Compared today IB's datafeed with the 45$ (cme, special offer for QT) feed from IQ: The opening bell is interesting First IB:
I have been trading with IB's datafeed for quite a while now. Unfortunately I was always too lazy to evaluate another feed. Today I subscribed to the 7 day trial from IQ... Like expected, the snapshot feed from IB is "useless" around critical points, i.e. opening, major reports etc. It's up on the individual trader if he can cover the expenses with the better accuracy from IQ's feed...
I'm currently using the IQ-Feed for NYMEX quotes. It costs only $75 per month, all included. Works pretty good so far.
bottom line, today I got SIGNIFICANT better "fills" on two of my trades... I think an accurate datafeed really pays off over a couple of RT!
Thanks for the data feed comparison. A true tick data feed will always beat a snapshot data feed for tick level accuracy. Could you please explain more about "SIGNIFICANT better "fills"" as the data feed and order execution are independent of one another.
I presume thats a tick chart not a time chart. If so then you are getting what you expect from IB because the maximum tick rate is one every 200ms. You have combined the cheapest charting package with a free data feed. A more expensive package may improve the data output by using ib's 5sec data as well - but not if you want a tick chart and don't understand how they are constructed and what multipliers are required for ib data.
Sorry, I was a bit imprecise, I have typed "fills" between "" as I know that the datafeed has nothing to do with order exec.. I mean, that I got a better entry price compared with the snapshot feed with it's LONGBARS...
I tried Ninja Trader but wasn't very happy with it's handling. I like QuoteTracker very well, so I had to look for a better datafeed... Of course I've already known about IB's limitations with it's snapshot datafeed if you use TICK charts but it was still nice to see the difference in a live comparison