In the 10 months I've had Tradestation it's still ahead of IB in terms of outages. I keep both accounts, one is a backup for the other.
my problem with i/b increasingly is the service. it reminds me of getting shitty service at a guitar store or a restaurant. at a guitar store - you get shit service because the people who work there don't feel they really work there as they are musicians. ditto for a restaurant because the waiters/waitresses are actors or dancers so serv ing you is beneath them. not sure what the people at i.b are prepping for but typically its a pretty "fuck you attitude".
Interactive Brokers Bulletin Board ====================================================== To ECBOT,GLOBEX traders: Tue Oct 10 12:32:41 2006 EST Resolution: Sporadic outages related to US futures market data have been resolved. ====================================================== To AMEX,BOX,CBOE,ISE,PHLX,PSE traders: Tue Oct 10 12:32:19 2006 EST Resolution: AMEX,BOX,CBOE,ISE,PHLX,PSE market data is once again available. ====================================================== To AMEX,BOX,CBOE,ISE,ONE,PHLX,PSE traders: Tue Oct 10 10:12:50 2006 EST AMEX,BOX,CBOE,ISE,ONE,PHLX,PSE market data is delayed or unavailable. ====================================================== To BOX,CBOE,ISE,PHLX traders: Tue Oct 10 09:52:11 2006 EST AMEX BOX,CBOE,ISE,PHLX PSE market data maybe delayed or unavailable.
Bingo. Nothing is perfect. Gotta have backup for everything... * Two different computers for trading in case one has problems. * Two ISPs in case one has problems. * Two brokers in case one has problems. * Two charting packages in case one has problems. However, reality is that most retail traders cannot afford all of the above. Yet, the backup doesn't need to be the best...just something to get you out of a tough spot of trading in case something goes wrong with the primary setup. Mark
I use both Tradestation and IB on a daily basis. I have had many, many more problems with Tradestation data than with IB's. I agree the issue is that if you are treating trading as a business, you must have backup and contingency plans for data as well as all of the above. I DO have 2 (or 3) of all these things, and the cost is small compared to what can be lost. I would add to the list knowing how to hedge on one exchange when the other is down and you are in a position (YM on CBOT vs ES on CME, for example.)
There is no alternative to IB for traders who are emulating a hedge fund. You can beat IB on equity comms, but nobody beats IB on product.
I run an ILX Workstation on a separate computer next to the one running TWS. Thomson/ILX is in the business of providing pro traders with super, ultra reliable quotes... Which requires extremely well designed systems... All the fastest, most reliable connections... And redundancy all the way along food chain. This is very expensive... and customers pay about $300/month... But I do not recall any instance in 10 years of ILX quotes being inaccurate or behind... Even when run an a dial-up connection in an emergency. In contrast... IB provides customers with FREE quotes that have minimal value... And will never allocate top engineers or significant resources to their quote infrastructure. This is all common knowledge... So if YOU will not get a Professional Quote Terminal or cannot afford one... Then YOU are not a serious trader and should stop complaining.