About 200 bucks. Ensign + CME data + cable net. I absolutely could not trade without live CME data, and can't deal with the back fill nonsense. Also need continuous futures charts (10 yrs with Ensign). That is less than one winning trade by the way. I used to pay $850 in the late 80's. This was average back then! (for futures traders). Jay
What do you mean CME data? Are you using Ensign for Esignal, or DTN, and paying the exchange fees for CME?
yeah, I use it with DTN. I could never combine it with just broker data. For one thing, I need every tic for volume info. Also, if one feed goes down, I have the other. That said, DTN has gone down only once in the 8 months or so I have used it. I would also never deal with back fill as I am constantly surfing different contracts looking for something interesting, even though most of my trading is in just a few different markets. If I traded nothing but e minis for example, then I could see doing the backfill thing. I don't use IB anymore anyway, so that point is moot. Jay
I like to stay on top of the market. If that means spending $50 or $500 I don't mind, but I would like to make that difference back. I use Pristine and Trade-Ideas. I think I pay $50 each for the two programs. What I want to know is who pays $5000 for a 2-3 day trading course?
hmm, interesting thread! I have never placed a ceiling or imposed any $ limit on trading tools. But, I also won't use things that don't show me greater profit at the bottom-line. In general, my criteria and expectations are that each tool should generate its monthly cost in profit "each trading day"...excepting those days when profit shortfalls are not the tool's fault So, I guess that mean's I'm willing to pay 5% of my trading profit for tools that increase the $ sum total. And of course if a tool could increase it 100%, maybe I'd even go as high as 10% for the tool. nb
$98 per month. $45 for CSI Unfair Advantage (data service) $50 for cable internet access $3 (a guess) for laser toner and paper used for trading
1) They can always find out how. Or choose to pay $20+/mth for laziness. Their choice. 2) I'm a system trader. ^_^ Thanks to IB's free API, you can basically write your own software to automate with. I still enter trades the old fashion way though. T_T
If you do enough volume, most brokers will reimburse alot of your costs. ie news services etc. I do like trade-ideas.com for $45/mo. though and briefing for $25
Does CSI still take forever to download and update? I used it for years (best data base around for futures), but it was such a hassle that I finally gave up. There are others for WAY long term data like Pinnacle, and Premium data, which take every shot they can at csi, but csi continues to lead in this area. Have you ever peeked at these others? I am primarily an emini spoo day trader, but at times I take positions in anything that moves. When markets get extreme like now, ya need data going back to the beginning! Jay