I could not tolerate the new 9.2.55 version of ATP, and had to go back to 9.1. While calling I was told that fidelity is phasing out ATP in the first quarter of this year. They are going to a new online trading product. I am not looking forward to this. What other brokers do people have with similar tools to ATP? BTW: I also learned that the update and install nag messages are controlled by their servers. And the reason they rushed this version out the door was to implement the new required symbology, but the mess on my computer, from me having to figure out how to go back has ruined my week! I got bad information from several techs and was very frustrated by the truth, it is my problem, they don't have to provide or maintain ATP, nor do they have to have reliable help desk people.
How did you go back to prior version. Not familiar with other brokers platforms. I did use Ameritrade several years ago, but convertred to Fid after retirement since my retirement funds are there. Also also do bill payment via fidelity. Fidelity may be the best of the worst not sure. If you find another outlet please let me know. Have not investigated Vanguard or others yet. Thanks for your post
I *ran*, not walked away from Fidelity and ATP. I was using it for automated trading during the fall of 2008, combined with Wealth Labs. The number of technical problems is just too long to be listed in detail... But I really threw in the towel when Fidelity admitted to me that they were having an intra-day margin issue. Intra-day buying power wasn't being released correctly. And they admitted the problem had been known for "weeks or months", but no fix was seen in the near future. It was also kept a secret from traders/customers, unless they (like me) ran right smack into it. So, basically, the problem that the OP is describing is extremely similar to the issue I had. I don't mean the actual bug itself, but Fidelity's lackadaisical approach to the bug. I personally don't know how any serious active trader can use Fidelity.
Going back is annoying and complicated. First take a screen shot of your chart window, preferences all of atp in case you loose preferences and have to reset everything. You may also loose your history that is years long, but what ever is stored on the fidelity site will get re-downloaded. Next make a copy of your last zip backup (every time atp tells you to make a backup, this is the file and it's usually in the data folder, it is called YourLogOnName.zip) and hope that it hasn't been touched by the new version >> look at the modify date, if it has a later date from when you updated to 9.2, then it will be not be useful and it will be like you are starting on a clean machine with what is downloaded from fidelity. You can download 9.1 from http://atp.fidelity.com. Right click on the download link, copy the shortcut and paste into notepad. Change the 92 to 91, repaste into IE, and save to download. ATP does not un-install well. Depending on your backup situation, you will have to run uninstall from the control panel add/remove programs and manually delete from <<your username>>\ application data\fidelity and your programs\fidelity folder. You may want to re-name and append _Old to these folders and delete latter. Search on "fidelity" and you will see these folders. I had one tech tell me you won't be able to trade options if you go back, I donât know, don't care. Once you install 9.1, if the zip file can be used, goto edit\restore and Click the Restore option button, and go from there.
I still use fidelity because my IRA and company 403 plan use it. And its nice to have most of my accounts in 1 place, the same place as my trading accounts. Their customer service is quite good. But one thing I really hate is ATP. At first I liked it, because the charting is pretty good, its a native Windows app, and good enough for me since I'm not a scalper nor daytrader, more swing trading, with intraday entries. I dont care about level 2 quotes at all. ATP could be pretty decent if they just fix a few simple bugs. But sometimes when I make a trade, it takes sometimes 2 days later for it to show up in my P&L tab. I often have to restart the app to get it to show up and thats only after a day or so later that it will show up. Can someone recommend a good broker/platform for a swing trader, intraday trader, who loves good charts, but doesn't care about level 2 quotes or scalping, preferably someplace I can put all my accounts including IRA, etc. Something like fidelity but with better active trading software.
I have had no trouble with ATP, it works well for me most of the time. Sometimes I do have to shut down and start up, but I run mutiple systems so I always have one going when one is down. I did not hear any rumor to Fido getting rid of ATP.... I hope not.
After almost 30 years with Fidelity and initiating a Fidelity 403(b) with my wife's school district, I'm fed up with Fidelity. I qualify for their Premium Service, but have recently been treated like crap from their ATP group. Even if you have a $500,000 account they won't give you a decent trading platform unless you trade a certain amount of shares. The ATP platform is basic at best . . not even a DOM for daytraders. Obviously, I didn't trade enough Fidelity shares the past year since my IB acct offered a lower comm, but recently I wanted to start trading my Fidelity accts due to their lower comm. When I requested the reconnect of the ATP I was denied. The only way for me to trade is a little window . . no conditional orders. Or I can trade a bunch of trades using their pussy window to qualify. What broker provides that crap these days? Yes, they have a new commission schedule but how do you attract active traders offering such poor platforms and lousy service? Of course, they will give ATP to you if you xfer $$$ to them but screw the existing "premium" customers. I pity the smaller customer. As soon as my fixed income matures, I'm out of there. Fidelity needs to take a hard look at their active trader business model . . it's failing!!! Fidelity, you just lost $500,000 to my other brokerage IB, which provides a superior and more reliable platform. I trade both futures and stocks on IB . . no real complaints. Service could be better but still better than Fidelity. Avoid Fidelity . . !!!
Fidelity has great order entry executions through their "directed trading" window on ATP. HOWEVER, the charts are junk, and you can get much better charting features with other platforms. If you're going to ever use ATP, be warned: make sure you have another chart package with another broker/software!