NexusFi: Find Your Edge


Home Menu

 





CQG or ZenFire...whats the difference? Anyone have any suggestions?


Discussion in Brokers

Updated
      Top Posters
    1. looks_one Big Mike with 9 posts (5 thanks)
    2. looks_two Upupandaway with 4 posts (0 thanks)
    3. looks_3 dlatbm with 3 posts (1 thanks)
    4. looks_4 steve2222 with 3 posts (0 thanks)
      Best Posters
    1. looks_one Jura with 1.7 thanks per post
    2. looks_two Beljevina with 1 thanks per post
    3. looks_3 Big Mike with 0.6 thanks per post
    4. looks_4 vvhg with 0.3 thanks per post
    1. trending_up 19,079 views
    2. thumb_up 18 thanks given
    3. group 16 followers
    1. forum 50 posts
    2. attach_file 7 attachments




 
Search this Thread

CQG or ZenFire...whats the difference? Anyone have any suggestions?

  #11 (permalink)
 dlatbm 
Sydney Australia
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: SierraCharts, NT
Trading: ES,TF,CL, SPI,
Posts: 73 since Nov 2010
Thanks Given: 6
Thanks Received: 23


lblanks View Post
My experience with CQG has been that they dont seem to go down as much as Zenfire. I dont have any proof (statistics) except to say that Zenfire seemed to go down literally every other day. CQG seems more stable but perhaps I haven't given CQG enough time.

I am using CQG and I can confirm that it is a very reliable and fast, even at busy opening session hours.
Also, they are good with further distances connection, above 200 msecs ping, like mine.

Reply With Quote

Can you help answer these questions
from other members on NexusFi?
Deepmoney LLM
Elite Quantitative GenAI/LLM
ZombieSqueeze
Platforms and Indicators
Futures True Range Report
The Elite Circle
NT7 Indicator Script Troubleshooting - Camarilla Pivots
NinjaTrader
The space time continuum and the dynamics of a financial …
Emini and Emicro Index
 
Best Threads (Most Thanked)
in the last 7 days on NexusFi
Get funded firms 2023/2024 - Any recommendations or word …
61 thanks
Funded Trader platforms
39 thanks
Battlestations: Show us your trading desks!
26 thanks
NexusFi site changelog and issues/problem reporting
25 thanks
The Program
17 thanks
  #12 (permalink)
 
DavidHP's Avatar
 DavidHP 
Isla Mujeres, MX
Legendary Market Wizard
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: NinjaTrader
Broker: Ninjatrader / Optimus Futures / AmpFutures
Trading: ES / 6E / 6B / CL
Frequency: Every few days
Duration: Minutes
Posts: 1,609 since Aug 2009
Thanks Given: 11,327
Thanks Received: 2,743

I've had both Zenfire and CQG.

The only real difference I've noticed is that when you have a disconnect from your DSL
the CQG will take a lot longer to reconnect.

I've asked NT support about this and apparently CQG has a price server and a trade server.

The price server seems to reconnect faster than that trade server most of the time.

This means that I can see the price moving but if I have a 'live' order working when the disconnect occurs
I may not be able to exit or modify the trade until the trade server reconnects. Sometimes the only way to
get it to reconnect is to totally disconnect and reconnect.

I have not experienced the same issue with Zenfire or Rithmic.
I don't know if they use two servers or not, but the issue has never occurred for me.

Rejoice in the Thunderstorms of Life . . .
Knowing it's not about Clouds or Wind. . .
But Learning to Dance in the Rain ! ! !
Follow me on Twitter Reply With Quote
  #13 (permalink)
 
Jura's Avatar
 Jura   is a Vendor
 
Posts: 775 since Apr 2010
Thanks Given: 2,352
Thanks Received: 690


I used Mike's suggestion to look at the amount of data send by the data feed and that is displayed in the MultiCharts QuoteManager.

I've only collected data during the European morning till mid-afternoon (the US opens in about 10 minutes), but the differences are already quite remarkable; the number of received ticks with CQG is around 3 times as much as with ZenFire! In other words, with the ZenFire data feed I'm only seeing one third of the market (is that a correct interpretation?).

