[atuc]

Hey all,

Are there any experienced traders out there that could suggest what they think the best broker + charting + feed combo is nowadays?

My background is FX and I personally like MT4 but can't find ETF brokers for it.

Thanks
Arnz

[Kiwi]

Interactive Brokers has a large customer base. Many customers are satisfied with them but you do get a few complaints as their customer service pretty much assumes you know what you're doing. Also their data is not tick by tick ... it comes in packets every 100ms to avoid fast market issues. I love them and like the fact that you can trade Australian and Asian markets as well as forex, and US and European futures and stock markets.

Sierra Chart is a great low cost charting platform (not free like mt4 though) and they integrate with a number of brokers for data and order entry and management - including IB.

Lots of choices though - those are just my preference

[MadMarketScientist]

I'm with Kiwi on IB. You could also use their data and hook it directly into NinjaTrader which would give you some really powerful order entry/order management plus charting at minimal to no cost for that. That assumes you don't need full streaming charts as Kiwi mentioned.

If you do, I would consider Tradestation or another that has a rabid fanbase would be Think or Swim especially for equities/options.

[atuc]

Appreciate the suggestions. IB gets a lot of thumbs up I noticed so looks like I will go down that road - I am in Australia so the international access will come in handy also.

Just a matter of pinning down charting software. The pain is I have a few custom indies that I will need to transduce to a non MT4 platform. Ninja seems to look ok but theres quite a few to choose from.

[HI_THERE]

+ 1 for Interactive Brokers.

[pa18]

I've never used the brokerage but you may want to try broco for MT4 charts. They show a lot of different instruments, there maybe the ETFs you want

[MadMarketScientist]

One advantage for you if you go the IB route and use Ninja is you have an easy connection between them for data to charting and trade execution.

You can also program custom indicators in Ninja or have someone do it for you - there's enough people out there who now how to program for Ninja (and for that matter Metatrader or Easy Language for Tradestation, etc...)

Plus you can have all of the benefits for a low to no cost.

Originally Posted by atuc »

Appreciate the suggestions. IB gets a lot of thumbs up I noticed so looks like I will go down that road - I am in Australia so the international access will come in handy also.

Just a matter of pinning down charting software. The pain is I have a few custom indies that I will need to transduce to a non MT4 platform. Ninja seems to look ok but theres quite a few to choose from.

[atuc]

Thanks for all the comments. I am in the process of establishing am IB account now. I guess that satisfies the broker + feed issue quite well.

Since I would be just dabbling with it for a few months I would like to only use free charting software. I take it Ninja is one of the only good charting packages out there thats free...?