I still am not sure this is a really good idea. QT will cause a big consumption of bandwidth, which will eventually hurt all of us. Why? 1. demo users: They will not use TWS just for 'getting quote' purpose because it's neither convenient nor useful. However they will use QT. They even might fund IB $2000 just to use QT quotes. Remember that IB's option quote is pretty good. It's ECN direct quote is also pretty good. I even think QT can reconstruct L-II screen using quotes from IB. Imagine who will love this. 2. Real customers: They get convenience but bandwidth consumption will be increased significantly which will decrease execution performance. Think about Datek situation. Datek's streamer allows only 20 symbols at a time, but QT allows 60 by combining 3 servers. QT will do similar thing to IB, especially using ECN direct quotes. Conclusion: I think IB should focus on EXECUTION by saving bandwidth used for quotes.
Exactly my thoughts. If people are too cheap to shell out $100 - $200 per month for a professional market data service they shouldn't be trading in the first place. Dave
Trader WJ - maybe I'am a novice in net-issues and bandwidth - so could you please explain, why the use of QT with IB RT quotes would lead to the need of much more bandwidth for IB ? Quotes are submitted anyway through the JTWS. I think,displaying charts by using IB's quotes via QT has nothing to do with bandwidth used but more with memory and processing power of your computer. Please correct me if I'am wrong. Not long ago, I used QT with Datek-streamer-quotes ( about 35 symbols in the list ), as backup, Qcharts with about 35 symbols and had IB's JTWS open at the same time with 5 pages full of stocks / contracts to follow. No problems. I have also tested Ravenquote with almost 100 symbols updating, running RT scans and IB's TWS open with no bandwidth problems. Only problem was memory on my PC - so I upgraded to 256 MB and have no problems anymore. I'm using ISDN via a non-proxy ISP - from Germany.
Monitoring quotes with QuoteTracker instead of Java TWS doesn't consume more bandwidth! If you monitor 40 stocks in IB's Java TWS you are consuming exactly the same bandwith you consume when you monitor 40 stocks with Quotetracker. With Quotetracker you just make more of the data you receive from IB (charting, time and sales, etc). Stop whining "you consume my bandwidth". This is about making effective and intelligent use of the data we receive from IB, it's not about using more bandwidth.
If you are concerned about bandwidth, IB should immediately stop giving away realtime data in the demo version. IB should give *us customers* QuoteTracker support, to enable *us customers* to make better use of the IB feed. But QuoteTracker support and realtime data ONLY for *customers*. The free realtime quotes for everyone consumes bandwidth, not quotetracker support of the feed.
dlincke, I have used eSignal, quote.com and some other well known "professional services" and shelled out enough money for them. All I got was either a crashed computer because the software appeared to be a memory resource hog or delays in quote-services because the service hasn't enough redundant servers - and a few emails full of apologies. I spent enough time in the last 2 years of trading to compare IB's data with other services and can say, that their data isn't any worse ( or better for that matter ) than anyone elses. QT is nice piece of software and Medveds service is outstanding - the more when know that the program is free ( or without ads for 60 bucks ). Something I cannot say for most "professional services". I don't see a reason why to pay 100 or 200 bucks for something which I get for free from my broker anyway. Not everyone who pays 2.5K a year just for data services is a good trader. And not every data service who asks you to pay 100$ or 200$ a month offers a good service. So if I have the possibility to display intraday-charts with some technical indicators by using free data from my broker and a free software, I'm going to use it. Either as backup or even as stand alone.
If you used TWS more than a year, you might remember the bandwidth issues we had last year. At the time, many quote seeking peoples (I do not know whether they were customers or not) loaded up 20 pages of quotes in TWS simultaneously, and this CAUSED huge problems. This is a fact! IB might increased its bandwidth after the event, which I do not know. Anyway, IB changed TWS software so that only quotes at the current page were updating. Do you see what I am saying? I know QT is a wonderful program. Because it is wonderful, people will try to get more quotes through QT. I had 7 page set up in TWS with each page showing 3 stocks with separate ECNs. That is, TWS is updating about 15 lines at a time. If I use QT, I would get 15 lines times 7 pages information at a time. That is instant 7 fold increase of bandwidth consumption. How about you? You would get LII like screen if QT allows, right? This is the reason I am concerning. Using current JTWS, we do not want hundreds of quotes at a time because it is inconvenient. JTWS is not well designed for quotes. However, if we use QT, a great program, then ... guess what will happen. Multiply that to non-customers who suddenly saw great free quotes from direct ECNs and exchanges. If IB has enough bandwidth this may not be the problem. Well, it could be a problem only in one day a year when the market is really tanking... In my opinion, I just do not like the idea. You can wish or pursue whatever you want. Just be careful, You might get what you want.
I think TraderWJ raised a valid concern. We know that people getting quotes within JTWS/TWS, are likely trading with JTWS/TWS, but someone using QT with IB datafeed might actually be using another broker to trade. They might only have a minimum account of $2000 at IB just to get the quotes. If this happened alot, then IB's real customers, i.e. the ones making several or hundreds of trades per day, could experience worse reliability/speed. Personally, I would love to see an alternative ORDER ENTRY user. There are already plenty of charting/quotes apps/services (for a price), but we are stuck with IB's cumbersome order entry interface. Fleance
Privateer, "I don't see a reason why to pay 100 or 200 bucks for something which I get for free from my broker anyway." Based on that statement I have to assume you never made it past L1 quotes on any of the services you've tried out. There's a number of quote feeds whose quality and reliability far exceeds the L1 quotes provided by IB. With TWS 3.0 IB's quotes have actually deteriorated so much over the last few weeks that at any single point in time at least half the quotes are wrong. To IB's credit I have to say that this problem does not seem to affect TWS 4.0 nearly as much, but why would you want to rely on something for your trading which as far as quality assurance is concerned obviously is not very high on IB's priority list? I'm familiar with QT and actually own a registered copy as an emergency backup source of quotes but as a primary quote service QT IMO is inadequate for short-term intraday trading let alone scalping. If you're a pure swing or position trader, OTOH, I can see why QT may be sufficient for your purposes. "Not everyone who pays 2.5K a year just for data services is a good trader." Not that I made such a statement. However, my experience has been that people whose primary criterion when choosing trading tools is price beyond any quality considerations tend to be undercapitalized. And as I'm sure you will agree starting out with too little capital in this business can easily be a recipe for disaster. I can't understand why people whose livelihood depends on reliable trading tools would be too cheap to invest a mere average daily profit in order to get themselves a full year's worth of a professional level realtime quote and charting service. Dave