I'm surprised by this, I didn't expect such a big difference. Does someone know what might cause this? I've double-checked my settings, all symbols are set to 'Fields to collect: bid, ask, trade; tick'.



(PS: I'm not saying the CQG is better because of the higher amount of ticks. It might be that CQG lags more or has more erroneous ticks than ZenFire, so overall CQG might not be better).

Reply With Quote
  #14 (permalink)
 
Big Mike's Avatar
 Big Mike 
Manta, Ecuador
Site Administrator
Developer
Swing Trader
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Custom solution
Broker: IBKR
Trading: Stocks & Futures
Frequency: Every few days
Duration: Weeks
Posts: 50,396 since Jun 2009
Thanks Given: 33,172
Thanks Received: 101,533

I would view it as ZenFire is sending far fewer changes. Now some people may say those changes may not be important, but in my view, they are.

I would like to see a Zen Fire vs Rithmic comparison, to see if they are identical or not.

Mike

We're here to help: just ask the community or contact our Help Desk

Quick Links: Change your Username or Register as a Vendor
Searching for trading reviews? Review this list
Lifetime Elite Membership: Sign-up for only $149 USD
Exclusive money saving offers from our Site Sponsors: Browse Offers
Report problems with the site: Using the NexusFi changelog thread
Follow me on Twitter Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal Reply With Quote
Thanked by:
  #15 (permalink)
 
Jura's Avatar
 Jura   is a Vendor
 
Posts: 775 since Apr 2010
Thanks Given: 2,352
Thanks Received: 690


Big Mike View Post
I would view it as ZenFire is sending far fewer changes. Now some people may say those changes may not be important, but in my view, they are.

I'm inclined to agree with your interpretation, however today the difference is soo big, that I'm beginning to think something is wrong with the ZenFire API in MultiCharts 8.0. (I've already emailed MC support about this). Or I'm doing something very wrong.

For example, CQC send today for FESX @ EUREX almost one million (no, I'm not kidding) more ticks than ZenFire for the same symbol, periodicity and time period. And we still have 3.5 hours till Eurex closes, so the difference might increase further.


Reply With Quote
Thanked by:
  #16 (permalink)
 
vvhg's Avatar
 vvhg 
Northern Germany
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NT
Trading: FDAX, CL
Posts: 1,583 since Mar 2011
Thanks Given: 1,016
Thanks Received: 2,824


Jura View Post
I'm inclined to agree with your interpretation, however today the difference is soo big, that I'm beginning to think something is wrong with the ZenFire API in MultiCharts 8.0. (I've already emailed MC support about this). Or I'm doing something very wrong.

For example, CQC send today for FESX @ EUREX almost one million (no, I'm not kidding) more ticks than ZenFire for the same symbol, periodicity and time period. And we still have 3.5 hours till Eurex closes, so the difference might increase further.


Hmm, so this means that the tick charts from the two feeds should look completely different! Could you perhaps post some, it might be a good way to judge how big the impact is in real life...

Vvhg


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Hic Rhodos, hic salta.
Reply With Quote
Thanked by:
  #17 (permalink)
 
Big Mike's Avatar
 Big Mike 
Manta, Ecuador
Site Administrator
Developer
Swing Trader
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Custom solution
Broker: IBKR
Trading: Stocks & Futures
Frequency: Every few days
Duration: Weeks
Posts: 50,396 since Jun 2009
Thanks Given: 33,172
Thanks Received: 101,533


vvhg View Post
Hmm, so this means that the tick charts from the two feeds should look completely different! Could you perhaps post some, it might be a good way to judge how big the impact is in real life...

Vvhg


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

That may not be the case.

If the "filtering" is just for bid/ask changes, they won't show up for tick (last) changes.

How about a tick chart + CD bid/ask chart. Except MultiCharts can't do that...

