for the ignoramuses out there (including me...) what's the advantage of a pit-traded future? also, isn't that only for the full-contract? thanks
I trade electronic markets exclusively right now (mostly equity index futures), but my main reason to be able to trade the pit-traded futures is to be able to hedge during times when the electronic mkts are down while the pit continues to trade. This has happened before and no reason to believe this wouldn't happen again. Other reason is that in some markets that I have interests in, electronic mkts are still secondary (for example, crude oil, nat gas, e-minis suck w/ wide bid-offers to take money from the retails..there is no electronic mkt in most commodities worth trading).
nitro, I am not sure I am right but in the chat room I understood you are you using an apple? If so with what software? PP
well for a scalper i find having three dot lines is very helpful i can buy nx up to 3 times and sell or cover nx without waiting 30 seconds for another buy or sell nx i find this very helpful i use it all the time now were i trade
The ultimate trading platform I see in the mirror. It is ME and it sits between my ears. Thank you Sherlock
Luke I currently use Button Trader/IB. Have recently had a look at TradeMaven and was impressed - as you say - with its volume analysis capabilities. I suspect I could benefit from use of better real-time price/volume information. (already use ESignal Market Profile + avid tape reader but there's more to it than that - also have trialed Market Delta but the problem with that is yet another piece of resource hungry software running + not fully stable yet - my experience anyway). Can I ask you, with experience of Button Trader (which I find reliable and very slick), have you found the hassel of moving Brokers worth it for the extra Trade Maven facilities? Any observations on TradeMaven, and real-time volume analysis in general welcome
Nimrod, I just sent a lengthy PM. Basically, for what you want, you can get it all in one neat package. I recommend you leave IB for TransAct and TM ASAP.
The ultimate platform would consist of a series of modular pieces of software that all talked to each other seamlessly. It would interface with multiple brokers via fix protocol. It would be able to use multiple feeds It would be cross-platform - able to run on windows, linux and apple. It would be multithreaded. It would have the following components: Charting capability Backtesting capability down to tick level across a portfolio A pure language that allows for super fast processing of complex strategies in real time as well as a scripting language for those that only need to code simple stuff. It would read other scripts, for example easylanguage. It would have a one click Trade management interface and order ladder It would have a Trade automation engine to route trades straight off strategy signals. It would have grid plug-in that allows complex analysis to be broken up and distributed across several machines in a network. It would have a WAP interface that allows you to view trade executions, open positions and P/L via PDA as well the ability to control the entire system via handheld technology. It would have a database that automatically collects and stores tick data locally for all instruments. It could retrieve data from multiple sources and cross check for data inconsistencies / bad ticks in real time. It would have a news feed filter and automated calender that instantly alerted you to terrorist attacks and disaster scenarios as well as pre-warned ahead of major economic announcements. It would have a system evaluation tool that creates performance reports with things like sharp ratio and win / loss ratio etc on your trade history updated with each consecutive trade. It would have the ability to send your trading signals to other users of the platform as well as send alerts to other users via email and sms. Finally it would have a session recording and replay facility. Runningbear