Hello. As I have combed through several pages of posts yet have found nothing addressing my search, I think it expedient to ask directly. As a beginner, I have inferred from reading that a brokerage application and data service application are necessary. It seems some brokerage applications are equipped with charts and data but are not as robust as an independent application; therefore, another application is necessary? My reading tells me a trading platform couples these two into one? Is it correct Ninja can execute trades while being fed data through a subscriptive service? Could someone set me straight on all this? Thank you in advance.
there are numerous charting/order entry programs available as well as standalone charting programs requiring an external data feed that do not have order entry some brokers have their own programs and some provide 'white label' rebranded programs NinjaTrader is available from many brokers for free including the data feed, some parts of the program are fee based here's one broker: http://www.ampfutures.com/ suggest you look over AMP's site thoroughly before phoning them and asking questions - don't email broker sales, phone - as well you can demo Ninja which comes with the realtime feed and practice trading account see also: http://www.ninjatrader.com/support/forum/index.php glad to know you're here to banish our grief and pain - you're needed ; )
you could also use think or swim which has great charts and tons of data that futures brokers dont offer, trin ,tick, uvol,dvol, classes for traders every wed for free,ability to trade stocks ,options,futures forex...and you can watch any or all of these while trading whatever you choose...the more info you have , the better the decisions to enter a trade
TD ThinkorSwim min account margin is $3,500 regardless what you trade they require full daytrade margins - $5,000+ for the es and fx is a min of $500 AMP for instance has min of $2,000 for account and $500 for es
its cheaper at amp to get in,but they offer you an acct only,with a ninja trading platform,ok if you already know how to trade, but trading in the blind for a newbie