Sierra Charts vs Medved Quote Tracker

[zbs60]

HI All

Anyone who has used both these realtime programs care to comment on the advantages and disadvantages of these programs? Which one did u like best?

thanks

 

[nine]

zbs. You need to state what you are going to be trading, what timeframes etc. for comments to be specific and meaningful.

FWIW, as a short term futures trader I prefer SierraChart. If i was still trading stocks I might prefer Medved especially if I was trading a big range of them.

 

[zbs60]

HI Again

I primarily daytrade equities. Which program would u guys consider the most sophisticated overall of the two programs?

thanks again

 

[Bigbusiness]

For those that use Interactive Brokers, the free data feed can be fed in to Ensign http://www.ensignsoftware.com/ . This costs $39.99 a month with backfill. There is a free 7 day trial and the software might take a few days to get used to but I think it has more to offer than Sierra and Quotetracker.

 

[Glenn]

For those that use Interactive Brokers, the free data feed can be fed in to Ensign http://www.ensignsoftware.com/ . This costs $39.99 a month with backfill. There is a free 7 day trial and the software might take a few days to get used to but I think it has more to offer than Sierra and Quotetracker.

BB
Does Ensign have it's own data servers ?
IB does not provide data backfill.
Have lost several chunks of data in recent months when IB did not pass data through after the UK open for 30 mins or so.
Interested in Ensign if the backfill works.

Regards
Glenn

 

[Bigbusiness]

BB
Does Ensign have it's own data servers ?
IB does not provide data backfill.
Have lost several chunks of data in recent months when IB did not pass data through after the UK open for 30 mins or so.
Interested in Ensign if the backfill works.

Regards
Glenn

Yes, Ensign does provide data backfill for IB data. I trade the US markets, so the live data is free, as long as I make enough trades every month. If you are paying IB for UK data, I think they can backfill for that as well. There are more details here:-

http://www.ensignsoftware.com/ib.htm

 

[Glenn]

Thanks BB
I see that the backfill comes from another vendor (DTN Market Access).
The other concern I have is data spikes. IB is pretty good at providing clean data.
At the moment I use Mytrack for backfill, but Mytrack tends to have numerous spikes caused by the way they let Delayed Trades go through. So I get the backfill but also their spikes.

Do you get many spikes from DTN ?

The 1-week trial look useful - perhaps a way to find out about their LIFFE data.

Glenn

 

[Bigbusiness]

I haven't seen any obvious spikes in the markets I trade. I don't get LIFFE data from IB but I can still use the backfilled charts to see what I am missing

 

[TGM]

Bigbusiness,

I am a new IB customer looking for charting to use with my "free data". Especially the hang seng. Ensign is very customizable. Does this IB/Ensign feed ever go down?? Is it generally stable? Thanks.

Does anyone know if I can run Ensign and Sierra Charts at the same time with IB data? I have heard I can??

thanks
TGM

 

[nine]

IB feed is generally as stable as your ISP. I have only had one IB down in a year and it was a major power outage in their hong kong site (i made 14 points on the trade that was open as it hit the target while I was down).

Yes you can run, ensign and sierra, or if you want you could run sierra from two directories simulaneously (just get your data paths right). I trade HSI every day and am ported off the Hong Kong exchange in the hope that my keystrokes will be filled 100ms faster than everyone else

 

[Bigbusiness]

TGM,

I think Kiwi has answered your question but I have found IB/Ensign stable so far when trading the US markets. I don't trade the hang seng.

 

[Quercus]

TGM
Just to let you know some of my own experience:
I used to trade the HSI, and had my server for IB switched to the asian ones in order to avoid the downtime for the US server at 23:45 EST, which is right in the middle of HSI trading. The MAJOR problem I encountered was the data problems which ensued when trading the US market. (This is recognised by the technical people at IB too!) If you're intending to trade the US too, then be advised that server downtime frequently occurs, and can last for minutes! Like Kiwi, I've had a few go my way on this event, but others don't!!!!!
Cheers
Quercus

 

[TGM]

Big Business,
Thank you for the response. That is good to hear. I have an Ib account so I thought I might as well use the data. I would only be looking at forex, Eurex and maybe some US fixed income and of course the Hang Seng at night. We will see. With Ensign's backfill and low cost it is an ideal backup feed or even more. Any tips or advice --it would be appreciated.

Quercus,
I am only going to trade the Hang Seng first session. I do not know how this would affect me. I am on eastern standard time (new york time). I will have to figure out how this affects me --to be safe.


Is there a certain server I need to be on? My understanding is that I can trade anything from one login? What do I need to know here? I will have IB on 24/6 on one computer running Ensign.

 

[Quercus]

TGM
With IB they set your server when you first join, depending on where you're based, unless you specify the server. You can change this at any time and as often as you like, but only over the weekend. The US server shuts down at around 23:45 EST which is after the close of the am session on the HKFE, and it's normally up and running for the pm session, so you should be ok with that.
There is no doubt that for US data there are issues with the asian servers, so if you intend to trade these markets then stay with the US server. I'm not at all sure about Eurex, but I'd guess that again the US server would certainly be better than the asian ones.
Hope this helps
Q
PS - good luck with the HSI, it's a thinly traded volatile beastie with sometimes frightening spreads!

 

[MGBRoadster]

BB
Does Ensign have it's own data servers ?
IB does not provide data backfill.
Have lost several chunks of data in recent months when IB did not pass data through after the UK open for 30 mins or so.
Interested in Ensign if the backfill works.

Regards
Glenn

IB say they're going to provide same-day backfill:

"With the release of the next beta version of TWS, API customers will be able to request back-fill market data for the current trading day. " - IB Communiqué - February 25, 2005

If that works with QT it would make the $4 pm even better value

 

[TGM]

TGM,

I think Kiwi has answered your question but I have found IB/Ensign stable so far when trading the US markets. I don't trade the hang seng.

Thank you for the reply. Did you find Ensign difficult to setup? And do you trade Eurex at all?

I see Ensign has telephone support --so that is not bad.

Does anyone use Ensign with IB's Ideal Pro forex data?

 

[Bigbusiness]

TGM,

I found Ensign easy to setup. Every charting package takes a while to get used to and I did find the first few days a bit strange but the website has a lot of information and I soon became used to it. There is a free 7 day trial and I had decided it met my requirements by the end of it. The help

I don't trade Eurex, so I can't help on that one.

 

[TGM]

BigB,

thanks buddy. I take it you are just charting stock indexes like the es nq ym etc.

thanks for the help

 

[Bigbusiness]

I just look at the YM and the ES at the moment but I sometimes glance at a few US stocks.

There is an e-chat facility in Ensign, if you want to chat with someone who knows more than me. I did have a look but I don't use e-chat much. You can access it here if you don't want to download the Ensign software.

www.dacharts.com

 

[TGM]

Thanks again BigB,

You know Ensign can do a simple MACD just like in Tradingdaybyday. You can do one without special programming.