Hi guys, I'm in between esignal advanced GET, Ninja trader and Tradestation. I'm posting because I'm really having a hard time cutting out the bullshit and deciding which is the best platform. I was leaning towards esignal, but I can't stand their pitches disguised as seminars. It really makes me question their overall integrity, plus it is just insulting when someone is trying to close you non-stop for 3 days in a row. Can you just reply with your honest 2 cents. What do you use? Why do you like it? Did you try something else before? Sort of thing... Thanks in advance.
As you probably already know, you can use our product for free (you will need to have a data provider) wiith the exception of live trading, we charge for this. You can attend any of our free product education webinars that we hold daily that can help you evaluate our product. The event schedule is located here - http://www.ninjatrader.com/webnew/trading_online_events.htm
You asked, so here are my two cents worth. There is no perfect platform, just what is best for you. I've used all three of these and like them all. E-signal is a data provider, so you'll need to decide who you want to trade with and be sure that they link with e-signal. In the past I used MB Trading and found it to be good for my needs. I've done a demo on Ninja and like it. Many traders are very happy with it. I suggest you do a free demo. Currently, I've been using TS for the last five years. Overall, I'm very satisfied and it has been a good platform for my needs. Bottom line, I think the three you are considering are fine. Do consider the demo on Ninja though. GL
Stay away from tradestation! The charts and matrix always locks up. I have called tradestation and they don't care. This has been an issue for a week. I called to ask them to give me a commission rebate or something and they laughed. They seriously read me the agreement over the phone that states they aren't responsible for anything. Basically I said hey I wouldn't be calling and complaining if it were a data isuse from the CME or the internet was down but this is your servers and it's been ongoing for a week. They don't care. So Tradestation is the only Company in the free world that can charge you without providing a service. Rather ironic that they are a brokerage and their primary source of income seems to be the people they could care less about. Been trading for over a decade and Tradestation is by far the worst and most callous platform/brokerage I have ever dealt with. Even Refco was fair and didn't intentionally screw you. Tradestation financials - lower revenue, lower net income by almost half and a 24% reduction in # of trades as same time last year with an increase in employee compensation. Funny how poor customer service is viewable in financials.
Interesting, I've never had that problem with TS, but would drop them if I did. Curious, what platform are you considering using instead?
It depends, apart from the differences in the platforms themselves, in what you want to trade, your level of experience, etc. I use NinjaTrader with Interactive Brokers and I'm happy overall. If you're only going to trade futures, though, you may want to consider some broker that provides a Zen-fire feed (since IB aggregates the Time & Sales and makes it useless - if you use that kind of thing, some people don't and don't care). With TS, if I recall properly, you're stuck with them as brokers too. The community is massive, so you won't be alone if you're into programming, etc. Otherwise it seems a bit outdated, but you can't go too wrong with a proven thing. IMHO and without meaning to offend anyone, eSignal is a ripoff for wannabe retail traders. Very expensive bells and whistles. As some have suggested, I'd try the Ninja demo, then if you like it sign up for a month (to make sure you have no problems with the instruments/broker/whatever you want to trade with) and then buy the lifetime license (otherwise you'd find yourself thinking for years: if I'd got the lifetime license at the beginning, I would have already saved XXX $, but then, I've already spent so much that I don't want to pay for the license now )
Thank you for the feedback. I'm giving both esignal and ninjatrader a trial run right now. I'll post again in a couple of weeks to let you know how it went. Thanks again.
I use Esignal for data and NT for charts, the combo works quite well. Esignal data is expensive but reliable. I use NT mainly for the chart trader feature while Esignal software is imo better for long-term or position trading, where I'm tracking a number of symbols at a time. All the same, when Esignal 11 is released I might drop NT altogether. Depends on the features and functionality.