Hi, I am moving from being an active trader, to more of a day trader. I expect to do a mix of technical and fundamentals based trading in both Stocks, Options, and Futures (though futures will be a while). I am starting with $50,000. I have 6-7 years of active trading (3-5 trades a day). I have been reading allot of threads on this board and have been impressed, so I wondered, what would the recommendations be? What is the best trading "platform"? I don't just mean software, What I mean is the best combination of: Trading software - I want to be able to chart, create studies, backtest. Stockwatch Pro? Trade Station? Button Trader? Ninja Trader? Data provider - Is eSignal the only choice? Broker - who does the best executions / fees? I don't think I need much in the way of service I recognize that to give the best answer you would have to watch me trade, but please let me know what your favorites are and why! I have gone and read the reviews of the various trading software btw and it was very interesting. But I recognize that many of those reviews may be old and out of date. I want to know what TODAY'S BEST are! Thanks in advance!!! Regards Spyhunter (from the 80's video game!)
Spyguy. There is no "best". The best software/platform is the one you know how to use. That takes time. It's a very subjective thing to address personal preference. A capable trader should be able to trade using a pencil and a EOD quote source. Still, never look a technology gift horse in the mouth. FWIW. Software RealTime. I have used more than I care to admit. Expensive: CQG, Aspen Graphics Moderately priced: Too many to mention. IRT, Tradestation. Bargain: QuoteTracker, Ensign, Sierra Chart I currently use. CQG, QT, TS Backtesters: Tradestation, IRT, TC2000, Amibroker, WealthLab, Neoticker Data vendor: Expensive: Bloomberg, CQG, Reuters3k Mentionables: Esignal<wince>, Iqfeed, IB's data Front end: Xtrader, ButtonTrader, NinjaTrader, ZerolineTrader, Screeners RT: Insight, RadarScreen, Trading-Ideas, IRT Brokers: Velocity, IB, Genesis are the ones I use. This is very subjective. Integrated? CQG, Tradestation, IB with Ensign or QT. No particular order to any of these. Solid companies that some combination thereof should enable you to do what you want. Good hunting.
NINJATRADER through Zen fire. No need to look further. Ive tested it against many other platforms already including TT.
True, for order entry...but still lacking in the charting department...hopefully they will continue to improve on that. I would like to see something similar to IRT in the charting/backtesting department and then Ninja/Zen would be the ultimate platform (IMO). Some features in MarketDelta mixed in would be nice to go along with the DOME too.