Order Books

[baostini]

Hello Everyone,

I am about to open my own trading account and have thought about setting myself up with tradestation. I have been told this is a very good program.

Before doing this though, I need to know does trade station have order books? Can you see second level market data on it (such as the bids and offers the market is trading around)? I know trade station has charts and first level data, but I need to know if it has the rest. A lot of my strategies are flow based.

If tradestation does not, does anyone know who the cheapest broker with second level market data is?

Thank You in Advance

 

[DionysusToast]

It does have an order book but it's pretty crap in Tradestation IMO.

They have data too - when I was with them, they weren't part of the CME waiver program, so getting US Futures data was really expensive. That could have changed now though!

 

[baostini]

Thank You for the quick reply.

What do you mean by pretty crap?

Does it show how many lots are bid and how many are offered per price? How many prices does it show? Can you see every trade that goes through the market or does it not have a price ticker?

 

[DionysusToast]

Well - when you compare to something like XTrader, the DOM in Tradestation is just not as good.

You'd need to see side by side to see the issue.

 

[baostini]

Oh ok. But the market depth can be seen? Does it cost more than level 1 info?

 

[DionysusToast]

Yes, usually costs more.

 

[baostini]

Yes, usually costs more.

Yeah, I figured. You wouldn't know how much though would you? For me the most important thing is seeing market depth and the trades that are executed, but if I can keep the costs as low as possible that is good too.

 

[DionysusToast]

Contact Tradestation, I am sure they can give you prices

 

[Mr. Charts]

It's always best to ask the company themselves for that sort of pricing info rather than ask anonymous people on a forum, but DT is an exception, he'll be right !