beat that)
I assume from the above that one can execute orders from QT. Do you also now provide an API to the execution functions thus allowing automated trading? Richard
Yes, you can trade from within QuoteTracker GUI, or via QuoteTracker trading API if you wish to write an automated trading system. Refer to the API docs: http://www.quotetracker.com/help/QTStreamingAPI.shtml http://www.quotetracker.com/help/QTTradingAPI.shtml