Real time price feeds/charting tools

[Splitlink]

I am trying to make a transition from SB to broker and find the different procedure quite difficult to understand.

I opened an account with IB, quite a lot of work involved there,
but have got to the stage where I am wondering whether I will be able to trade properly after going to the trouble of funding my account. So, at present, I am at a standstill.

Can anyone tell me if they have have found the learning procedure fairly easy to understand and if there is anyone over there to help, or are you left to get on with it?

There is another broker over here, isn't there, -Easytotrade?. Their costs seem a bit higher than IB which is the reason that IB has got so popular, I suppose. Can anyone tell us what they are like?

I have stopped trading (?) with the SB companies, now, as I can see that I am wasting my time and money on small moves so am twiddling my thumbs at the moment. Have had a look at GNI but they seem to require Pentium III which means me updating my computer.

Regards

Split.

 

[options]

Split, shouldn't make a difference to your trading sb v direct, other than to your profits. Remember though It's now £10 per contract. So very tight stops m8.

Account opening with IB is difficult and they should make it more easier.

So what don't you understand? Just ask.

Easy2trade are good, have a clear trading platform, but only do certain futures and stock futures, though there are continuous expansion within the company.

IB trade everything. So it can all be quite complex. And with the 2 of them I would give IB the edge through speed of fill.

Sierra charts now do real time through IB.

IB £1.70 per contract
Easy 4.00
and easy have a quarterly non trading thing £200, IB don't, they just charge the exchange fees. And they also have lower acc fees.

If Easy were the same I would still be with them.

Although we moan about the sb's they still have their uses.

Options.

 

[Miki]

“Although we moan about the sb's they still have their uses.”

I am still thinking… …no, can’t think of any.

 

[dsmodi]

there are many that think instead of referring to them as "sb", it should be "bs".....

 

[options]

I meant for a bit of tax free pocket money Miki.

Over a slightly longer time frame of 1 hour to 2/3 days, they are quite easy to beat.

Sometimes you may have to work the trade a bit once it's rolling.
I just hate giving too much away to them in the first place.
but 'You pays your money, you takes your choice.'

Everyone should also remember that these are probably the most difficult trading conditions since the 1930's.

Options.

 

[Splitlink]

Hi Options,

Have spent a week getting used to IB's demo. You are right, the difference in costs between IB and Easy2trade is enormous and my funding of the account is on its way.

Thanks for the advice

Split

 

[ianp]

Hi,
I have changed over from Mytrack to IB data feed,

can anyone tell me how to get hold of missing data ?

the IB feed dosn't give all the days data , just when you
start the feed ..

thanks ian

 

[Trader333]

IB and Missing Data

Hi Ianp,

On IB it is not possible to get missing or historical data as they are not a data provider and only a broker. It is clever software that is able to read the realtime quote provided by IB that allows this to be converted into a chart and therefore gives realtime charting capability. Because I use Tradestation I am able to download free historical data which fills in any missing gaps but I am not aware that this is an option for your software package.


Paul

 

[ianp]

thanks Paul,

I guess its back to mytrack...

ian

 

[Skimbleshanks]

I believe you can download historical data from myTrack with just the basic account - ie, you don't have to have the real time Silver plan.

So you can use this for the historical stuff, and then just wind your PC up at the start of the market to get all the intraday prices.

On the Sierra website there is information on how to get free historical data (with a one-off small charge).

 

[GreyingSurfer]

Ian,

For the past few weeks I'v been using MT to provide the history and IB the real time updates. I have a batch file that copies all the files I'm interested in from my MT to my IB installation of Sierra, and changes the names. This happens before the open, and provided I get IB fired up before then I have full histories for my charts. but only have to pay $25 a month to MT, for the Sierra link, instead of the $60 or so I used to pay.

It's a little fiddly, but I prefer using IB for the real time data anyway, it's more reliable, and it saves a fair bit of cash, and having to pay all my exchange fees twice.

 

[ianp]

Skimbleshanks/GreyingSurfer thanks for the info,

I will have a look at the sierra site,

Is it hard to create a batch file ?

thanks ian

 

[GreyingSurfer]

Is it hard to create a batch file ?

No. open notepad, type something along the lines of:

del f:\sierraIB\data\IBDataFileName1.mnd
.
.
.

copy f:\sierraMT\data\MTFileName1.mnd f:\sierraIB\data\IBFileName1.mnd
.
.
.

Save it as something like IBUpdate.cmd. Then double click on it to run it, but make sure you have started the MT version of Sierra first, so the files are current.. Alternatively set up the scheduler to run it for you every morning at 7:30. If you do that you will need another batch file to start up the MT version of Sierra first - along the lines:

Rasdial "Your Internet Connection" YourISP
start F:\SierraMT\SierraChart.exe

 

[ianp]

Thanks for that,
Iwill have a play with notepad..

ian

 

[GreyingSurfer]

Ian,

Be warned, I've hit a problem the past couple of days with MT appearing to fail to load the full history for the previous day's data. It seems to cut off at the point at which I shut down Sierra, instead of reloading the full history when I reopened. I don't think this has anything to do with downgrading my sub from Silver to Bronze, it shouldn't have, but I'll have to investigate when support comes on line this afternoon.