Ts7

Did anyone who trades the e-mini get to upgrade to TS7 today. I was wondering what your thoughts are on the new integrated futures platform.

 

I saw TS7 this past weekend at the nyc trading expo. The order entry tab for futures is much like what we have for equities, it has three buttons buy/sell/cancel, below it is bid/ask/last trade.

It will certainly make life easier for those of us who trade eminis. One thing I did really like is the ability to chart pre and post open separately. also for example if someone just likes to trade from 8AM - 11AM EST. Now we are able to create these custom time charts just for that time frame and run studies on them.

I spoke with several of their reps, it sounded like they are a little big cautious about releasing it all at once to the public. If you remember their last major release of version 6, it didn't go all that smoothly. I probably expect to get it by end of this month.

 

Links, thanks for the info.

 

I am using esignal and have used jpats and xtrader. I like xtrader better mainly bc I can one click im in/out. With jpats I can pretty much do the same but theres a order confirm screen and I personally feel xtrader is faster (its just my opinion I am not interested in debating this, if you don't agree great, whatever works for you)...the point is I am interested in knowing if I can one click in and out with the new Tradstation 7 without order confirm screens etc. Another thing I liked about X was my order was instantly showed in my order fill box, does the new version of tradestation have this? I am paying 145 a month to esignal just for futures, plus 600 for X, if I can get the same under one roof plus stocks and options for 99 a month it might be something I would look at.
Also, I know 2.99 a side seems good but I have a pretty good deal based on vol, do they have vol rebates or is this flat fee? Another thing , in all the pics the charts have a black background, are their charts customizable, like being able to change the colors of the background bars etc.....and do they have vol tick charts I know they have tick charts but do they have vol tick? Any esignal users out there who could compare, I know its very new but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. Thanks.

 

I am currently a TS6 user, so I can comment on the things that I know are true about TS6 and would assume that would be included in TS7. As far as commissions, they are quoting $2.80 per side for the e-minis beginning on March 31 I believe. If you do 500 round turns a month in the e-minis, they rebate the $99.00 per month software fee. I don' know if they offer any other volume rebates.

In TS6 you can customize the backround and bars to different colors and I would think you would be able to do the same in TS7.

I looked at the tutorial for the futures entry and it showed being able to turn off confirmation for order entry so it appears that you could do one click order entries if you want. By the way you can also turn of the order confirmation in J-Trader for one click entries.

 

Thanks Woody, when you up to 7 let us know how the futures order entry goes, I'm just wondering if the hot keys on T7 will be as fast as X.( I guess my main concern would be ease and speed of order execution with T7 as compared with X) And thanks for the tip on jpats. Take care.

 

Yes, TS7 does offer 1 click order entry for eminis, there is a confirmation feature but you can turn it off. You can also setup hot keys. They clear through Refo, the fills are very fast.

At the nyc expo one of their reps made a money back offer sales pitch, if anyone wants to try TS7 for a month and doesn't like it, they will refund the platform fee, plus 10 free trades etc...For my money its the best product out there, cheap comm, 10 years of intra day data, 24Hr live order desk and software support.

Speaking of X Trader. I went to the Trading Technologies booth at the expo and did see it. I must say I was dazzled, as far as order entry X Trader is in a class of its own, nothing even comes close. But as you mentioned the stiff $600 a month platform fee plus getting a chart/backtesting service on top to that, makes it prohibitive for me.

 

I finally got to upgrade to TS7 today and try out the futures trading platform. My initial impressions are that it is greatly improved over the prior platform. Limit orders are probably the most functional from the trading tool bar. If you click on the bid, ask, or last, it will fill in the price in the order bar and then you hit buy or sell. So if you use the order bar you can have 2 click trading with limit orders or market orders. You can also adjust the limit price with the up and down arrows on the keyboard which I think is a nice feature.

With stop-limit orders, you have to enter in the stop price manually, which is a negative in my opinion. Once you enter the stop price you can adjust it with the up and down arrows on the keyboard. A price is already in the limit field and can also be adjusted with the up and down arrows.

You can set up hot keys for market orders and limit orders (joining the bid and ask)that allow order transmission by hitting the hot key, but it is not possible to set up a hot key for limit and stop limit orders with defaults that are a certain number of ticks away from the market. Another negative is that you cannot modify existing orders. You have to place an entirely new order and cancel the existing order. Also there are no OCO or OCA capabilities.

Out of all of the order platforms I have tried, I like IB the best as far as speed and ease of setting up orders, especially setting up multiple orders and using the OCA function. I have never used X trader, and have heard that it is an excellent platform, so I can't comment on how it compares to the others I have tried.

 

I got my turn to upgrade today to TS7as well!
I agree with you.... much better than the Lind-Waldock platform on SIX.
The Radar Screen is an added Premium which they were unclear on the charge, nothing new. Who runs marketing here?
My only issue is the inability to ammend working orders.
It would also be nice to hide order bar like any other window.
I am running out of space and need a third screen.
TS told me the cancel issue is a priority item being worked on for next release. $5.60 is reasonable with the platform fees of $99.
If you want bargain basement executions with NO frills you can do better. I am happy to pay TS as long as they get their servers to work!

 

Hi Ebo, you can hide the order bar if you like. The 8th icon over from the left lets you view/hide the order bar. You can also do this from the "view" drop down menu.