Jump to content

Welcome to the new Traders Laboratory! Please bear with us as we finish the migration over the next few days. If you find any issues, want to leave feedback, get in touch with us, or offer suggestions please post to the Support forum here.

  • Welcome Guests

    Welcome. You are currently viewing the forum as a guest which does not give you access to all the great features at Traders Laboratory such as interacting with members, access to all forums, downloading attachments, and eligibility to win free giveaways. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free. Create a FREE Traders Laboratory account here.

flyingdutchmen

TradeStation As My Stock Broker

Recommended Posts

hope this is in the right place here

 

i have heard some true horror-story's about tradestation

especially concerning huge slipage even on liquid emini future's

and unreliable data but i am still seriously concidering them to

auto trade stocks intraday. i am familiar with easy language as

i am using a ts-replica for a couple of years (tradesignal5) so the

step would not be to big i am not very interested in learning a new

language and i do love the software

 

i am hoping for some feedback from ts-users that are using their API

and maybe also trade stocks with them

 

my questions..

 

1. are those negative ratings i read on the web (ET) about them

also true for stocks or do they aply to future's only?

2. slippage ?

3. wide spread during normal market conditions ?

4. i have heared there is no papertrading at TS ? how do you forward

test your strategies?

 

 

could you recommend them to someone who is willing to automize

his intraday strategies on high liquid stocks?

 

 

thank you

Edited by flyingdutchmen

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

1-3 search this forum for more user experiences, each trader is different.

4. TS has a simulator that will work with strategy testing.

Edited by Soultrader
link reporeted as redirect.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
  thrunner said:
1-3 search this forum for more user experiences, each trader is different.

4. TS has a simulator that will work with strategy testing.

 

 

well yes each trader is different buy tradestation is tradestation.

that is why i am trying to gather more information about tradestation

as a stock broker.i have done my searches, most of them where based

upon futures trading rarely i find a post about trading stocks automaticly.

 

what exactly is it this simulator can do ? i have read that limit fills

with the simulator are far from realistic, it was an old post though

 

any changes maybe?

 

still hoping for some reactions from a tradestation user

with experience in connection the platform to account

 

how good / bad is it

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
  flyingdutchmen said:
nobody?

 

i find it hard to believe that nobody is using tradestation to

trade stocks and is able to tell me something about slippage/spread

with them

 

I am left wondering why you don't go to the TradeStation Users Forum where you will find many people trading stocks who can offer the best advice available. It is and should be your #1 resource for these type of questions/answers.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
  bakrob99 said:
I am left wondering why you don't go to the TradeStation Users Forum where you will find many people trading stocks who can offer the best advice available. It is and should be your #1 resource for these type of questions/answers.

 

well and how would one do that as they are only available to

tradestation members?

 

as far as i am informed this should be a trading forum.

i am seeking for UNbiased oppinions from people who use or have used ts

to trade stocks

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
  flyingdutchmen said:
well and how would one do that as they are only available to

tradestation members?

 

as far as i am informed this should be a trading forum.

i am seeking for UNbiased oppinions from people who use or have used ts

to trade stocks

 

I am sorry. I thought you already had TS and were soliciting opinions. My mistake.

 

I think you will find that many TS users trade stock quite successfully using TS. I personally trade the ES everyday and I have no problem with data or slippage. I do not trade stocks but in my attendance at the TS forum leads me to believe that many traders do trade stocks and ETF's, some fully automated and some on a semi or discretionary basis.

 

The TS forum is huge by the way and completely available for the past many years for searches etc. It contains many links and useful strategies and assiatnce is available both from users and TS support staff.

 

I have used other platforms for trading (like Infinity AT dome) and they are all good. They might be slightly faster to execute but my strategies uses either Stop Limit or Limit orders for entries so it doesn't concern me. If I get stopped out, I rarely have slippage on TS except in very fast markets.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
  bakrob99 said:
I am left wondering why you don't go to the TradeStation Users Forum where you will find many people trading stocks who can offer the best advice available. It is and should be your #1 resource for these type of questions/answers.

 

 

LOL... you might get edited opinion there. ;-)>

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

@bakrob99

 

thank you

 

i have heared that the tradestation forum is one of the best.

 

what is holding me back is the story's about wide spread

huge slippage and bad costumer servive (if one is not a new member); but you do not share this experience, that is good.

 

how realistic is this simulator they offer and what exactly can it do?

 

i believe it is not possible to trade an IB account directly with ts software

and IB's API but one would need a third party software like ninja

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
  flyingdutchmen said:
@bakrob99

 

thank you

 

i have heared that the tradestation forum is one of the best.

 

what is holding me back is the story's about wide spread

huge slippage and bad costumer servive (if one is not a new member); but you do not share this experience, that is good.

 

how realistic is this simulator they offer and what exactly can it do?

