holy cow, I went from OEC platform to the X_Trader and TT with Velocity Futures, and this platform looks archaic, and is complex. How do industry pros say it's hands down the best platform out there for trading? Not to mention, XStudy charting atrocious. What do you X_Trader users use for charting?
The #1 reason I've heard over the years is the perception (fact or not) that you get into your trades quicker with Xtrader. I used T4 for awhile (an xtrader type knockoff) and since being with OEC, I have not seen any difference in order fills whatsoever. You had a good platform at OEC that included charts, EL compatibility and free data (to production users). I believe you are just starting out and OEC has more than enough capability to handle whatever you might throw at it - including the realistic demo I mentioned in another thread for you. And if OEC charts cannot handle what you need, you can always take their free live data and import into a few other charting solutions as well - still saving you the cost of that data.
Actually, the OEC platform worked perfectly for me. The only thing I didn't like was the feed lag or software interruptions I would get -- would happen maybe once every two days, but still. I've come to like OEC's platform and their DOM worked fine for me. With that said, most professional (huge majority of them) use X_trader?? There must be a reason right? I'll test it in live action on monday and see how it does...but I gotta say, OEC's platform and charting felt WAY better. But that might also be because I am a newb, and OEC's platform is designed for newbees.
TT has the patent on single click execution on the down click of the mouse without confirmation on a static ladder. Most prop traders got used to this and only when TT got the patent about 6yrs ago did they find it hard to adapt to other moving ladder platforms, upclick entry etc. For outright futures scalping on direct line to the exchange it is quick and reliable. Other platforms I tried don't have many of the features, some don't move your average fill indicator on the ladder accurately, have a "trade out" button which works the same way as TT, miss a partial fill hotkey (P key on xtrader will ready your clip for whatever you've been partial filled) ability to slide orders up and down the book, flip cross trades, sweep orders etc some like ecco are close but no cigar. If you're a spreader there are better platforms. I use CQG for the charting.
so you use CGQ for charting and have X_trader running at the same time? Doesn't that slow your system/feed down? I haven't even been able to figure out how to create stop loss on it yet. Putting in bid and ask is easy, but the stickys and everything don't make sense. Also, the GUI is very unfriendly and would need lots of getting used to. I don't know...if I can't figure this thing out by end of next week i'll likely go with OEC. Any other user-friendly platforms out there that are powerful in terms of execution? Ninjatrader with Zenfire? Strategyrunner?? I really don't care about complex methods of trading yet as they just confuse me. Just need somthing that wont freeze, has candlestick charting that doesn't skip, and a simple DOM that allows stop loss/limits, and ability to change those on the ladder. Thats it.
I have cqg on an internet connection and tt on another computer with a dedicated lease line (no web access thus it's totally sterile) If you just want to execute orders like you say there are plenty of more economical solutions out there. Don't pay for something you don't need. Most pro scalpers use it because they can't afford a second slowdown on the leverage being used or some software update initiating itself. TT is great if you're scalping 2 tics on hundreds or thousands of lots. If you're going for 30 tics on smaller clips there's no need for that kind of speed and reliability which is really what you pay for. TT on a standard web connection doing that is a bit pointless. As for stops it's SL or SM button on the left of the ladder (see below on trader workspace/mdtrader) select and your mouse cursor should go yellow. Right click in the middle of the ladder and go to properties or go to the global properties on the main toolbar to change their properties get OCO etc. http://www.tradingtechnologies.com/flash/tour/index.aspx?demo=prop
With velocity futures TT/X_Trader is actually free. But, yah, I don't see the need in that kind of speed. I trade a MAX of 8 cars/day (usually just wait for longer trends and get in for 15-20 ticks) on the ES and a max of 3 cars/day on CL to hedge. Unless you have a fully automated system, I don't see how you can scalp with that kind of speed and efficiency.
In the latest Xstudy release you can set defaults (yay) http://forums.tradingtechnologies.com/index.php I use ninjatrader for charting, but X_study is my backup
Says who? Where did you read this? Perhaps a noob to trading is making assumptions about something they know nothing about?