When you are just paper trading, I completely agree that you want to keep costs as close to zero as possible.
In my opinion, this is the best combo:
Charting:
Ensign Windows is 39.95 / month.
Data:
FXCM feed is included free.
Interactive Brokers provides stock/futures/bond data for free. Account minimum required is $2,000 USD (or is it $5,000USD?)
HOWEVER: a "bug" if you like with I.B; once you have deposited the funds and your account is active, you can withdraw your 99% of your funds (leave like $50 in there).
After a few months, they will send you an auto generated email along the lines of:
"please note, your account is below the minimum, please deposit additional funds or your account will be closed..." etc.
What they actually do is seize the funds from inactive low-balance accounts, however because that is such a cruel thing to do, they have to give plenty of warning. Like 2- 4 months.
After you get the warning emails, go into your I.B account and click the button that indicates you are putting in a deposit. This begins the cycle again - After a month your 'pending deposit' expires, you get another warning email, send another 'pending deposit' note, wait a month, etc etc..
I have had an old I.B account with less than $10 in it for over a year now.
