I'm with you, Nuton. I guess I should have stressed: I am a stock only trader, don't care about getting charts and Level II from IB, just need a reliable, fast trading machine that will not kill me with fees.
Why not give TS6 a try. A slightly higher commission .012 / shr and more than just a trading platform. I have had occasion to call their trading desk on a couple of questions I had, and got through in a matter of seconds. They offer several toll free support numbers and attempt to respond quickly. Since using TS6 since mid-April, I would rate their customer service well above average. Can't comment on IB but I wasn't impressed with a number of glitches in their online demo.
No MOO or MOC orders, _AND_ they are 20% more expensive, and they do not have easy Excel Integration, _AND_ i'ts $99/Month. All that being said, PointD and TS are probably going to give IB a run for the money if they continue to try to accomidate the very short term trader. nitro
No it isn't even good for that unless you have a good deal of experience with computers, software, and the like - particularly java issues which are discussed in a forum on software. The reason is that IB software corrupts other programs such as DATEK Streamer and activetrader chat. Once installed on your computer, it is difficult to remove - for example, your Streamer will not work again. To put it another way, IB's TWS is in effect a virus when mixed with certain "main stream" trading systems. An example of what I consider to be a main stream trading system is a Win 2000 machine with whatever version of Microsoft IE that comes with such rigs when they are brand new. If you download that Sun Java 2 SE or whatever IB says you need to run their standalone you can kiss the above goodbye. I'll probably take some heat from techies on this but I don't care anymore - I've had 3 different machines corrupted in this way. That includes my brand new trading computer that I bought specificaly to make the most of my IB account. So IB's defective software has undermined my trading plan which requires the other products mentioned above to run at the same time. Geo.
All you need to do is uncheck Browser Intergration with IE 6.0 in Settings/ControlPanel/JavaPlugin and your Datek Streamer will be running side-by-side with IB TWS (standalone).
a recent experience with IB I cancelled a NYSE GTC sell right at the 4pm close and the green went to pink. I sold the stock in the afterhours. I have been trading with IB for over a year, and didn't know "pink" isn't a done deal...only "red." If it had been a DAY trade it would have been automatically cancelled at the end of the day, but this was a GTC order. I woke up short this stock, and stuck $400, in an up market [The order was re-submitted the next morning before the market opened. I didn't even get the "opening price," which would have cut my loss in half] I was told by IB it was my responsibility...which may be true, but it sure doesn't feel right. True, I could have woke up a winner, and no complaints. Mark
got the JavaPlugin controlpanel up but there is no "Browser Integration with IE 6.0"?! care to point out where you find it specifically? Thanks
You open the Java Plugin Control Panel and chose the tab Browser. Uncheck Microsoft Internet Explorer. Then all the MS Java applications (chat, Datek streamer, JTrader, ...) will be happy - and if you listen very carefully you can hear them whisper "God Save Bill Gates !"
interesting, i don't have a "browser tab" in my java. i don't care anyway i don't need to do anything cause i don't run junk like datek streamers and so forth :-/
I must say that I like Datek's streamer. It's a clean and simple setup thats easy on the eyes and gives you what you need to know. The feed has been rock-solid as of late so I can't complain.