RS7, That doesn't sound right. Charting is not dependent on the speed of your datafeed/connection so much as the speed of your computer/graphics card. Even poor software could be the culprit... nitro
From the posts so far, it seems like it's definitely do-able. I guess I'll just have to keep my data downloads to a minimum, i.e. only have my charts and ordering screen open. I'll see how it goes in the morning. As long as the charts are being updated properly, I don't see an issue. If I do trade, I'll post my results as to how it went here on ET. My cable connection will be in mid next week so this is temporary. Thanks to all who replied!
>> I traded at one time with a 9600 baud modem. Quotes were pretty good. Orders, of course in those days were done on the phone. Pre Web Days (stone age, 1991). << And you know, in 1991, 9600 was flyin'! I was still using 2400 because AOL didn't have a faster connection in my town. I've used 33,000 for IB and QT and it's been ok. I wouldn't scalp pennies on a dial up connection, but for my swing style of trading, I could certainly trade with dial up. Last time I went to my folks in the boonies I was connecting via AOL at 22,000 and was able to get QT up with IB. Didn't trade that week, so I don't know about executions, but the quotes sure seemed to be working normally. André
Yeah, now that I think about it, it easily could have been a 2400. (4800? so long ago, I really don't recall...definitely pre-14.4). I think I could only fax at 9600. And also, what you say about scalping is very true. Now, a fraction of a second can make a difference. Prior to decimalization, this was not as crucial. Also, at that time I was trading option spreads (I can't believe now what the commissions were that I thought were so great with Brown and Co.), and holding them for days, if not longer. Peace, Rs7
Four days a week I trade on my laptop from the hotel room. It is doable! You just have to learn to trade slower and submit your order (with stop order attached) faster.
Speed dial back in as fast you can, man! I once tested my backup earthlink dial-up account with a 3-monitor esignal setup and about 25 IB quotes simultaneously and it was surprisingly good, once it loaded. The only problem was populating large charts, like 1-year daily or multi-day 5-minute. But if you don't change tickers it runs pretty well. I was only connected at 28.8-33.6, the fastest my fone lines would allow.
i used a 56k modem and a laptop with barely ever any problems back in the day. you shouldn't have a problem. best, surfer
Alright, here's a follow up. I ended up not trading today, which was probably a good thing considering how quickly everything reversed this morning. I usually trade using my PC for charting and a laptop for order entry. But today, since I could only dial-up through my PC, I was forced to use it for both charting and order entry, and that was the reason I didn't trade. Also, I'm usually in a trade for 10-15 min. and felt the order entry wasn't quick enough to get me in/out safely. I'm probably just gonna sit it out till next week unless I find a very nice setup that can be played on a longer time frame. Thanks again to everyone for their feedback.