 

i believe it is not possible to trade an IB account directly with ts software

and IB's API but one would need a third party software like ninja

I have accounts with both IB and TS. I trade US stocks and have had no real issues with slippage, spread or data. Spread on US stocks is generally 0.01.

 

Sometimes there are data disconnections, but these seem to be related to how long the pc is left idle and as soon as it is no longer idle the automatic reconnection kicks in.

 

I have only used customer service once I think to ask a question, so in my experience it has never been needed.

 

The simulator runs real-time data and simulates the live account exactly, although you can adjust the account size. All of the strategies, windows setup etc are duplicated in the simulator, so I would say it is very realistic. It can be used to back-test strategies and to produce performance reports on that basis. There are certain advanced things where it acts slightly differently, where you are using advanced programming functions, but for most people it mimics the real world in all its functionality, data and the way trades would be treated.

 

You are correct that you cannot trade directly with the IB broker but through an API. In fact if you did this you would need to pay the monthly platform cost of around $90, which is only free if you do a certain number of trades via the TS broker.

 

If you wanted to stick with IB I would recommend that you look at Amibroker. This is quite a cheap one-off price of around $200 and has a fairly strong programming language similar in grammar to TS. You can download their manuals and programming guide directly from their site to see. They also have an API already set up for IB.

 

As for the TS forum it is indeed very good and there is a thriving and active user base that share code on the forum and elsewhere in other sites

 

Charlton

Edited by Charlton
Add stuff about forum

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
  flyingdutchmen said:
@bakrob99

 

 

 

how realistic is this simulator they offer and what exactly can it do?

 

i believe it is not possible to trade an IB account directly with ts software

and IB's API but one would need a third party software like ninja

 

The simulator is a real time feed which matches the market tick for tick. Fills are not intended to be "realistic" but are filled if the price is hit. It is useful for checking autotraded strategies and debugging code. You can also determine if the market traded through your price and enter.

 

One thing is: TS has an option to enter at Market if your price is hit on a limit order after xxx seconds.... so you can alwyas get filled but maybe not at your desired price. This is useful for me for EXITS but not entries.

 

Trading is tough enough without trying to make software work through API's etc... I would not go that route.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

thank you very much Charlton

this is exactly the information i am looking for

its very much apreciated

 

a .01 spread is for the high liqued stocks i guess.

sounds good.

 

i do not nesecarely want to stick with IB but from what

i have read about tradestation is that most user do the

bare minimum amount of trades enough to cover the software

fee and then switch over to IB or any other broker,

but then again those are future traders.

 

i would prefere to do all trades at tradestation, not last because

90% is automated.

 

that is what made me wundering if there would be a difference

between future's and trading stocks at tradestation.

 

the bad costumer service i was refering to where rumors from

people that had connection problems or problems with the

synchronisation between the software and their account;

they claimed TS was unreachable over phone to close the trades

 

thx again

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

AAPL 10 Min 0.03

AMZN 10 Min 0.01

APOL 10 Min 0.02

BA 10 Min 0.01

BBBY 10 Min 0.01

BIG 10 Min 0.02

BBY 10 Min 0.01

BIIB 10 Min 0.01

BNI 10 Min 0.03

CAT 10 Min 0.01

CELG 10 Min 0.02

CNX 10 Min 0.02

COF 10 Min 0.01

COH 10 Min 0.01

COST 10 Min 0.01

CSCO 10 Min 0.01

DD 10 Min 0.01

EOG 10 Min 0.02

ESI 10 Min 0.04

EXM 10 Min 0.01

FDX 10 Min 0.02

GD 10 Min 0.02

GILD 10 Min 0.01

HIG 10 Min 0.01

HPQ 10 Min 0.01

IBM 10 Min 0.03

JNJ 10 Min 0.01

JOYG 10 Min 0.02

LVS 10 Min 0.01

NSC 10 Min 0.03

NYX 10 Min 0.01

RIG 10 Min 0.02

RIMM 10 Min 0.02

RRC 10 Min 0.01

TGT 10 Min 0.01

UTX 10 Min 0.01

WFR 10 Min 0.01

WHR 10 Min 0.01

WLP 10 Min 0.01

WMT 10 Min 0.01

YHOO 10 Min 0.01

RIG 10 Min 0.02

 

 

Here's a list taken straight off my screen showing the spread. If you want to know what it is for certain stocks then let me have the symbols

 

Charlton

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

thank you Bakrob

 

i am aware of that "fill-at-market"option, i also have this future

in my current software

 

so the simulator seems realistic, that the fills cant be 100% identical

seems logical as there are no trades routed to any exchange.

fill-if-hit seems fair for any simulator

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
  flyingdutchmen said:
thank you Charlton !

 

looks like a very fair spread to me

 

one question though.. where does the 10 minutes stand for ?

