TradeStation - A risk to your business

Discussion in 'Forex Brokers' started by MidKnight, Mar 11, 2005.

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  1. Becareful being too 'vocal' on the tradestation world forum. I was expressing my dissatastifaction with them and they ended up locking my threads and removing my login privilleges to TSW. Clearly wanted any criticism swept under the run. I emailed the individual (it was either dave or dean @tssec) and he responded saying my questions consumed too much time. LOL. Funny how they have a support forum but one can't ask too many support questions.

    Been with IB since I left the Tradestation world. Their support has been leagues and leagues ahead of TradeStation. Best thing I ever did for my business.

    Kind regards,
    MK
     
    #51     Aug 27, 2006
  2. Could this be due to:
    http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=69369

    Info available on the presentation:
    http://www.videonewswire.com/event.asp?id=33295

    It would appear that interest income is their fastest growing profit center.

    When the cluey analyst (at the end of the call) asked about this, their half-arsed response was that they only cater for active traders. Clearly, in order to make such a statement, TS management are totally clueless with regards to Modern portfolio theory and practice. This becomes apparent when you factor into it the lack of a universal account and the difficulty of lending at short term rates (you have to call them up to do that) in order to nullify their shitty credit rates.

    So yeah, based on that you figure it out. Many new customers, so much interest to earn on their cash, what do you think a simple DCF analysis would yield for TRAD's expected returns?
     
    #52     Aug 27, 2006
  3. yipcarl

    yipcarl

    TradeStation securities has without a doubt the WORST CUSTOMER SERIVE I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED IN MY LIFE. IF YOU LIKE WAITING OH HOLD 1.5 HOURS TO ASK A SIMPLE QUESTION SIGN UP WITH THEM. I'VE BEEN ON HOLD TODAY 1 HOUR AND 25 MINUTES SO FAR. IT IS ABSOLUTELY ABSURD. THEY CHARGE AN ARM AND A LEG AND THEY HAVE THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE ON THE PLANET. WHEN THEY WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE I HOPE IT'S TO LATE. I LOATH THIS COMPANY.

    RYAN MORELLI
    YIPCARL@AOL.COM
     
    #53     Mar 1, 2007
  4. ybfjax

    ybfjax

    I guess I'll add my own 2 cents here. I was with TS for about 5 months. Really I got their brokerage acct because I wasn't going to pay $250 for their platform by itself. With the acct, it's free with 10 RT trades/month or $99 a month otherwise.

    I wanted to test out KwikPop and a few other indicators that were TS-based. Anyway, the problem with TS started with opening the acct. It took about 2 weeks. At first, they needed more documents for address verification, then I was told by Ray (the sales rep) that the acct could not be opened until the verification dept approved it. Then a week later, I got an e-mail saying the acct was opened, which surprised Ray when I called in to confirm.

    The forex acct is almost like pulling teeth to open. But about 2 months down the road, I switched to a futures acct and had much less problems opening.

    But overall I had problems with the platform. Sometimes the datafeed would stop or entire charts would open up missing. I'd have to shut down TS and restart to get everything working. Now I'll admit that my computer could have been part of the problem, as I meant to do a fresh install of WinXP sp2, but I didn't at the time. But the problems with both the platform and customer service and the $99/month (I didn't end up trading much) was enough

    Oh, and their daytrading margins. Only on the mini indexes and only between 930 and 4pm or something restrictive like that. And their market selection wasn't great, either. This is supposed to be a brokerage that prides itself in being the leader in direct access and backtesting fully automated strategies. (That's their main selling point: that you can just create a system based on rules with little programming knowledge, backtest it, forward test it, and then set it on autopilot)

    You need programming knowledge no matter what they say. And a bunch of 3rd party supporters are more than welcome to take your money to program these solutions for you.

    Most brokerages allow day margins anytime 24 hours, but you must be out of the market before the close of the day session. Then reenter after the reopening.

    My teacher (of a trading system) advised me to go with www.Infinityfutures.com , which I did. Free real-time data and historical fill for only $24/mo with charting platform www.SierraChart.com . TransactAT platform isn't half bad. I also ended up going with www.OpenEcry.com and use them mostly.

    On the tradestation forum, there are a lot of complaints even by the veteran users that a lot of the promises made by TS (forex integration to TS platform, multiple data feeds, int'l market datafeeds, trading on the chart, different chart styles like renko, 3 line break, etc) have been "in the works" for quite a long time i.e. YEARS. Even their forum is very unorganized.

    It seems like TS doesn't care or doesn't focus their attention on the basics. They advertise all their awards, but the company's internal structure seems to only be about the dollar. They are extremely quick/eagar about signing you up, then you are just a number at that point.

    I agree with the quote above, MultiCharts looks very promising. I bought their permanent license. they just raised it to $800 from $400 and it was even less than that when they first started. They still have a few things to work out, but I think within 6-12 months it will be fully polished. It will easily sell for $2000+

    I also agree with some of the posters who say they just do their 10 trades a month just to keep the platform for testing and TS-specific trades. A lot of TS users who like the charting seem to do this. after their first 10 trades, they switch back to their main broker.

    So to sum it up, unless you need TS for indicators or for testing, have another main direct access broker that is easy to deal with.
     
    #54     Mar 14, 2007
  5. Great update Thanks...

    seems like Tradestation is definitely a broker to stay clear of.

    Great work guys, I won't go near them with a 20 foot pole now.
     
    #55     Mar 14, 2007
  6. I'm not going with them because they don't give free emini CME charts. They make us pay 50.00 a month for the CME exchange. And they don't give a live demo before we sign up so we can test them out like all the other brokers do. They give us charts with a 15 minute delay. I can get that from anywhere on the net, I don't need their 15 minute delays.
     
    #56     Mar 14, 2007
  7. yipcarl

    yipcarl

    AMEN. I can say without a doubt, the absolute WORST customer service I have ever experienced in any industry EVER. If you try them out, your the fool.:eek:
     
    #57     May 3, 2007
  8. empee

    empee

    i had a disastrous experience trying to open an account with them in December. Between the time of wiring the money in and out I think the account was open for 2 weeks. (I had to wait 3 days to close the account for the trades I did do to settle, what broker does that?)
     
    #58     Jan 24, 2008
  9. Yes it continues downhill just like you trading account. Please do continue taking your medication Cy_M.

    pwned da biatch!

    ---------------------------------------

    Loser! Yes that means you.
     
    #59     Jan 24, 2008
  10. Late last year sent them a e-mail message off their website requesting some specific information and they NEVER replied!
     
    #60     Jan 24, 2008
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