As far as i know their are three squawk box providers Ben Liechtenstein Losnet Xsquawk So which is the best in terms of speed when relaying information on when paper is coming in and any other important info?
Ben gets my vote too - calls the market with expertise - information from around the edges - and humor thrown in if you catch it - plus the occasional voice parameter checks ! (just some really oddball sounding sounds) i also keep their ETS java real-time trading signals displayed. have not heard xsquawk, though their price is attractive.
Yikes! I listened to Ben and Xsquawk samples. If Ben doesn't have a heart attack or lose his voice box soon, I'd be surprised. :eek: I can't even begin to comprehend what he's saying. Guess you have to develop an 'ear' for it... BTW, Ben's last name is spelled "Lichtenstein". He can be found at: http://www.realtimefutures.com Xsquawk is at: http://www.xsquawk.com/new/squawkbox/default.htm FYI
I LOVED the old xsquawk BEFORE they went to the new player. In those days, I could almost tell you what was being said in the pit, and I do not know how, but I was able to feel the "electricity" that came from the pit. This led the quotes that I have by at least a second, and it made a difference to me in my P/L (I was trading 90% equities back then.) I like a squawk where I can hear the pit. I tried the free trial of los.net and I could not hear the pit. On the other hand, los is much better than the other squawks about telling you who is buying and where the paper is, not an unimportant detail if you understand how the futures markets work. One day, I had them both on at once to see if I could handle it. It took me two days to recover from that... nitro
We have used X-Squawk and it is faster if it is directly connected through a dialup phone line. Long distance is required, but worth it. Also southwestern bell telephone has some unlimited long distance deal for $50 per month only for residential. So all you home traders should see if you have something like that available. Our prop traders insist on a direct phone line feed because of the speed and the fact that it never has memory leaks that can cause it to slow down during the day without you knowing. The solution for that problem is to reboot the internet client often, but if you are a professional then that makes a difference. So I recommend X-Squawk with a direct phone line connection. Jay