Day Trading & Forex Forum

thevinman

Hi Guys,

I know this isnt the right thread, but I think I will get the best result for my question. I use esignal as my charting software for years now. Since a few months I have a big problem with not receiving data from esignal on time. I have delays between 9 and 30 seconds at some times. This frustrates the hell out of me. Interactivebrokers has no problem with supplying correct data, but their charting is not that good.

Can someone advice me on good charting software? ( that I also can link with IB?)

Thanks,

thevinman

Mr. Charts

Piet,
Mine is spot on, identical with IB and with instant fills Nasdaq and NYSE at the price I see on my screens.
Make sure you are using the latest version. Mine is dated 22/10/2008. If yours isn't, update it.
If there is still a problem, ring them; they are very helpful.
I have emailed you additional info.
Hope that helps,
Richard

__________________
Mr. Charts
Full time US Share Trader

To see just one of the ways I trade for a living:

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/us-s...g-markets.html

thevinman

Hi Richard,

Thank you for the information. I have been on the phone with them on and of for over 5 months. It has to do with the internet connection. I changed my internet connection from cable to DSL, but since this week DSL is also not working properly. It was even worse with their beta version.

It seems there are hubs that dont deliver the data packages on time. Today I had a delay of 45 seconds with the beta version. I now have the 10.2 version on my computer again. It is frustrating and I am losing money because I am more focused on the software than on trading.

Cheers,

theinvman

BTippen

thevinman,

I had all the same problems with esignal and IB that you are talking about.

There are many charting packages out there that will use IB's data (ensign is 1 of them).

But i also found IB's commissions rates poor and also their order execution is terrible. If you bid a stock and some1 hits you the ECN's pay out for this as you have added liquidity to the market. On ARCA for example they pay back $0.0023/shre for adding liquidity. This means you can trade 1000 shares for just $1.6 as my broker charges $0.0039 so 3.9 - 2.3 With IB you pay what? $7.5? PLus remember you are capturing the spread with +liquidity so its a win win win deal.... but not if your with IB lol

Also with IB how quick can you put an order 1c higher than the bid and hide it on ISLD (my broker still calls it isld) answer = ages, if at all.

Esignal charts look good sure but its L2 sucks. You need the ENC's at the different levels on the L2 otherwise its useless. Some1 might be sitting at the next level on the offer showing 100000 shares which you wont see with esignal unless you switch to singlebook at the bottom of the L2 which is an absolute joke IMO.

I tell you all this because i remember how frustrating it was for me to have all these lag problems specially when you are trying to learn this trading lark.
But once I changed I realised how much more i was missing.

To summarise if you are using Esignal and IB combo you are at a huge disadvantage

PM me and I will give you more details about who i use.


Happy trading.


Ben

thevinman

Hi Btippen,

I have send you a PM. I will take your advice and check out ensign. It doesnt have everything I want but it uses the data of IB. This way my charts are up to date and I can focus on my trading.

I am looking forward to the info on the software you are using.

Kind regards,

thevinman

ezreddy

thevinman,
I ran into the same trouble with esignal about nine months ago on a trial version. The data was lagging. At the time, I only noticed when I compared the TDA streaming quotes with esignal. I then searched the esignal forum and found a long thread which discussed this problem and the fact that it had been ongoing for some time. I opted not to pay for a streaming account which was lagging behind as much as 30 seconds. I am not sure if they ever put out a fix or determined the cause of their problems, but Richard does not appear to have any issues. I am currently using Quotetracker which has many of the features that I am looking for and is free. The programming is limited but the service is first rate. If you were to look at an Izone account with TDA, then you could trade at a flat $5 with free software. With that setup, you would have to pay an additional $15 to get the streaming quotes as well. They do offer level 2, but I do not have a good comparison to give you for this service. I am also working some with Sierra Charts and they have excellent charting software with good programmability. Naturally this one comes with a cost and you still need a broker. I am sure that I will be on the lookout for better software and brokers in perpetuity and welcome any other suggestions out there.

RubenE

Hi thevinman,

As a sidenote, it's also possible to use IB data in Amibroker. See: How to use AmiBroker with Interactive Brokers TWS
I haven't tested this live yet, but will do that soon. You could however try it with a trial version of Amibroker just to see if it works for you. Just a suggestion.

Best regards,
Ruben.

thevinman

Hi Guys,

Thank you very much for the info. The last two weeks I have tested several charting software and datafeeds. I concluded that for the way I trade stocks, esignal is the best software.

On friday I started to trade again with esignal and immediately I had problems with the data feed; AGAIN!!!. So I have decided to stop day trading stocks and focus on other products with other software.

I am going to use sierrachart or ninjatrader for my trading and I will need to find another broker. But first I am going to chill.

Thanks again for all your replies.

Kind regards,

thevinman