Trading Software

[bullrider]

I am new to the forum, but not really new to trading. I traded futures and
commodities for about (4) years before starting withs stocks about a year ago.
I currently have one trading account with Scottrade. And I am a subscriber
to Quotetracker, which I really like. I also have subscriptions to Gorilla Trades and Stock Signal Pro.
I would like to find a good trading software that would work with various or different data feeds such as Scottrade, TD Ameritrade, etc.
I have looked at Trade Station, but the reviews I'm hearing aren't that great
for the data feeds,service,execution,e tc.
I don't need one of these $7,000.00 types. But, something reasonable and that
is fairly reliable.
I am also in the process of reading Suri Duddella's book "Trade Chart Patterns Like The Pros"., very impressive.

Any recommendations appreciated.

[dcstrategies]

I have had TS for years and love it, I do not trade stocks through it though

[bullrider]

I've never done a trial with TS, but might be interested. Are there different
levels to it? And what are the costs? I assume updates would be free also.
I see you say you don't use it to trade stocks. But that's what I trade, stocks and am studying option trading also.

[dcstrategies]

pretty much just one level--99 a month if you are an active trader there will be no fee for the platform just the fees for the data--if you trade stocks only maybe about 5 bucks and another 11 for levelII. So trading should cost you about 16 a month. if interested send me a pm I will send you a demo and a referral for an account.

[bullrider]

Thanks for the offer dcstrategies but I don't tgink I would be interested
at this time. maybe later on.

[james_gsx]

TS has great charts, but they will lag on you during high volume moments. For example don't expect to get any work done during a FOMC announcement. The charts will go nuts, freeze, then go nuts again.

Customer service - no comment. I didn't hear a word from anyone there until several days after we left. Then all of a sudden we got an e-mail with some great offer to keep our business. IMO if the broker really gave a shit, he'd pick up the phone and make the phone call. Email is the easy way out when trying to save business IMO.

Execution - it really depends on your style of trading. If you do longer term stuff (more than 10 minutes) then it's fine. If you want take a quick scalp for a few ticks you're better off throwing the money down the toilet. I've heard horror stories of the market going 8 ticks before TS was finally able to execute. I have a few horror stories myself of similar situations, not fun. But if you are longer term, then I don't see it being a huge problem.

If you're just trading equities and don't need real time quotes then I wouldn't waste my time. But it depends on your style of trading, may or may not be worth it. I would suggest looking around at a few other brokerages first, and a few other charting platforms.

Edit: My experience with TS has been just with futures, specifically the YM and ES. I watched stocks and used their charts for equities but I never made an equity trade with TS.

[bullrider]

Thanks for the opinion james-gsx. I will keep looking.

[SunTrader]

I have used TradeStation for well over 10 years of futures trading (yup me too - no stocks) and have almost never experienced data freezes during FOMC announcements or other news related periods. But from the sound of things you are looking for something far less sophisticated. You can get freebie charts at quote.com and bigcharts.com etc but you may be aware of them already.

[thrunner]

	Quote:	bullrider
	But, something reasonable and that is fairly reliable. I am also in the process of reading Suri Duddella's book "Trade Chart Patterns Like The Pros"., very impressive..

If you are reading Suri's book, I don't see how you can avoid trying out TS; almost everything Suri does is done on TS. After all that has been said about TS, it is a fairly reliable, inexpensive and popular platform with good support.

[bullrider]

I' ve only had Suni's book for about a week so I' m really not that far into it yet.
You know you've got to first skim through it then pick out familiar patters, etc.
But it looks like a very good read so far.
As for charts I use QT. I can't think of any thing one would need in the way of charting that they don't have.
I have the link to the older version of TS which I have been looking at.
But, you're right, I don't do anything but trade stocks, so I don't need a super sophisticated system. Usually 1-2 days to 1-2 weeks. No day trading and no long term (investing). I subscribe to Gorilla Trades and they are really pretty good for suggestions as is SSP who I also subscribe to. I use both mostly for a starting point, plus my Favorites List.
I usually like to locate Williams %R oversold stocks that are trending stocks based on the ADX. When they turn positive again I ride them up.
This system has worked very well for me even in this turbulent market we're
in.
But, I welcome and am open to all suggestions to become better at this.
After all no matter how long you've been at it. It's still a learning experience every day.