I used IB years ago but it has been some time so now that I have opened a new account, I would like to get it set up correctly. In the past I think I used Ninja Trader, button trader and I think that's it. So first, what percentage of people use just IB to trade and no other skin? Is it a good idea to do so? What are the popular addon and are they worth it? Many thanks. Edit: The prompting of this post came when I saw that Ninja Trader currently costs $50 a month.
I use: IB - ButtonTrader - Multicharts - Tradelog Not much has changed MC is a bit more polished than in the past, multi core, 64 bit, solid, reliable platform. Has order entry capabilities & chart trading also. Not a Ninja user, but believe it too may have improved and become more stable. [Ninja is free for charting, and button can't be beat as an order entry front end] Personal preference dependent upon which product one has a greater learning curve invested.. both are similarly priced Trading is a business and business's have costs. imho it is far more important to obtain the best features, functionality, reliability and convenience than obtain the least expensive setup...
So you use multi charts for your charts? If Ninja trader charts are free, then why don't you use them? I have not heard of multicharts. How do you like them? Also, are you paying IB for real time quotes? Is it worth it do do so?
I use Tradestation for my Research/Long term analysis. It provides excellent historic data, goes back further than any data feed I have looked at so far. Simple data loading, type in the symbol on a chart and you have it. Good organization with the tabbed quote manager & workspaces. TS Data history: Tick-by-tick 30 days back, minute bars 20 years back, daily bars 45 years back I do not however trust Tradestation for intraday entry charts. It lags in a fast market, when you need it most. Occasionally may crash. Hence MC/IB for entry charts intraday. I will not trade TS for above reasons as well... very bad experience with them in the past... Historic charting only I use MC for my intraday entry charts, fast, reliable and feed with IB data, as I use button trader as my front end, I find it consistent combination. Albeit IB is not a tick for tick feed, it is a snap shot... but your charts show the same as IB's order entry / DOM... MC is a good product, I find their order entry adequate as a back up, but no comparison to ButtonTrader. I purchased an MC license years ago. Free is of no interest to me, I require reliability and efficiency. I have no issue paying the associated costs. I pay for data feed from both Tradestation and IB. [With IB you must subscribe to the corresponding markets you are trading in any event] Also both MC and TS use easy language, so it is a logical intuitive combination. IQfeed is also a solid product, however, I have latency issues with my ISP in Europe so I no longer use them, but would recommend them without issue for an intraday trader. Longer term analysis can't beat TS IQfeed data history: Tick-by-tick 30 days back, 1 year of minute bars (over 2.5 years for the CME Eminis), 1000 daily bars, 500 weekly bars Datafeed comparison http://www.multicharts.com/tradestation/datafeeds/