 

 

I thought you might ask that - it is the interval that I happen to have on that radar screen at present. This can run from tick, through minutes, hours etc. It happens to be a column I have on there between the symbol and the Bid - Ask columns. You can have an columns you like on a radar screen including indicators. The radar screen is like an excel spreadsheet showing values at the current time, whereas the chart shows values over a time axis.

 

Charlton

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Since the subject of market and limit orders was mentioned in the thread, readers might like to know the options available in addition to manually entering a limit price. There are auto features as well and I have pasted the sections from the help text

 

 

The Auto Price feature allows you to quickly place a limit and/or stop order that joins, improves, splits, shaves or hits/takes the inside market without having to calculate a price. You can set the price increments that are available when you use this feature.

 

Hit/Take automatically specifies a Limit Price equal to the best Ask price for a Buy order and the best Bid price for a Sell order.

 

Hit/Take+ automatically calculates a Limit Price that is one Change Increment larger than the best Ask price for a Buy order and one Change Increment less than the best Bid price for a Sell order.

 

Improve automatically calculates a Limit Price that is one Change Increment larger than the best Bid price for a Buy order and one Change Increment less than the best Ask price for a Sell order. Also, to protect you from crossing the market, the Improve price will not be greater than the Ask price for Buy orders or less than the Bid price for Sell orders.

 

Join automatically specifies a Limit Price equal to the best Bid price for a Buy order and the best Ask price for a Sell order.

 

 

Split automatically calculates a Limit Price that is halfway between the best Bid price and the best Ask price.

 

Charlton

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Flying Dutchman:

 

I use TS to trade stocks. If you use limit orders, you should have zero slippage. Slippage on market orders depends upon the stock. Pfizer will have a lot less slippage than Baidu (depends on the spread which varies). TS had a couple big outages during the past year, but one of those was a Nasdaq problem. There is data delay indicator that you should put on your chart. You can route your orders through different ECNs, etc.

