[sevensa]

Originally Posted by Tams »

I don't know of any keywords or commands you can use to "program" your strategy in the event of signal failure/absence.
and I really don't know, realistically or practically, anything NT can do.


Let me explain...
<Rest of the message truncated to save space>

Thanks for a clear explanation which is more helpful to people considering the IB/NT combination than baseless statements from someone who doesn't use it, nor understand how it works.

[smuhr]

Originally Posted by sevensa »

What is bad about IB's datafeed? I've been using it for years and don't have any issues with it with my type of trading.

Are you really going to trade stocks, forex and futures? Do you know what data you need, tick level, minute, daily? Have you found a reliable method and edge yet? If not, you probably should concentrate on that first and figure out what and how you really want to trade before you try to find the "best" broker. If you are learning to drive, you will not go and buy full and top of the line racing gear and a Ferrari up front, but just something cheap to start of with to get used to driving.

Remember a broker is typically just a broker and not a datafeed provider, with tradestation probably the exception. Many brokers do provide a feed, but their main business is to be a broker first. The same goes for data providers. Their main business is to provide a datafeed and not brokerage services.

Asking questions like what is best, sound logical but really isn't as simple to answer. What is best is what will fit your requirements the best. You need to know exactly what your requirements are before you can decide what is best for them.

I totally agree with you.
In fact, I am trading stocks for a couple of month and I would like to trade Futures or FX on my free time.
But I do not know which broker (stock + Fut OR stocks + FX) & data feeder is the more reliable with NT

[DugDug]

Q; are you automating your trading, or doing high volume/frequency trading?

If not- why not just use a broker platform without any extra NT or other system.
If so - then the only real answer is to get NT, see if it works for you and your strategy. Time spent actually using the system is the only way you are going to answer the question.

[BlowFish]

Originally Posted by smuhr »

Good morning,

I am new to NT and I do not now which broker is the best for trading Stock, Futures & FX with automated System.

It might be worth mentioning that none are really robust enough for unattended trading. If that is your goal you would be much better of finding a broker that can host your application (using strategy runner for example) or finding a broker that will execute a strategy for you. Thats just my opinion of course if you don't mind things going down or locking up mid trade once in a while thats a different matter.

[BlowFish]

Originally Posted by Tams »

this is a very common misconception... let me explain and maybe you can see the differences.

1. All data suppliers aggregate their data, inlcuding eSignal. (read the fine print)

2. The data from the exchanges can be aggregated !!! e.g. read the CME fine print.
i.e. you had aggregated data to begin with, what difference does it make if the data supplier also aggregates the data?

3. IB aggregates the data to the MAXIMUM of 250ms.
i.e. if there were 10 ticks in a second,
you could get as many as 10 packets of quotes,
or you could get as little as 4 packets of quotes,
or anything in between,
...but not less than 4.
250ms is the max latency, not the given.

4. ALL broker quotes are aggregated, some aggregate more than 250ms.
i.e. IB's data is not any worse than your "other" alternatives.
IB got more publicity, because misinformation gets pass on faster than facts.


HTH

Well said though it is worth pointing out that carrying several ticks in a packet is a little different to what most mean by aggregating. Some reserve the right to actually combine prints at the same price (forget what packets they arrive in) so 1@245 1@245 1@245 might actually be reported as 3@245 irrespective of the transport mechanism.

Zenfire for example, is a fairly complete data feed that can squash an awful lot of ticks into a single packet (using compression) thought at the client end it unsquashes them into individual ticks again. The integrity of the individual trades are preserved.



Largely semantics really Compression vs Aggregation.