Mike

We're here to help: just ask the community or contact our Help Desk

Quick Links: Change your Username or Register as a Vendor
Searching for trading reviews? Review this list
Lifetime Elite Membership: Sign-up for only $149 USD
Exclusive money saving offers from our Site Sponsors: Browse Offers
Report problems with the site: Using the NexusFi changelog thread
Follow me on Twitter Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal Reply With Quote
Thanked by:
  #18 (permalink)
 
vvhg's Avatar
 vvhg 
Northern Germany
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NT
Trading: FDAX, CL
Posts: 1,583 since Mar 2011
Thanks Given: 1,016
Thanks Received: 2,824


Big Mike View Post
That may not be the case.

If the "filtering" is just for bid/ask changes, they won't show up for tick (last) changes.

How about a tick chart + CD bid/ask chart. Except MultiCharts can't do that...

Mike

Of course,you're right, I jumped to conclusions a bit quickly there...

Vvhg


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Hic Rhodos, hic salta.
Reply With Quote
  #19 (permalink)
 steve2222 
Auckland, New Zealand
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Sierra Chart
Broker: AMP/CQG
Trading: Whatever moves in my timezone
Posts: 1,896 since Sep 2009
Thanks Given: 3,379
Thanks Received: 1,540


vvhg View Post
Of course,you're right, I jumped to conclusions a bit quickly there...

Vvhg


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


Yes that's right - NT/ZF only does 5 levels of the DOM. If MC do more, say 10 levels, then this will account for most of the difference. I have no experience with MC so do not know how many DOM levels you can display with CQG vs ZF.

Reply With Quote
  #20 (permalink)
 steve2222 
Auckland, New Zealand
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Sierra Chart
Broker: AMP/CQG
Trading: Whatever moves in my timezone
Posts: 1,896 since Sep 2009
Thanks Given: 3,379
Thanks Received: 1,540



hunter548 View Post
I'm with AMP also. They recommend CQG because Zenfire started to charge a $25.00 inactivity fee unless a minimum number of live trades take place. No good for SIM trading as Zenfire still views it as inactivity.

Here's the Zenfire statement:

Zen Fire User Only: $25 Inactivity Fee Structure | beginning February 1, 2012

In order to remain in compliance with exchange market data vendor regulations and discourage abuse of market data access, Zen Fire will impose restrictions and fees on user ids beginning February 1, 2012.

Zen Fire team will work with the FCMs to help identify offending user ids and disable or create exemptions for the new fee structure being implemented.


Definitions

Inactive User: any user id, or multiple thereof, that accesses the trading engine in any calendar month and trades less than 40 contracts/ 20 round turns per month.

Idle User: any user id that is active but does not access the trading infrastructure.

Active User: any user id that trades more than 40 contracts in a calendar month.

Insufficient Funds User: any user id with authority to trade an account with a liquidating value of less than $400.

Inactivity Fee Structure: $25 per Inactive User Id.


Notes: Zen Fire will attempt to automatically disable all Insufficient Funds User ids 30 days after their account falls below the minimum in order to avoid any unnecessary fees. FCMs may, at their discretion, re-enable the ids manually if there is reasonable assurance that funds are being sent. If the id accesses the trading infrastructure, they may still be billed as an Inactive User.


What is going to happen?

1) Zenfire User ID will be disabled if: hasn't traded in 3 months or has less than $400 in their account.

2) $25 Inactivity fee will be charged if: less than 40 contracts/ 20 round turns per month have been executed/traded.

Not sure who sent you this but I trade with ZF via Mirus and you only have to do FIVE RT's a month to avoid all fees - and in my view this is not unreasonable.

Reply With Quote




Last Updated on September 17, 2013


© 2024 NexusFi™, s.a., All Rights Reserved.
Av Ricardo J. Alfaro, Century Tower, Panama City, Panama, Ph: +507 833-9432 (Panama and Intl), +1 888-312-3001 (USA and Canada)
All information is for educational use only and is not investment advice. There is a substantial risk of loss in trading commodity futures, stocks, options and foreign exchange products. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
About Us - Contact Us - Site Rules, Acceptable Use, and Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy - Downloads - Top
no new posts