I was thinking about trying out ES; what are some of the better trading platforms? I currently use CyberTrader Pro for my equities; not sure if its the right kind for futures?
It depends on your volume, and desire for speed. If you are going to lease or buy a seat at the exchange and trade large volume your best option would be opening an account at a clearing firm and using TT(Trading Technologies). This front end is the best for the active low commission trader. TT will run you between 700-1500 a month depending on how many exchanges you connect to. If you will not be that active I think most people would recommend IB(Interactive Brokers). They have low commissions for retail traders and you can trade every futures contract, stock, or currency pair in the world.
"If you will not be that active I think most people would recommend IB(Interactive Brokers). They have low commissions for retail traders and you can trade every futures contract, stock, or currency pair in the world." I'm just starting off with the futures so the above will probably be my first step; I dont think that IB suppplies charts for its traders? Would I need to get something like E Signal if I wanted charts and TA indicators if I use IB?
Entering the wild world of futures, you want to keep your costs low, and account equity high because the learning tuition is expensive. Esignal is expensive. But a option to consider. However since IB is your broker and you need TA/charts etc, why not consider Quotetracker, which can use IB's futures markets data. You save $ as with IB you pay lower commish, min # of trades you get free data, and Quotetracker is free with ads version. Then you can see if futures is for you. Or if you data source is primary concern and you dont trust IB 99% uptime and want a back up data plan, use Esignal or Iqfeed in conjunction with Quotetracker. Run you about $65 month with IQfeed basic, QT, and CME exchange privilege. Emini access is less than that. Esignal alot more. Sierra Chart and Ensign are also software considerations and can perform the above combinations with esig, iqfeed and IB data. Good hunting.
Stragety runner has free charts. Your broker cybertrader charges 1,900.00 a contract. There are plenty of brokers that charge 500.00 a contract and give the stragety runner trading platform and charts free. IB is not one of them. They charge more per contract.
The cheapest would be to use IB data with medved quotetracker, it's free. Sierra Charts, which I use, has some features that quotetracker doesn't. Both a great value. Esignal is expensive, I used to use it. If you are going to pay that money, look at DTN IQ
U.S dollar. It's more than 1,900.00. It's 1,969.00 per contract for emini ES contracts. http://www.cybertrader.com/MarginAndFees/Margin/MarginRequirements.aspx#futures