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If you could give me some information I would appreciate it.
1) How long have you been using TradeStation?
2) What are your favorite features of TradeStation?
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in TradeStation that you could not do without?
4) Do you use TradeStation in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it?
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does TradeStation help you with this?
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use TradeStation?
7) How do you rate TradeStation's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it?
8) Do you believe TradeStation is competitively priced?
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for TradeStation?
Even if someone before you has said something similar to how you feel, please reply anyway. I am gauging response by popularity so need to hear from multiple people even with similar feelings.
If you have any other thoughts to add please do so. Let's try to keep the thread on-topic, focusing on why you use the platform and leave all other discussion to other more appropriate threads.
4) Do you use TradeStation in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it?
Live only
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does TradeStation help you with this?
Discretionary.
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use TradeStation?
Not real hard but like anything else it took some time to get a full understanding, though I should mention there are a number of features I don't use
7) How do you rate TradeStation's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it?
Support is good when they are there....they basically have bankers hours.
8) Do you believe TradeStation is competitively priced?
Pricing sucks, $99. platform fee unless you do 10 round trips a month PLUS data fees....a lot of the competition waives data fees.
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for TradeStation?
That part is good for sure.
Just a last note: Tradestation has a lot of features and indicators that come with it and from what I see it's considerably more than a lot of others....the only spot it's really lacking is a decent MP tool and the CDV is pretty sketchy, it has something to do with the way they stream their data (my understanding) that makes those type indicators not all that accurate. Everything else is fine.
2) What are your favorite features of TradeStation?
Very customizable - I can take everything non-essential off and just focus on the charts.
EL - Makes for very fast coding of custom indicators/strategies/etc. so I can focus on what to do with it rather than how to code it
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in TradeStation that you could not do without?
The matrix.
4) Do you use TradeStation in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it?
both.
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does TradeStation help you with this?
discretionary
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use TradeStation?
Somewhat easy. I make use of macros for custom toolbars to keep the essential items close at hand. I had to watch some tutorials on how to use macros.
7) How do you rate TradeStation's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it?
I rate it as good. I once had a problem with the accounting department where they were in error. TradeStation apologized and gave me $200 in free trades to make up for it.
8) Do you believe TradeStation is competitively priced?
Yes
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for TradeStation?
Excellent
One feature that I'm finding I want more and more is to do a market replay with the ability to enter and exit trades (sim of course). Add to that a fast way to export these trades so I can analyze them using a third party tool.
“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” - Sun Tzu
1) How long have you been using TradeStation?
2 years
2) What are your favorite features of TradeStation?
Charting, Easy of development.
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in TradeStation that you could not do without?
Automation of strategies and ability to write custom indicators.
4) Do you use TradeStation in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it?
Both.
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does TradeStation help you with this?
Both. I use TS for both discretionary trades and automated trades. Tradestation lets me build/test strategies for use as automated or discretionary entries. In addition, the new Portfolio Maestro platform is great.
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use TradeStation?
It took a few days of poking and prodding with the software to really 'get' it but I eventually picked it up.
7) How do you rate TradeStation's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it?
Top Notch. I've contacted them a few times and have always been extremely happy with their responses.
8) Do you believe TradeStation is competitively priced?
I would love to be able to buy a 'license' to move away from the monthly fees, but their current structure isn't terribly bad.
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for TradeStation?
While the TS Community site isn't as active as it used to be, its still quite good. Its very easy to find Easylanguage help around the web as well as on other forums (like Big Mike's).
1) How long have you been using TradeStation?
4 months
2) What are your favorite features of TradeStation?
Portfolio Maestro - that's the only reason I signed up with TS (previously with eSignal for a couple of years), to have portfolio-level testing.
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in TradeStation that you could not do without?
Portfolio level testing, and the easylanguage is pretty easy.
4) Do you use TradeStation in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it?
just backtesting for now.
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does TradeStation help you with this?
aglorithmic, when i start - just testing now. TS helps by having an easy programming language and Portfolio Maestro.
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use TradeStation?
