I was originally looking into using a program called FireTip that would work on all my mac computers for futures trading. One of the brokers I could use (directfutures) is saying it would be $4.60 roundtrip including exchange fees which I originally thought was a good deal, but I'm starting to wonder. If I run vmware on my mac to use better trading platforms that only work on windows, what is the best broker with the best rates?
Also, it seems like everyone on this forum is a big fan of ninjatrader for charting, so I'm looking into that. Does the ninja trader platform have a monthly fee or is it included with whichever broker you end up going with? The firetip trading/charting platform I use is free and then I would only be charged commissions. I'm used to paying over $100 a month just for my charting program from worden when I traded stocks and if there is anyway I could cut out an extra $110 per month bill it would be great.
You mean that piece of crap that is written by people that would mentally be challenged to serve burgers at McDonalds? Seriously? Before NInjaTrader I thought old versions or Rational Rose were the worst software I have ever seen. NInjaTrader now leads by a wide margin. I suggest you look at alternatives. THere is at least one that is from a company that is responsive, fixes their product and makes regular new releases AND is a LOT better thought out. MultiCharts. NInja does none of that - their software has problems running on modern windowsi na domain environment (too stupid to put their data inthe right place), works on an outdated .NET technology (for years now), has TONS of SIGNFICANT issues (backtesting is mostly crap until you work around a LOT of issues) and their project management is totally happy not fixing any bug and telling everyone to wait for vv8 which is due one point this millenium, promised. MultiCharts has public project management, you can see planned releases and fixed issues, they have a blog and do regular updates. Now that they have a :NET version coming SOON (read somewhere release in July) I hope Ninja looses enough customers to make it worthwhile to hire somoene who does not think "Project Management" is some alien concept that involves sacrificing chidren and is the root of all evil. Ninja is CRAP. Not because of the bugs it has, but becuause the company does not care and does not fix even those that would not atake more than 15 minutes to fix. Are oyu capable of reading? I mean, seriously - if I go to their website, the pricing information is kind of impossible NOT to see, you know. Yes. As in: you pay a lot higher comission to cover the plattform cost and are bound to one broker. NOTHING in this industry is free. Really? 110 USD make a difference for you? Maybe a month at McDonalds would be good. Take the money, put it into your investment account and you likely quadrupled it? 100 USD is 2 points ES, one contract (plus change). If that makes or breaks you, you have a SERIOUS problem. I am all into saving, but there are some significant issues in tying yourself to your broker like you do so far. You seem to likie simple issues. I mean, you talk of all in comissions. I pay 50 cents per side PLUS fees. And I come out ahead - quite significant.
Easy man. What broker do you go through that is $.50 a side in commissions? I'm assuming that's not including exchange fees? Also, I take it you use multicharts then? Are you happy with the platform?
I said it does not include exchange fees. DeepDiscountTrading.com - site looks shit, but it is a decent VDM behind (Crossland) and Howard - the guy running DeepDiscount - is as good as it gets, which is a SERIOUS compliment. Seriously, want to laugh? We run 3 compuiters here doing backtesting. Can you imagine how suprised we where when the SAME strategy turned out 3 results in NInja? Ninja sometimes forgets to downloa data and jsut uses thwhat it gets - no error. NICE. Oh, and when you backtest again, it downloads all again. Alzheimer in programming. e still work with Ninja, but moving out is part of the plan. We spet the last 3 months likely 7 man months hunting ghosts.
NetT may appear to be a troll, but his opinion on ninjatrader is common. I made a thread on this earlier, although it was taken down because I was a little over board. I'll rewrite one in the near future when I cool down on my recent "dilemma" with Ninjatrader software. It caused me to lose an entire trading day - the money I would have likely made was more than the price of other platforms. It wasn't just any day, but a day I would have traded.
I checked out deepdiscounttrading.com and it was way cheaper than any other brokers I've seen yet. I'm very glad you sent me that site. The exchange fees were even cheaper which I don't understand because I thought that was a fixed rate. I only traded stocks so far so this is all a new world for me. I have a mac computer so I've only used web platforms in the past and this is my first foray into downloading a platform and all the fees associated with it. As for the platforms, they all have monthly fees and commissions associated with them as well. All the brokers I've looked into so far only have fixed commission rates and no charge for charting as it's included in the program. It seems wierd that they charge a monthly fee for the platform and different commissions for each platform besides the commissions already associated with the broker and exchange.
That shouldn't be weird at all. Those costs don't come from him but are from the platforms themselves. Go to each individual platform site, and you will see. Unless you happen to like opaque pricing, I don't see why this is a problem. You need to know that NO ONE gives free charting or software. You pay for it one way or the other. The choices are to pay for it straight up, pay for it with higher commissions, or use crappy software. You won't find better service + low commissions than Howard at deepdiscounttrading. I suggest going there.
Fraud? Seriously. Exchange fees ARE fixed. You can only lower them when you trade significant by becoming an exchange member (which has a significant fixed cost, but then lower per contract costs). Regarding platform fees - exactly. I rather pay for everything separate AND CAN CHANGE THEM than having one lump sum and not be able to combine various vendors.