FutureSource Xtra

FutureSource Xtra

Overview Reviews (3)
Website
http://tradersinternational.fsxtra.com/local/tradersintl/login/xtra.jsp
n 2004, FutureSource, its product suite and portal site www.FutureSource.com, joined the eSignal division, providing the futures, energy and foreign exchange trading community with fast and accurate, real-time market data, decision support systems and services. FutureSource Xtra provides real-time access to worldwide futures and options exchange data, quotes and news, plus interactive charts with 30+ technical indicators, drawing tools, and more. It features:

Custom Workspaces

Track the market performance of contracts you trade the most by setting up individual workspaces based on specific markets. FutureSource Xtra allows for up to 10 workspaces, each containing up to 15 separate window components.

Real-Time Quotes

Tick-by-tick, streaming quotes direct from 40+ exchanges. Your MarketWatch Quote Board is completely customizable, from colors to fonts to layout.

Interactive Charts

Access streaming, real-time data displayed in FutureSource's own dynamic chart viewer. Charting includes 30+ technical indicators and multiple drawing tools!

Real-Time News

The Dow Jones Commodity News "Update" package is included free with FutureSource Xtra and provides broad economic news that is critical to all markets. Other Dow Jones Commodity News and Dow Jones Energy services are available.

WebWatch Browser

The WebWatch browser window allows you to open an embedded browser window without leaving the FutureSource Xtra application. Use it to monitor cash prices or search the web for additional information.

Options Support

View options on the contracts you trade in Side-by-Side, Stacked or Greeks format. By using the Underlier Search feature, you can search for options by entering the underlying symbol (root or contract).

Data Export

The Data Export facility allows you to take price information from FutureSource Xtra and analyze or manipulate it using your own calculations in another application. Export to formats that include Microsoft Excel, XML, comma-delimited format, etc.

Forex Data

View Forex data from HotSpot FX with FutureSource Xtra FX.
Author
T2W Bot
Views
205
First release
Last update
Rating
4.00 star(s) 3 ratings
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Latest reviews

S
Solid feed for a reasonable price!

I've read through the previous reviews and must say that I haven't had any of the problems stated earlier.

The feed problem may be because they used the International Package and the feed lags sometimes on the international exchanges. I use the cheaper North American Package and haven't had any problems under any market conditions in the american market. This is the most solid feed have ever experienced for this kind of money.

The CPU problem must have been bad programming in the earlier versions. I run the newest version with 512 MB RAM and 1.6 GHz and my computer barely notice it when I run fsXtra. I also run a RAM optimizer, but I don't think that has very much to say.

Here's a copy of my review on ET:
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fsXtra was actually the first software I was so pleased with during my trial period that I decided to pay for it.
At the beginning I found it a bit pricey for me ($90 + exchange fees) but it didn't take me long to realise that I had to settle for a much worse feed if I wanted to go any cheaper than this.

I subscribed to all of the packages which I though of as serious competitors to this product and ran their charts side by side to fsXtra. None of them could compare to the FutureSource feed. For me a quality data feed is just as, if not more important than a nice and customizable user interface.

The only problem I have had with the data is a couple of bars missing 2-3 times every month, but as it has been said on an earlier review, you'll only have to restart the program and it's all there. I don't even know if I should call this a problem :-).

As I said, you can't find a better feed than this in the same price range.

When it comes to the software not all things are that great. You can't write your own indicators or customize them very much in any way, though there are a lot of indicators that you can choose from. The panes also resets to the standard size every time you open a new workspace with charts on them, so if you have a bunch of indicators on your charts you'll have to resize the panes every time you shift from workspace to workspace.

But I don't have to worry about that. All I need is price and volume, and with these simple demands this program delivers big time.

The things I personally feel are missing is the ability to turn on and off the overnight session on the e-minis and the ability to change the background color to anything other than white, but I'm sure they'll add it on a later update if they get enough comments about it. (This would be a nice place to add the great support they are offering)

Bottom line, I've never found any package that has ever come near this one, within this price range. I'm going to stay with FS until eSignals screws up the feed :-)

If you have any questions about this product, don't hesitate to PM me.

Thank you for your time.
sandpiper
FSXtra Platinum

FSXtra is a web based application written in Java. JVM (Java Virtual Machine) will be installed automatically on your machine when you first run it so set up is very straightforward with no complicated software to install.

The window set-up is quite intuitive, especially for those switching from Q-Charts or similar packages.

Up to 15 windows can be created and managed as part of a workspace and you can set up multiple-workspaces. Each window can be either a chart, multiple quote, browser or news display. Each runs as java applet and can be set up to run either inside the workspace or "pop-out" of the workspace (a feature that can be very useful).

In addition, an extensive help facility exists explaining the various commodity symbols that you will need to use to set up charts.

Subscription, cancellation and upgrading of exchanges is all handled superbly via the web on a month by month basis.

The support personnel are very responsive with most e-mails being answered within half a day.

However, you may find that you have to contact support quite a lot, particularly if you use European futures and cash indices. The data quality is not that great, with regular discrepancies occurring between their intra-day and daily FTSE charts. On the plus side, continuous futures contracts seem to be easily accessible for all commodities and financials

Still on the data front, the amount of historical data available for anything other than a daily time-frame is severely limiting.

If you were running a client based application with data stored locally on your machine then this would not be an issue, as you can acquire historical data and load it into your application. However, with a sever based application such as FSXtra, you cannot add your own data.

For the most part the feed is stable and is comparable in speed to most anything else (I actually found it faster than most). However, during high volume periods such as post US economic announcements the software performs appallingly.

The CPU utilization on your machine goes to 100% and quotes begin to get further and further behind the market (effectively being queued). On occasion I have seen it running up to 5 minutes behind the market before I have had to re-boot. Even under normal circumstances this application uses a sizable chunk of your machines memory. I was using 512mb on a P III 750 running FSXtra with one other application and my memory frequently ran out.

Despite their general helpfulness and responsiveness on other issues Futuresource support seem unwilling to concede that their are any issues with the software, issuing bland instructions to the user such as, clear temporary internet files, re-start cable modem, re-boot machine, etc.

At one stage (even though I am quite PC literate) I had my whole set up independently checked out by an engineer so I could be sure the problem was at the FSXtra end. I even upgraded my machine to a 2.4 ghz processor with 1gb of memory and the problem still persisted.

Having said all that, for longer term swing and end-of day traders this is a reasonably priced offering (although they now charge $10 + VAT for delayed data. For an intra-day trader, the feed lets you down at the very moments you need it most.
rossored
FSXtra Platinum

Again, suggested to Paul that this be put on here as it's another one that offers two weeks trial for nothing, which I'm halfway through as I write this.

Unlike IQ, this is an asp application, so no downloading to be done ; the trial gives you full access to everything - UK/US/Euro stocks/indices, ODJ Newswire etc etc, but its not cheap if you decide to go for it, starting from $175pcm plus ex.fees if you want everything.

Again, so far has not let me down in terms of reliability - its not the easiest thing to navigate to start with, but once you've got the hang of it its quite intuitive : it'll save your settings/trendlines etc so you dont have to redraw them again when you next log on, and you can customise just about everything - my only real criticisms so far (other than cost!) would be that it does seem a few seconds behind, maybe 5-10 secs at some times, and I cant seem to get the chart to fit my idea of "looking right", but each to their own.

Support-wise they seem pretty good, and have responded promptly to emails for general questions, and I've had two phone calls from them to check all ok : no doubt they're seeing if their wallets will be getting fatter soon but at least it shows they're on the button.
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