Im fairly new to trading and after having some bad experiences with the platform i use I'm trying to find a genuinely good platform that doesn't freeze at vital moments, or fall over several times a month etc. Are there any genuine review sites that carry sufficient independent reviews to select a reliable platform provider - or am i in fantasy land?
timsk
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Hi roogy,
I rather doubt there's a generic answer to this on which all members will agree. This is because the choice of platform tends to be governed by the type of trader you are and the features you require. Needless to say, this varies from one trader to the next. The issues you mention are more likely to reflect the broker than the platform per se. For example, suppose you're a forex trader using the ubiquitous MetaTrader4 (MT4) platform. You could experience freezing with one broker and not with another - it doesn't really tell you anything useful about how good or bad MT4 is.
Personally, I've decided to use MT4 pretty much for the reasons outlined above. If I want to switch broker for any reason, I know I can open a new account with just about any broker on the planet, safe in the knowledge that they'll offer the MT4 platform. I've had it with finding a broker I like and then having to learn how to use their own proprietary platform. This isn't a recommendation for you to do the same btw, not least because any number of members will tell you that MT4 is pants and that they wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. At the end of the day, it's horses for courses.
Tim.
NetTecture
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And I dare saying you have no clue about what good software in trading does or can do. Like the dude at McDonalds saying this is the most elaborate food in the world, and chefs are totally overrated.
Having come from NT I have spent - with some partners - years working on our own software stack simply because at least at htis time (and this includes NT 8 coming up) there was no decent offer around below a price that you can buy a large house for.
Simple things like:
* A trading calendar that can handle exceptions and changes over time*
* Multi computer backtests that can be analyzed and compared after months (because the data gets actually STORED, like in a database that is accessible by standard tools).
* A runtime that is capable of running 100+ strategies at the same time, including doing more complicated risk control than "runs or not".
* The ability to queue backtests so that a long weekend is not wasted for all the computer capacity (not like for example NT where you have to manually schedule it once the last one is over) and where backtests do not run hugh memory footprints.
* A good tick by tick simulator hat is in fact not totally awkward slot.
* The ability to run trading strategies on a trading SERVER. That is a machine where no one is logged in, but you do essential things like start/stop strategies from a web browser or a command line on another machine. Like, you know, with server software in general - Apache, MS Exchange, Oracle Database Server somehow do not run as interactive tools in a logged i n user space.
* A decent API that has a concept of a logical TRADE, as opposed to orders. Trades with a beginning, an end, an assigned risk profile, a maximum profit and loss, that can be tracked later in analysis. And possibly form a hierarchy. Getting time overlapping signals decomposed into separate logical trades can be seriously complicated.
* An environment that does not force me to abandon the basics of software development to write so useless things like strategies or indicators. Stuff that for example can make me do a UNIT TEST. Can you imagine that I am now working against indicators I know are correct because I have unit tests for all of them? And can you imagine that during the development we found out that standard core indicators in both NT at least are calculated wrong? No joke. Some more complex ones have "optimized" the underlying base indicators and - replaced them with some more convenient variants, but fail to document this. This blew in our face in the unit tests.
There simply is nothing sensible. And especially not NT or MT - which have awkward development environments. NT does not properly allow using Visual Studio (for C# development - though they falsely claim that is their own langauge, it actually is not), while MT does not even bother with anything such idiotic as source control integration. Or checking that the numbers actually do add up
So, no - doing strategy development for years now and gave up looking for anything remotely decent around 4 years ago.
And I dare saying you have no clue about what good software in trading does or can do. Like the dude at McDonalds saying this is the most elaborate food in the world, and chefs are totally overrated.
Having come from NT I have spent - with some partners - years working on our own software stack simply because at least at htis time (and this includes NT 8 coming up) there was no decent offer around below a price that you can buy a large house for.
Simple things like:
* A trading calendar that can handle exceptions and changes over time*
* Multi computer backtests that can be analyzed and compared after months (because the data gets actually STORED, like in a database that is accessible by standard tools).
* A runtime that is capable of running 100+ strategies at the same time, including doing more complicated risk control than "runs or not".
