Hey guys. Hoping you can help me out here. I currently work at assent llc as a prop trader, and I am completely addicted to their order execution system which I consider the best and most flexible system I have found so far. I am thinking about checking out the echo trading system, I wanted to know if anyone has used both and what you guys think of the echo trading platform vs the assent. Thanks for your input.
I haven't seen Assent's software for a loooooong time, and stuff changes so fast in this business my opinion is probably outdated. I did go to an Assent office some 5 years ago just to see it and it seemed like ok software. My take on it then was that Assent's was more for keyboard "hotkey" traders and Echo's was more for mouse "point and click" traders. Since that time I know Echo's (a private labeled Sterling that they run on their own lines and servers) has added a lot of hotkey functionality, but I don't know how it compares since I don't use that part of it. I can say I am very happy on Echo's software, but I thought I have heard that guys are happy on Assent's also so I would imagine guys could trade on either and be fine once they learn the nuances of the one they are on. The main thing I give Echo props for is all of their support for black box type traders, I have programs that execute a lot of my trades for me and the APIs they have and even alternative methods of sending orders and getting quotes (not Sterling, stuff their own programmers have written) are very fast and very solid. Back when I saw Assent's they were totally focused on non-API "manual" traders while Echo was pushing hard to build a lot of API and black box infrastructure and support which is what I need. For guys that do no black boxing or API I would think either company's software would be fine, but for anyone doing API stuff it really seems like Echo has always led the pack.
Can you say more about what tools are available at Echo for ATS stuff? I am assuming it's only available to those well capitalized? I'm interested in finding more tools to make whatever development work I do a little more clean.
I second that. bottomline.....for manual trading, Anvil is top notch in execution speed and reliability. Anvil is probably one of the worst to automate. Sterling is the most widely used for ATS. But keep in mind that WTS uses sterling as well. i'd consider WTS as well.
Yeah, they have a lot of different options including pure direct co-location at the exchanges. They pretty much start you out on Echopro (their Sterling) then graduate you to the ML Order router, their order router, and on up as you do more volume and build acct (or trust I assume). At least that has been my experience. They have a lot of different connections, but what has been most impressive to me is that I could be stuck on anything, be it a connection thing or just some part of my algo code that is having trouble, I will send them a snippet of code or sometimes even no code, just describe something I am stuck on, and their programmers have sent me back good amounts of source that will either fix for me or at least put me on the right path, and they have never charged me for it. They helped me a lot to get deeper into multi-threading. I don't know if they will do that for everyone, I do a lot of shares and keep a good balance, but obviously they have the ability to which is great. Some other firms offer APIs and such to connect to, but Echo seems to really take that part of the business much more serious than anyone else.
I had been trading with echo for the last six months and thus used the sterling software. They have top notch service/support for traders but the sterling software, in hindsight, was mediocre. I joined Assent, LLC 2 weeks ago and will be trading out of their boston office. I have now had a chance to use the Anvil software. All I have to say is wow!!! It's like going from dial-up to T3 connection. I can't say enough. It's so much faster and you can programm so many more hot keys and like Sterling, it can also be integrated with eSignal. It's all keyboard based. There is no need for a mouse and there shouldn't be. But from my own personal experience Anvil BLOWS AWAY Sterling!! It's not even close but again I don't do automated trading so someone else's perspective might be different. But again, for me, it's been awesome.