With the fast approaching demise of ravenquote (www.ravenquote,com) at the end of this month, I have been looking into alternative realtime trading packages. I was seriously looking at realtick 3 until I came across the following comparison with RQ:
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Oh please say it isn't so! No! No! No! Realtick can't be the next bestpackage out there. I also used Realtick for 2 years before switching to RQ and there just is no comparison. Yes the datafeed is reliable, and the support unmatched. After that, the comparison ends.
For example, features I use everyday in RQ that are not available in Realtick include:
1) Switching timeframes on a chart or multiple charts on the fly with a single mouseclick. In Realtick, as I remember, its right click, choose option, go to time field, enter change, click OK. Way too cumbersome.
2) Line Drawing on a stock specific basis. If I draw a trendline, for example, for MSFT, I don't want to see that line on my QQQ chart. In RQ, lines are shown based on the stock - in Realtick the line stays on the chart regardless of the stock.
3) Custom Alerts simply by dragging a symbol to a quotesheet. For example, if I want to know when a certain stock is nearing its 30min high, I just drag the symbol to a quotesheet I have created for that purpose. In Realtick, I have to manually calculate and enter an price alert for each one I want this for. I use this functionality for several other criteria as well.
4) Custom Formulas in quote sheets - I use this in several ways - 30min high/low, wide range bars, pullbacks, etc. etc. No such ability in Realtick.
5) Bar Line study - I like to be able to see the prior days high/low lines drawn on my intraday charts. The Bar Line study does this automatically - In Realtick, I would have to draw each one manually (and again, if I change the stock, the old line remains on the chart!).
6) Automatic filtering of bad tick data. On all intraday charts, bad ticks are automatically filtered. This can be done manually in Realtick and then you are only estimating (don't change stocks or you will have to do it all over again).
7) Ability to place stocks on a quote sheet in the order I want them simply by dragging them to the desired location. As I recall the only way you could do this in Realtick is by deleting and reentering symbols, or sorting. Also the ability to insert blank rows easily is also nice in RQ.
8) Ability to customize and save Fibonacci lines with levels and colors desired. In Realtick, you are not able to change Fib levels from the standard ones available. You can choose from the standard ones available, but you have to do this each time - you cannot save your preferences.
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With these limitations I am very relucatant to sign up with rt3. There is an indepth discussion on pros/cons of various packages at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RavenQuote and the front runner seems to be neoticker 2.4
http://www.tickquest.com/NeoTicker/
I have signed up for the 30 day free trial and will report back.
BTW, I also use AIQ but primarily for its backtesting. IMHO AIQ is a reliable workhorse but its charts just suck.
spike
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Oh please say it isn't so! No! No! No! Realtick can't be the next bestpackage out there. I also used Realtick for 2 years before switching to RQ and there just is no comparison. Yes the datafeed is reliable, and the support unmatched. After that, the comparison ends.
For example, features I use everyday in RQ that are not available in Realtick include:
1) Switching timeframes on a chart or multiple charts on the fly with a single mouseclick. In Realtick, as I remember, its right click, choose option, go to time field, enter change, click OK. Way too cumbersome.
2) Line Drawing on a stock specific basis. If I draw a trendline, for example, for MSFT, I don't want to see that line on my QQQ chart. In RQ, lines are shown based on the stock - in Realtick the line stays on the chart regardless of the stock.
3) Custom Alerts simply by dragging a symbol to a quotesheet. For example, if I want to know when a certain stock is nearing its 30min high, I just drag the symbol to a quotesheet I have created for that purpose. In Realtick, I have to manually calculate and enter an price alert for each one I want this for. I use this functionality for several other criteria as well.
4) Custom Formulas in quote sheets - I use this in several ways - 30min high/low, wide range bars, pullbacks, etc. etc. No such ability in Realtick.
5) Bar Line study - I like to be able to see the prior days high/low lines drawn on my intraday charts. The Bar Line study does this automatically - In Realtick, I would have to draw each one manually (and again, if I change the stock, the old line remains on the chart!).
6) Automatic filtering of bad tick data. On all intraday charts, bad ticks are automatically filtered. This can be done manually in Realtick and then you are only estimating (don't change stocks or you will have to do it all over again).
7) Ability to place stocks on a quote sheet in the order I want them simply by dragging them to the desired location. As I recall the only way you could do this in Realtick is by deleting and reentering symbols, or sorting. Also the ability to insert blank rows easily is also nice in RQ.
8) Ability to customize and save Fibonacci lines with levels and colors desired. In Realtick, you are not able to change Fib levels from the standard ones available. You can choose from the standard ones available, but you have to do this each time - you cannot save your preferences.
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With these limitations I am very relucatant to sign up with rt3. There is an indepth discussion on pros/cons of various packages at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RavenQuote and the front runner seems to be neoticker 2.4
http://www.tickquest.com/NeoTicker/
I have signed up for the 30 day free trial and will report back.
BTW, I also use AIQ but primarily for its backtesting. IMHO AIQ is a reliable workhorse but its charts just suck.
spike