* The ability to queue backtests so that a long weekend is not wasted for all the computer capacity (not like for example NT where you have to manually schedule it once the last one is over) and where backtests do not run hugh memory footprints.
* A good tick by tick simulator hat is in fact not totally awkward slot.
* The ability to run trading strategies on a trading SERVER. That is a machine where no one is logged in, but you do essential things like start/stop strategies from a web browser or a command line on another machine. Like, you know, with server software in general - Apache, MS Exchange, Oracle Database Server somehow do not run as interactive tools in a logged i n user space.
* A decent API that has a concept of a logical TRADE, as opposed to orders. Trades with a beginning, an end, an assigned risk profile, a maximum profit and loss, that can be tracked later in analysis. And possibly form a hierarchy. Getting time overlapping signals decomposed into separate logical trades can be seriously complicated.
* An environment that does not force me to abandon the basics of software development to write so useless things like strategies or indicators. Stuff that for example can make me do a UNIT TEST. Can you imagine that I am now working against indicators I know are correct because I have unit tests for all of them? And can you imagine that during the development we found out that standard core indicators in both NT at least are calculated wrong? No joke. Some more complex ones have "optimized" the underlying base indicators and - replaced them with some more convenient variants, but fail to document this. This blew in our face in the unit tests.
There simply is nothing sensible. And especially not NT or MT - which have awkward development environments. NT does not properly allow using Visual Studio (for C# development - though they falsely claim that is their own langauge, it actually is not), while MT does not even bother with anything such idiotic as source control integration. Or checking that the numbers actually do add up
So, no - doing strategy development for years now and gave up looking for anything remotely decent around 4 years ago.
Thank you for your reply, so interesting
SlowlyButSurely
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CQG
TT X Trader
Ninja Trader
Sierra Chart
CTS T4
TT X Trader
Ninja Trader
Sierra Chart
CTS T4
Did you use Sirix webtrader?
SlowlyButSurely
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No - never heard of it.
NVP
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never had much freeze on any Mt4 platforms run.........also check your own Laptop/PC to make sure shes is running ok
not sure about the rocket science being offered on here ............but sounds over the top to me re finding a solution (what IT gurus don't make it sound complicated) .........will be simpler than this
N
not sure about the rocket science being offered on here ............but sounds over the top to me re finding a solution (what IT gurus don't make it sound complicated) .........will be simpler than this
N
You can try to use, sirix easy to use))
MT4 is only a highly promoted product, cause I have began to use cTrader and understood that it is really a well-made tool, it provides fastest entry and execution, orders are filled in just milliseconds, it is not very popular among traders, but I always like to try something new, to have some variants and to to dwell on something which is only highly populated and known.
MT4 is good terminal
Did you use sirix web trader ?
Pat494
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Am I right in thinking the US companies stick you with add-on and update charges etc. ?
volfixtrader
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I'm agree with Net Tecture. If a lot of traders are using MT4 or MT5. Which advantage will you have in compare with them? Not secret that more than 80-90% are losing money on market. To make money you must be better than other. The best way it is creating own software for own style of trading. If not you should open your ind and find a better solution than standard offer. Look around a lot of software for trding. But i divide them for following group: 1) free software based on technical analysis (it the best choice for beginner) - but to difficult make money, because you see the market like other. 2) special paid closed indicators (black boxes) - the worst from variants because you don't know how it worked on which markets and when they stop make a money. And the most important you study nothing. Because indicators generate signals for open and close of position. 3) Special programs with other point of view of analysing markets (not technical). Like XO, arbitrage, and other. Some of them could works some no, some are stupid. It is a chance to find a good platform. 4) Own programe - one the best way for my opinion, but the hardest. 5) And the last which I'm using is analysing of volume. I analyse CME and big players . Huge participants usually are moving the prices. When you see them you could predict moving with a high probability. Also one of the best way for trading.
Also you could see a lot of plarforms in any big broker. Like http://www.ampfutures.com/platforms.
Also you could see a lot of plarforms in any big broker. Like http://www.ampfutures.com/platforms.
