Futures Trading and Software

[Freddie 10]

Hi all,

 

Just in the process of finishing up John Carter's book and am thinking of moving over to trading e-mini futures both intraday and swing trading; mostly intraday to start. I will be using Interactive Brokers (IB) as it is the best discount broker here in Canada.

 

I'd like to find a software package like Tradestation that will work with IB as it looks like tradestation can backtest, has charting software, automated order entry and exit, etc. all that I need along with historical data. The only problem with TS is that for me it's $250 per month (A bit steep for starting out) and I cannot open an account with them as from what I remember a few years ago when setting up my IB account, Canadians are not allowed to open US trading accounts with US firms and that is why IB opened a branch in Canada.

 

So it's either pay $250 per month or look for alternate solutions. Anyone have any suggestions? I was thinking Ninjatrader for order management and charting, maybe Amibroker or Wealth lab for backtesting, still need a good source of historical data for e-mini futures.

 

thx for your help

[Guest FLX]

Tradestation is only 120 to 140 a month with emini account. FLX

[Freddie 10]

FLX,

 

Can't open a brokerage account with them from Canada plus I'm happy with IB right now thus the $250 per month fee.

[GCB 10]

I've heard MultiCharts is good, but I'm not sure if it's cheaper. Supposedly it will run TradeStation EasyLanguage code.

[Soultrader 12]

Freddie,

 

Tradestation waves the platform fee if you place more than 10 trades a month with them. So you will be only paying for exchange fees.

 

I am not sure what your options are there in Canada but you should try to get a platform that allows bracket orders, OSO orders like Ninjatrader or Infinity AT.

[Guest FLX]

Multi chart is good with ninji trader data feed the fastest on the planet. We clock them and ninji trader is the fastest!

 

One problem if multi chart go"s down, can you get service help like Tradestation to put it back on line!

[Minetoo 10]

Hi all,

 

Just in the process of finishing up John Carter's book and am thinking of moving over to trading e-mini futures both intraday and swing trading; mostly intraday to start. I will be using Interactive Brokers (IB) as it is the best discount broker here in Canada.

 

I'd like to find a software package like Tradestation that will work with IB as it looks like tradestation can backtest, has charting software, automated order entry and exit, etc. all that I need along with historical data. The only problem with TS is that for me it's $250 per month (A bit steep for starting out) and I cannot open an account with them as from what I remember a few years ago when setting up my IB account, Canadians are not allowed to open US trading accounts with US firms and that is why IB opened a branch in Canada.

 

So it's either pay $250 per month or look for alternate solutions. Anyone have any suggestions? I was thinking Ninjatrader for order management and charting, maybe Amibroker or Wealth lab for backtesting, still need a good source of historical data for e-mini futures.

 

thx for your help

 

Freddie:

You are misinformed. Canadians most certainly CAN open accounts with US firms. All they require is for you to sign a Letter of Non-Solicitation and other standard account/tax information.

[Guest KhurramNaik]

You might be interested in trading on the Infinity AT. This is the platform my firm produced. It's nice because it's free, intuitive to use and you can try a real time demo of it. A few traders at Trader's Laboratory are already using it. You can try it here Infinity AT

 

What got you interested in trading?

[keymoo 10]

You might be interested in trading on the Infinity AT. This is the platform my firm produced. It's nice because it's free, intuitive to use and you can try a real time demo of it. A few traders at Trader's Laboratory are already using it. You can try it hereL Infinity AT

 

What got you interested in trading?

 

Yes I use that for execution and its awesome and use eSignal for charting.

[Freddie 10]

Thanks everyone for your help. I've been working with Ninja Trader the past few days and it seems to be more than enough for what I need and I still get to keep using IB for my broker. Isn't Infinity AT very similar to Ninja Trader?

 

I've heard that IB has better execution times than Tradestation and lower fees so it's not hard to recoup the $50 per month Ninja Trader fees with a little extra slippage and fees. Tradestation is good but I also think IB and Ninja Trader could be almost as good in terms of software and maybe a bit better in terms of execution. Anybody want to jump in on this?

 

Only problem with IB and NT are only 1 year of historical data from IB. Should be ok for most backtests but I'd like to also be able to do backtests in other market conditions. Anyone know of a good place to get historical futures data?

 

thx again.

 

Ed

[keymoo 10]

This is where I get mine from

http://disktrading.is99.com/disktrading/

[Kiwi 16]

Soultrader,

 

I don't know why you choose to let brokers troll the board. That's how people like Woodie lost his soul and his reputation - inviting the sharks in to feed on the weak swimmers.

 

Personally I think its spam so I choose to leave this board while people like naik are welcome.

 

IMO you shouldn't invite the predators in to prey on the weak. But its your board.

 

CU.

[nicknextmove 10]

Totally agree with you Kiwi.

 

But I would also like to add that non-brokers should also be not allowed to pimp their wares.

 

I see that some people have recommended MultiCharts.

 

I have tried a demo of MultiCharts and would never recommend it.

 

Did not want to get entangled in a pissing contest - so kept quiet previously.

[notouch 10]

TradeStation totally sucks for data reliability and execution speed.

 

For order execution you can't go wrong with IB's own BookTrader. You just need to configure it to exactly meet your needs. For charting Ensign is superb and is only $40 a month with IB data.

[Soultrader 12]

Thank you for the concern guys. The forum belongs to the members on the board and would hate to see the reputation here go down because of these things. I am looking to resolve this asap.

[Kiwi 16]

Thanks James.

 

Notouch, Agreed that Ensign's a nice package especially if you like Andrews Pitchforks or the extensive fib extension products that are built in. If on a budget (or just looking and testing; or looking for a really good Market Profile package) then Sierra Chart is also well worth considering.

[Freddie 10]

Just an update. Ninja Trader and IB have problems. NT reports improper volume with IB data feed. NT support cannot solve the problem and has suggested esignal data as an option.

[BocaTrader 10]

I know I can't be the first to ask this.... but I can't seem to find it anywhere else... what are the platform and clearing fees for Infinity AT?

Thanks in advance...

[Soultrader 12]

I know I can't be the first to ask this.... but I can't seem to find it anywhere else... what are the platform and clearing fees for Infinity AT?

Thanks in advance...

 

hi Bocatrader,

 

The commisions are negotiable with Infinity. They dont have any software/platform fees but they do offer good rates. You can contact Khurram at k.naik@infinitybrokerage.com directly. He is working with members on Traders Laboratory directly for those who are interested in the Infinity AT platform.

[brownsfan019 17]

TradeStation totally sucks for data reliability and execution speed.

 

notouch - I'm surprised by your TS statement regarding data. I have not had a problem (knock on wood) in months. Many, many months. I had tried ESignal and they had major data issues then and came back to TS and haven't looked back.

 

What markets are you trading where the data is unreliable? I trade the main e-mini markets and the Euro FX and it's been great for months!!

 

I do not trade thru them, so can't speak on behalf of execution. Don't care to have all my eggs in one basket.