Cool, so Zen Fire is one of their supported brokers? That is pretty interesting.

Mike

rani, I am interested in your thoughts regarding the advantages of eSignal 11 for stock traders.

Also:
Does eSignal have volume delta indicators? Or are 3rd party indicators available?

Regarding the speed of eSignal's data feed, here is the litmus test I use: Does the feed keep up with Apple's volume in the first minute or two of the trading day? I definitely need a feed that does not even hiccup on days like Apple has had a couple of recently (700,000 to 1,000,000 shares trading in the first minute). I want to constantly see the true flow of price during such busy periods. Fills under such fast conditions through a broker like IB are not an issue (sampled data).

(Rani, this is for probably yet a 3rd thread, but how are you enjoying using CQG's TFlow charts?)

Best,
Ged

Hey Ged,

first of all regarding the eSignal feed - I really think and have experience that it is fully onpar with IQFeed. I've traded AAPL, GOOG, RIMM and couple of other stocks and never had a problem with the feed even under bussiest circumstances.

Now re. the platform - it is probably the closest from those you are interested into TOS by looks. It uses engine similar to Apples Cocoa. Its biggest strength is the integration with the feed (something like CQG IC has). It is 64bit, but it is a little demanding in respect with RAM. Its docked windows is an amazing feature, it has feature called pages (something like workspaces). There are a lot of nice little things about it, trial will reveal these things to you. eSignal 11 is still being improved and there are features to be integrated (which are already inetgrated in v. 10)
What makes eSignal 11 tempting esp. for stock traders in my opinion:
- possibility to have integration of a great scanner. You can pop up chart or DOM with one click and make the trade
- as the feed is intgrated, you can quickly switch between symbols
- easy link between a watchlist, chart, DOM, level 2, etc.
- very good integration of level 2 (TotalView, Arca Book, etc.)
- good TS window
- you get the option chains populated automatically by choosing the underlying
- you can pop up chart or DOM by one click on particular option from the chain and make the trade with one click
- very good DOM with automated strategies / orders
- you can pre-define order defaults for each symbol separatelly (quantity, stop loss, target, etc.)
- it has a nice chart trader
- seamless integration with IB for trading (you even don't need to map symbols for stocks)
- unlike IQFeed, eSignal has access to European and Asian stock exchanges in case this might be of your interest (as IB has trading capabilities for most of these)
- integrated news. eSignal provides news from different sources and they are seamlessly integrated into the platform

I am not sure about volume / delta studies, but eSignal is kind of Easylanguage similar to MC. The feed itself is absolutelly OK for these kind of studies, I am just not sure at the moment if these studies are available for the charting app.

Sierra (or others) would probably be more suitable for futures or forex, but because of above reasons for stock trading I would take eSignal into consideration. Again, take trial and check for yourself what suits you best.

Unfortunatelly I no longer use CQG Integrated client. I really miss it as it is probably the best (not only) retail platform and datafeed available. TFlow bars are great as is the whole platform. However we are in another league here already

Excellent synopsis rani. You are an eSignal pro!

I would definitely be tempted to eSignal, if the data feed is as described, except for one thing: I really don't want to use a charting platform that does not include delta studies. Prior to running across the concept of delta, I only traded with candlesticks, volume, 20 period EMA, 1M chart, and 3 supporting charts in other time frames. Nothing else. But, I've found that some insight into volume at the bid and at the ask is helpful in providing leading intelligence. So, I want to go deeper into that area rather than go to a platform that has not gotten yet implemented delta studies. (I did try Investor RT but just could not take to it.)

I'm meeting with a trader friend later this week who is a long time eSignal user (and I don't believe he is into delta studies). I'll ask him if eSignal offers anything in that area.

Thanks again for all your helpfulness. I enjoy discussion with you very much.

Best,
Ged

Re. your comments: the eSignal feed is really on par with IQFeed. There has anyway been a recent study saying that all these retail feeds (bid / ask data) are not correct enough for accurate delta studies.

As I am thinking about your particular situation I tend to believe, that Sierra would be the best choice for you in case you trade limited amount of stocks. It is really great and has built in excellent volume / delta studies.

rani, if you have a reference for the study regarding retail feeds and delta studies I'd be interested in reading it.

I think the 'accuracy' of the feed is sometimes a little overplayed, depending on what someone is trying to do (in terms of a delta study). The indicator I use is very simple, no doubt based on a not highly accurate feed, but the utilitarian value of the indicator to me is reasonably high. So, maybe a lot depends on a person's purposes and needs.

Thanks again for your thoughts and input.

Best,
Ged

Analysis and comparison on different data Feeds and Platforms for Bid/Ask Studies Hi All, I wil try here to do an analysis and comparation on different data feeds and platforms to perfom studies involving bid/ask data, like comulative bid/ask difference or delta bars and footprint like. Luke. P.s. Is not a simple work, and take …

Mike