I am very curious to hear from the end user, i.e you guys - the traders with different levels of knowledge and backgrounds, which software/platfrom they found to be the best for trading: 1. mini nasdaq and mini SP 2. for all other futures and options and why? ANY repsonse FEEDBACK will be greatly appreciated!
Depends on your style.. If you need to be quick and get in and out with split second decisions then I say use either Patysytems J-Trader or Interactive Brokers TWS...
in my opinion, pfgbest has the fastest, most reliable, most accurate platform for trading the eminis. www.pfgbest.com surf
If you require speed of execution for your trading style, then all of you guys are barking up the wrong tree. You need to clear a firm that owns a seat at the Merc, and you need to get a front-end that interfaces directly with the Globex order router (GL Trader, Trading Technologies). If you don't need the speed advantage, then you're fine.
How much faster can it get, or do you really need it to get; you enter a market order and are filled in a second? I guess I have never had a globex terminal or something similar so I can not compare. IB (for me) has been great! 1 month and only one disconnect, due to an ISP problem. Market orders are at the price I was looking at, and limits have been filled when they should have been. Sure occasionally a limit is missed due to size above. This is trading the NQ and ACE bonds and notes.
Chris, I need that half-second. I absolutely have to be first. And man, do I pay for it. If IB works for your trading style, then you're better off.
others have said here there is no appreciable difference in speed between TWS and globex terminals. I have never compared but I would be surprised if there was a half second difference in execution speed. but I could be wrong.
IB owns its seat on the merc and given that I am able to place orders from HK in less than 300 milliseconds on a 56K modem, I doubt you have any speed advantage given your setup. You might be able to eliminate one hop but I'd be surprised if it made that much of a difference. Give us some trace route stats, we'd all be interested. I'm sure those of you closer to the IB hubs with faster connections have many orders placed in under 200 milliseconds given that test orders from our CT office have shown speeds of less than 10 milliseconds. Bone, as for your contention that you must be first. I believe, the amount of time it takes you to click your mouse or hit your hotkey probably takes more time to route your order. Also liquidity is good enough in these contracts that even a second delay shouldn't hinder a trader if they know how to pick there entry an exit points well. IB is not alone in offering fast speed and there are alot of good firms out there. Naturally, you'll want as fast a connection as possible to the exchange. However, the markets are so liquid and deep in the e-minis that I'm suspect of someone trading with a manual front end stating that 50 milliseconds means the difference between profit and loss.
I had to check the internal log stats on the orders placed. On the operations side they produce statistics and histograms as well for internal use.