Hello,

I am trying to choose a the right platform/broker/data combo to trade multiple automated strategies.

Right now I am experimenting with SC to see if it will fit my needs:

• I may be running many strategies at once. Probably multiple strategies on the same instrument a lot of times.
  
• I don't plan on doing extremely short time frames or extremely high frequency trading. I usually never go shorter than 5m, but may use 1m at times.
  
• I would like to have access to lower, day-trading margins for the major futures contracts.

I've heard that IQ feed is the best, but can require more bandwidth and be slower at times. Also expensive.

SC data is not cutting it for me and I need something better to even properly evaluate SC. There are years of missing data in some contracts. It also takes a very long time to download intraday contracts. Right now I am downloading ES intraday as far back as it goes and it's average 3-4 minutes per contract as I watch the timestamps in the message log. It's approximately a minute or more per month of data... It's taking forever....

I am also concerned about the financial stability and track record of honesty for any broker I choose.

Does anyone have any recommendations for data/brokers or any suggestions with regard to platform choice?

Thanks!