Has anybody noticed how far superior FX charting platforms are compared to NinjaTrader, MultiCharts, Sierra, and virtually everything else available? FXCM's Marketscope 2.0 is a perfect example of how charts should behave and they provide it for free to boot. The charts scale perfectly when you wheel the mouse. Trend lines draw and snap to prices beautifully as well. Freestockcharts.com is another good example of how a chart should scale with the mouse wheel. eSignal might have a good charting platform but I'm not motivated to find out since they want $60 to simply TRY the platform for 1 month. After a month, expect to pay up near $200/mo to simply DEMO their software. Why is free FX charting so superior to everything else? It just boggles my mind and pisses me off to no end. Finding quality trading tools for a fair price should simply not be this difficult. I want to trade futures but the biggest headache has been finding a charting platform that is as beautiful and easy to use as Marketscope 2.0. I really want to emphasize how nice the charts scale when zooming in and out. Does anyone know if it is a derivative of another product? I would love to plug a data feed for futures into it. I basically want Marketscope, or something extremely similar (as far as the "charting feel" goes), for futures. Many thanks in advance.
probably best general answer is a business incentive risk/reward thing.... FX is not regulated/centralized, so market makers make more on spreads and is generally more profitable than business models based on clearinghouses like equities/futures/options are. (plus FX has more capacity than many of these markets)
that said there are lots of charting options out there competing for your dollar, I'm not a chart person but I bet you can find something close.
What is the excuse for NinjaTrader, SierraChart, MultiCharts, and list goes on? Their sole business is making the best charting platform available. They could even lease the charting engine from one of the FX suppliers. After all, a chart is nothing more than a bar on a chart. NinjaTrader, SierraChart, OEC Trader, and MultiCharts let me down and don't even come close to the beautiful "feel" of Marketscope 2.0. If there's a product under my nose I've been missing please do tell me!
FXCM marketscope is just an overlay of Metatrader....all FX brokers use metatrader..and I agree...metatrader is a very superior charting platform
Hi Koolaid, While FXCM offers the Metatrader 4 platform as an option for our clients along with NinjaTrader, the Marketscope charts are not an overlay of MT4. They are part of our Trading Station platform which we developed in house. That is why the custom indicators and automated strategies available on FXCMapps.com are different for the two platforms. Jason
Definitely! MT4 is the worst trading platform I have ever used. I rank it far below all of the other platforms I have mentioned. The Marketscope 2.0 charting engine runs like a dream and is actually a PLEASURE to use because it behaves exactly how you want it. I have hoped by 2013 that most charting platforms would been more polished by now. Free FX charting platforms are leading the industry by far.
Forex charts differ from vendor to vendor so they are not useful. Can only win in forex with chartless methods like for example what is done in this blog for ETFs but adopted to forex for calculating probabilities of swing moves without even looking at charts but using only raw data.
In this, and another thread, it sounds as though you have misunderstood eSignal's conditions for a 30 day free trial. Below is what's clearly stated on their site: [* If you cancel within the first 30 days of service, all fees will be refunded to you minus any taxes, applicable add-on service / exchange fees and activation fees.] It's only fair that they charge you exchange fees as they must pay the exchange. I think it's only $8 for NYSE data, and with that you will see the big difference from your current software.