Edited by trade-samarai

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


  • Topics

  • Posts

    • Thx for reminding us... I don't bang that drum often enough anymore Another part for consideration is who that money initially went to...
    • TDUP ThredUp stock, watch for a top of range breakout above 2.94 at https://stockconsultant.com/?TDUP
    • How long does it take to receive HFM's withdrawal via Skrill? less than 24H?
    • My wife Robin just wanted some groceries.   Simple enough.   She parked the car for fifteen minutes, and returned to find a huge scratch on the side.   Someone keyed her car.   To be clear, this isn’t just any car.   It’s a Cybertruck—Elon Musk's stainless-steel spaceship on wheels. She bought it back in 2021, before Musk became everyone's favorite villain or savior.   Someone saw it parked in a grocery lot and felt compelled to carve their hatred directly into the metal.   That's what happens when you stand out.   Nobody keys a beige minivan.   When you're polarizing, you're impossible to ignore. But the irony is: the more attention something has, the harder it is to find the truth about it.   What’s Elon Musk really thinking? What are his plans? What will happen with DOGE? Is he deserving of all of this adoration and hate? Hard to say.   Ideas work the same way.   Take tariffs, for example.   Tariffs have become the Cybertrucks of economic policy. People either love them or hate them. Even if they don’t understand what they are and how they work. (Most don’t.)   That’s why, in my latest podcast (link below), I wanted to explore the “in-between” truth about tariffs.   And like Cybertrucks, I guess my thoughts on tariffs are polarizing.   Greg Gutfield mentioned me on Fox News. Harvard professors hate me now. (I wonder if they also key Cybertrucks?)   But before I show you what I think about tariffs… I have to mention something.   We’re Headed to Austin, Texas This weekend, my team and I are headed to Austin. By now, you should probably know why.   Yes, SXSW is happening. But my team and I are doing something I think is even better.   We’re putting on a FREE event on “Tech’s Turning Point.”   AI, quantum, biotech, crypto, and more—it’s all on the table.   Just now, we posted a special webpage with the agenda.   Click here to check it out and add it to your calendar.   The Truth About Tariffs People love to panic about tariffs causing inflation.   They wave around the ghost of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff from the Great Depression like it’s Exhibit A proving tariffs equal economic collapse.   But let me pop this myth:   Tariffs don’t cause inflation. And no, I'm not crazy (despite what angry professors from Harvard or Stanford might tweet at me).   Here's the deal.   Inflation isn’t when just a couple of things become pricier. It’s when your entire shopping basket—eggs, shirts, Netflix subscriptions, bananas, everything—starts costing more because your money’s worth less.   Inflation means your dollars aren’t stretching as far as they used to.   Take the 1800s.   For nearly a century, 97% of America’s revenue came from tariffs. Income tax? Didn’t exist. And guess what inflation was? Basically zero. Maybe 1% a year.   The economy was booming, and tariffs funded nearly everything. So, why do people suddenly think tariffs cause inflation today?   Tariffs are taxes on imports, yes, but prices are set by supply and demand—not tariffs.   Let me give you a simple example.   Imagine fancy potato chips from Canada cost $10, and a 20% tariff pushes that to $12. Everyone panics—prices rose! Inflation!   Nope.   If I only have $100 to spend and the price of my favorite chips goes up, I either stop buying chips or I buy, say, fewer newspapers.   If everyone stops buying newspapers because they’re overspending on chips, newspapers lower their prices or go out of business.   Overall spending stays the same, and inflation doesn’t budge.   Three quick scenarios:   We buy pricier chips, but fewer other things: Inflation unchanged. Manufacturers shift to the U.S. to avoid tariffs: Inflation unchanged (and more jobs here). We stop buying fancy chips: Prices drop again. Inflation? Still unchanged. The only thing that actually causes inflation is printing money.   Between 2020 and 2022 alone, 40% of all money ever created in history appeared overnight.   That’s why inflation shot up afterward—not because of tariffs.   Back to tariffs today.   Still No Inflation Unlike the infamous Smoot-Hawley blanket tariff (imagine Oprah handing out tariffs: "You get a tariff, and you get a tariff!"), today's tariffs are strategic.   Trump slapped tariffs on chips from Taiwan because we shouldn’t rely on a single foreign supplier for vital tech components—especially if that supplier might get invaded.   Now Taiwan Semiconductor is investing $100 billion in American manufacturing.   Strategic win, no inflation.   Then there’s Canada and Mexico—our friendly neighbors with weirdly huge tariffs on things like milk and butter (299% tariff on butter—really, Canada?).   Trump’s not blanketing everything with tariffs; he’s pressuring trade partners to lower theirs.   If they do, everybody wins. If they don’t, well, then we have a strategic trade chess game—but still no inflation.   In short, tariffs are about strategy, security, and fairness—not inflation.   Yes, blanket tariffs from the Great Depression era were dumb. Obviously. Today's targeted tariffs? Smart.   Listen to the whole podcast to hear why I think this.   And by the way, if you see a Cybertruck, don’t key it. Robin doesn’t care about your politics; she just likes her weird truck.   Maybe read a good book, relax, and leave cars alone.   (And yes, nobody keys Volkswagens, even though they were basically created by Hitler. Strange world we live in.) Source: https://altucherconfidential.com/posts/the-truth-about-tariffs-busting-the-inflation-myth    Profits from free accurate cryptos signals: https://www.predictmag.com/       
    • No, not if you are comparing apples to apples. What we call “poor” is obviously a pretty high bar but if you’re talking about like a total homeless shambling skexie in like San Fran then, no. The U.S.A. in not particularly kind to you. It is not an abuse so much as it is a sad relatively minor consequence of our optimism and industriousness.   What you consider rich changes with circumstances obviously. If you are genuinely poor in the U.S.A., you experience a quirky hodgepodge of unhelpful and/or abstract extreme lavishnesses while also being alienated from your social support network. It’s about the same as being a refugee. For a fraction of the ‘kindness’ available to you in non bio-available form, you could have simply stayed closer to your people and been MUCH better off.   It’s just a quirk of how we run the place and our values; we are more worried about interfering with people’s liberty and natural inclination to do for themselves than we are about no bums left behind. It is a slightly hurtful position and we know it; we are just scared to death of socialism cancer and we’re willing to put our money where our mouth is.   So, if you’re a bum; you got 5G, the ER will spend like $1,000,000 on you over a hangnail but then kick you out as soon as you’re “stabilized”, the logistics are surpremely efficient, you have total unchecked freedom of speech, real-estate, motels, and jobs are all natural healthy markets in perfect competition, you got compulsory three ‘R’’s, your military owns the sky, sea, space, night, information-space, and has the best hairdos, you can fill out paper and get all the stuff up to and including a Ph.D. Pretty much everything a very generous, eager, flawless go-getter with five minutes to spare would think you might need.   It’s worse. Our whole society is competitive and we do NOT value or make any kumbaya exception. The last kumbaya types we had werr the Shakers and they literally went extinct. Pueblo peoples are still around but they kind of don’t count since they were here before us. So basically, if you’re poor in the U.S.A., you are automatically a loser and a deadbeat too. You will be treated as such by anybody not specifically either paid to deal with you or shysters selling bejesus, Amway, and drugs. Plus, it ain’t safe out there. Not everybody uses muhfreedoms to lift their truck, people be thugging and bums are very vulnerable here. The history of a large mobile workforce means nobody has a village to go home to. Source: https://askdaddy.quora.com/Are-the-poor-people-in-the-United-States-the-richest-poor-people-in-the-world-6   Profits from free accurate cryptos signals: https://www.predictmag.com/ 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.