Came across a new front-end for IB TWS. Haven't played around with it yet, but user interface looks interesting. http://www.buttontrader.com/
Tsjeee...... You guys are quick ! ! I wanted to post here in about 2 weeks from now (when I had supported the first wave of new users). But now the readers of this great forum know it too. buttontrader is released. I'm the builder of this wonderful tool and worked 3,5 years on it (day in day out). It's huge in features and documentation (our Beta-testers and R&D-team have wrote 250+ pages on how you can use the tool in the best way according to your trading style). For DayTraders (having a IB-account) it's ready in it's current form. But in de coming 6 months the system will grow to the benefits of mid-term swing-traders as well. Ah.. let I stop now. You should download it and play a hour with it and probably you like it.
Ohh.. I forgot to post the gif: Below is an animated gif showing just a few of the features of ButtonTrader. (Itâs called "ButtonTrader" because it uses a grid consisting of price buttons. It is the only tool in the world with which you can trade and manage your trades in a comprehensive, visual way. You actually SEE what you are trading! Here, you see just one active strategy for just one security, the ES future. But, you can trade as many strategies for the same (or different) securities as you want, and all at the same time: Futures, Stocks, SSF, in all currencies and on all exchanges which IB offers.
I too, came across ButtonTrader and have spent a good deal of time exploring it. The features are the most extensive I've seen, The documentation outstanding. It's the most complete trading management tool I've seen. It's worth a look http://www.buttontrader.com/:)
I think you want a reliable trading platform, which keeps improving and will still be viable years from now. And you want support. That is simply not possible with a free system. You see right now that the developers of Ninja and FutureTrader have the same dilemma: want to give their clients a great system but can not do it anymore for free, so they also charge a small fee to cover the cost. Please understand us well: we donât want to get rich! We are programmers who want nothing more then develop the greatest software, but have to eat some bread as well.
and if you really want something which does not depend on a particular individual/company and their desires to provide you with the software/enhancements/support now and in the future than you could go with opensource. like http://ott.sourceforge.net/ibtrader.html
Well, sure you can choose what you wish, but buttontrader really kicks the butt... I have been using BracketTrader 2003 for my simulated trading for a while and I like it a lot too. It is still cheaper than NT and FT.