Easy. A few weeks of studying for easylanguage, even though i am not doing anything complicated.
7) How do you rate TradeStation's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it?
I signed up for a free 3-month period and they charged me wrongly, I am still waiting for a credit.. So not too impressed for now.
Portfolio Maestro is a new product with some bugs, and asking for them to be fixed either goes unanswered, or 'we'll see'. I am not complaining too much, because I expected that.
8) Do you believe TradeStation is competitively priced?
I feel it's a bit pricier than others, but I am ok.
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for TradeStation?
Pretty good, and busy.
2) What are your favorite features of TradeStation?
The easy of use, the charts, the EasyLanguage, have information regarding indexes, stocks, futures and currencies in the same price table and charts, lots and lots of indicators, excellent community, easyness of backtesting a strategy.
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in TradeStation that you could not do without?
The easyness of all platform is amazing and everything it's very fast and quick to do. I have 5 workspaces in each desktop and I change from workspace to workspace in a blink of an eye.
Furthermore the Matrix, the RadarScreen and the Scanner.
4) Do you use TradeStation in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it?
Both although I don't full time trade (yet).
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does TradeStation help you with this?
I'm an discretionary trader but I based my entries and exits on trading systems I developed/adapted from others. In the future I may develop an algorithmic to do all the trades but there are some market conditions and variables that are hard to code them all. So I prefer to have my own decision based on each buy/sell signal from my trading systems.
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use TradeStation?
It's very, very easy to learn to use TradeStation and also to program some basic indicators or strategies. I think TradeStation is the model platform most of other platforms base their developments and it's the best plaftorm every new trader should have. There are other more specific platforms for niches
7) How do you rate TradeStation's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it?
I don't use often but whenever I needed it was quick and effective.
8) Do you believe TradeStation is competitively priced?
It is indeed. I have the platform for free and I just have to pay for data feed which basically is $20/mo for futures and $5/mo for S&P index, NYSE, NASDAQ and AMEX Real-time data. If you want to know how can you have the same price package, just PM me.
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for TradeStation?
TradeStation forum has more than 600.000 posts. +90% of the times I have a question I don't need to post a new message I just have to search and I find the answer. Last time I had a question on EasyLanguage people from TS answered my question. So besides the user base community, we get people from TS on forum.
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in TradeStation that you could not do without?
easylanguage, backtesting and automation
4) Do you use TradeStation in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it?
simulation for testing easylanguage coding and automation.... vs the old days of using real trades
live trading using discretionary inputs with automated trade management
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does TradeStation help you with this?
discretionary trader for entries and automated trader for trade management
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use TradeStation?
easy if you have used other trading systems, but hard for someone who doesn't have programming experience
they really need to do a better job explaining how their object oriented programming system works. They still use the "try it mikey, you will like it" and OOEL is much more complicated than easylanguage.
7) How do you rate TradeStation's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it?
its ok but they have had their problems.... but probably not much different from other vendors
8) Do you believe TradeStation is competitively priced?
yes for trading software, trading fees and just recently changed to competitive for data feeds
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for TradeStation?
the community has matured over the past 10 years so not as good as it was, but most questions can be answered thru the community forums.
I noted my points above on why I was using Tradestation, but also see my brief comparison of TS and Multicharts, which now prompted me to move to Multicharts.
Summary: this post gives my subjective speed measurements on portfolio-level backtests performed on Tradestation's (TS) Portfolio Maestro and Multicharts 64-bit (MC).
If you don't want details, just skip to the end of the post for these results.
1) How long have you been using TradeStation? approx. 1.5 years
2) What are your favorite features of TradeStation? ease of use (wanted to try the NT free trial once, but found the software not very intuitive)
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in TradeStation that you could not do without? the parts of the software I use are not that special to TS, I guess
4) Do you use TradeStation in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it? live
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does TradeStation help you with this? discretionary
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use TradeStation? easy
7) How do you rate TradeStation's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it? good
8) Do you believe TradeStation is competitively priced? probably a bit expensive
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for TradeStation? good
