Good charting software for IB's data feed?

I have been doing fairly well with futures and equities but as I travel often and into time zones that are sometimes way off EST, I thought currencies may fit better, especially since price action is price action, though the instruments and their volatility and spreads may differ fundamentally.

Anyway, I currently use Esignal but am taking a break from them for a couple of months(at least) and since I already pay for the data feeds through IB, I am looking for the most reliable charting software using them, especially regarding accurate volume data on the minute and 5-minute periods?

I am currently looking at Ninja, SierraCharts and Ensign (the latter, I haven't even figured out how to get the intraday time frames for EUR/USD on it) and they seem to give different data although the feed is coming from the same source. Also, any insight into IB's feed as up to just recently, I only use them to place orders and it seems that they may be missing data or just feeding volume chunks instead of each tick?

Any useful answers just so immensely appreciated

 

Ninja Trader.

Free for charting, you only pay if you enter trades with it.

 

Thanks a lot for the answer.
Yes, I have been enjoying the free aspect and whilst Esignal seems to have a lot of noise/tails that are not registering on IB, their volume counter seems to be a little more exact and easier to read than Ninja Trader though with forex, who knows about the accuracy of Esig's volume data due to said noise discrepancy with IB which doesn't exist with Esignal's and IB's equity and futures' feeds. This is all to be taken from someone that has been using Esignal for over 3 years and is slooooow to change

If you use IB, what do you think of their forex data feed, are we seeing each tick or is it more in volume chunks and do you think it is complete?

Thanks again.

 

when trading forex, any other data feed other than your broker's data feed is irrelevant because they WILL NOT honor anyone else's pricing. It is not like using ESignal for equities or futures as those prices go thru a central clearing whereas the prices on IB are thru their partner agreements.

What do I think of IB's forex feed? Doesn't make a difference as it is the only feed which you can trade with on IB.

 

Very good point and thanks for the explanation. Now, I am wondering/wandering because if the Esignal data is based on a feed that is shared with SOME broker, then it may be good to put some money with that broker (after considering commissions, spreads, reliability, etc.) as there is more opportunity with that extra movement IF it is real. A few pips here and there that you may pick up through fishing orders, etc. would make a huge difference in the long run.

Do you, Cstfx, or does anyone on here know what the deal is or if you've tried out multiple brokers over the years, which one has markedly more forex volatility than IB or is it true that IB is as good as any regarding a representation of what is actually being traded in any one currency?
IMO, IB rocks with their great commission schedule on all of the many instruments they allow you to trade, be it futures, equities, options or forex AND it is as/more insured than any other broker. I am just looking for another, potentially more lucrative option for forex IF it exists.

Much thanks for any replies. PM me if you like.

 

Myshkin:

eSignal uses a composite fx datafeed where quotes from alot of brokers/istitutions are aggregated - i.e. EUR@A0-FX will include all quotes from all participating firms.

You can however single out individual firms and chart only their data too. For example, EUR@TDFX A0-FX will chart only MBTrading data. Should be much closer to IB than the composite symbols.

http://kb.esignalcentral.com/display/2n/kb/article.asp?aid=3108

 

Multicharts v5.x works well with IB.

 

IB has 9-10 participating partners for liquidity so they are very representative of what the market is at any given moment.

My emphasis is that if you see a price touched (or even a brief spike) on your ESignal or whatever data vendor does not mean that the price is also recognized on IB's data feed - i.e. ESignal shows EURUSD touch 1.52 @ 14:21 EST (where you have an order sitting) and retreats but IB does not, IB only shows 1.5199 or 1.51995, you would obviously not get filled. You might throw a fit saying "my chart shows it hitting that price, why wasn't I filled?" When it comes to spot fx and it's de-centralized way of operating, the only feed that matters for your trading is the data from your broker.

As to your original question, whether to drop ESignal data for IB's, I'm going to say yes, it's not worth spending $100+ a month for data you can't trade on.

JMO.

 

I don't agree with that, especially when trading OTC instruments.

Since there is no centralized price discovery in f/x it is in my opinion important to confirm pricing with a 3rd party (parties). Blind flight trading without verifying quotes from a single firm is not really a good idea. This may be less an issue with an ecn where multiple MMs compete, but there are still situations with problems of technical nature (i.e. lagging price servers, networking isuues, amongst many others) where you do not immediately realize that you see wrong/outdated/stale price data.

 

Thanks for all the posts and Pip dude for Esig's more specific/limited symbol as it seems much closer to what I am actually seeing in IB and, as CSTFX pointed out, what I am going to be able to get filled at.

But damn, if there was a broker that had access to every trade on each forex instrument, as displayed on Esignal's complete feed, just as it is with equities, then we would have a lot more wiggle in which to take scalps. And if anyone was interested in the difference and wanted to send me some info on how to post the two charts side by side, I would be happy to do so.

I am uncertain as to if I will go back to Esignal when I get back but if I am not getting the complete data that is more likely to give the highest probability entry/exit signals(at least with equities/futures), then an extra couple of hundred bucks per month is well worth it to me. I reckon it all depends upon what instruments you are trading and in what time frames but a consistent tiny data error/misrepresentation could be the difference between a profitable and losing day/month/year, IMHO.

Thanks again for all the posts