Thanks for the suggestions about other sites, but that's not an answer to the original question. FWIW, there are other types of futures trading other than piking. Good Luck!
To clarify a little. TOS futures quotes are filtered, this is not my opinion, it is simply fact. This means they are some fraction of a second behind. Many consider that irrelevant, others think it is important. The TOS charts on 1 minute will take up to 15 seconds to update when there is a major instantaneous move like fed day (the quote in the chart is correct it is just that the bar lags sometimes). This is not at all normal behavior but it does occasionally happen if you watch closely, and that is why I use the Prophet charts because they are faster and rarely lag. Again, they are an options firm, they don't claim to be the best firm for very active futures traders. It is universally accepted that they have some of the best customer service of any firm. As for rates, I am very happy with what I negotiated. No firm is perfect, for other TOS users please look at your TOS chart and tell me what the ES did from 2:59am until 5:03am Eastern last night.
i've been with think are swim for options for 10 months.i'm also with ib and several other firms. without a doubt tos has the best options platform i've seen but i'd not use them for stocks are futures as there platform is very cumbersome when you need speed.
I think that this issue has been inflated a bit. You can day trade with TOS just fine imo. It may not be the fastest for scalping but the quotes are still within a fraciton of a second of other data. The TOS charts may, on high volume, lag by a couple seconds but the quotes do not lag during that time. TOS just released an email today that they will be updating the software next week, and they also mentioned they will be improving processing power, faster routing, and adding more products, scanning tools and back testing functionality. All of this for no extra software/data fees, I would say they're doing pretty good.
I dont think the issue has been inflated. I tried out the TOS platform paper trading. I didnt like how cumbersome it was to place and order. As one guy said, it's great for a STRICTLY position trader, but sucks if you want SPEED!!!! It is a Killer options platform. Best I have seen. But for split fire trading. NOT!!!! I'll recommend them to anyone who isnt rapid fire trading. They are a great bunch if people. Great, stable, informative platform. Charts are very customizable, etc.... If they would add a DOM and not force you to go to a trading window to execute your orders, I'd say 100% this is the way to go.
I agree about sending traders to the Trade tab, I've brought that up with them in suggestions. Awhile back I sent them suggestions for either a DOM or a chart trader screen like ninja trader with the buy sell buttons on the side of the chart. One thing speed tradersj can do, and is what I do, is to use the dashboard (new in last update) to buy/sell and you can shift click to bypass confirmation and the order gets executed instantly. I use this for day trading futures and it works great. A DOM would allow a little more flexibility in doing so but this still works perfectly. This is why I say it's an over-inflated issue imo.
hey thanks sue for the info...I liked the dashboard but didn't realize you could bypass confirmation which you really need when executing....great info
Just an fyi, you'll have to go into the Setup and set the option that refers to the confirmation to use shift-click to 'Yes' to bypass.
i've been trading futures on the TOS platform, no problems at all. however, i've just recently opened a separate futures account with a different broker, one that specializes in futures (Infinity). i did this, simply because i would like DOM, better intraday margin and of course better commisions. i use TOS charting and infinity just for execution. while having both platforms open simultaneously, quotes are right inline, so i don't really see much of a lag, if any, with TOS. TOS only shows best bid/ask/size. (although, i have received notification from them that they do plan on adding DOM...let's see what happens). i do think TOS is a great all-around broker, great product offering, stability and outstanding tech-support (sometimes worth its weight in gold...they've corrected bad trade executions for me when I requested it and even when I didn't!). i'm shutting down my tradestation account, for the exact opposite reasons: poor execution, poor support. so basically, if you're a hard-core futures trader, TOS probably isn't for you. but for everything else, its superb. that's me 3 cents.
I would agree, if you're only trading futures and doing it with bigger lots then I wouldn't be using TOS. In that case I would be using something like Genesis with laser. But, for a broker that trades equities, options and futures TOS does the best all-around job considering support and platform imo.