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I see sticky post above "Why do you use Tradestation" which is for fans of Tradestation.
I am not a fan unfortunately. Since opening account, they screwed up everything they can. And, still I don't see an end to problems. After doing a lot of research, I discovered loop hole in the system which allows Tradestation and all brokers (all of which require mandatory FINRA arbitration) to spend customer's money on products of their choosing. Basically, Tradestation can deduct money from customer account without customer's knowledge anyway they want. And, customer has no recourse. He can only approach FINRA for arbitration, no other forum. And, it is an open secret for such a long time that FINRA fights hard for its members; so customer loses arbitration and ends up paying thousands of dollars in arbitration fees, which is not appealable. SIPC does not cover losses caused by Broker's illegal deductions. As you can see, FINRA and its member brokers have a cash cow system going on here, exempt from laws of this country.
Yes, all of this is legal. Not ethical, but legal. So, basically people who are using Tradestation are basically trusting them. So, really, accounts at brokers such as Tradestation are as secure as accounts at offshore brokers in Cyprus, Greece etc.
How trust worthy is Tradestation? What percentage of funds do you expect to lose to them in the form of fabricated fees, services etc?
Is Tradestation historical data reliable? Is it created by computer programs or actual trades that occurred in the past? For those, who are using automated strategies, how often Tradestation kills your strategy and locks you out of the platform? Do they stop hunt? How is their execution? Do they wait till price moves against you to execute your order?
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
Some of what you describe is not possible (like stop hunting by your broker) if you trade a regulated market like futures or US equities. If you are trading Forex then I am not sure if Tradestation is a NDD or not.
TradeStation took over IBFX in order to get directly into the forex brokerage business. The NFA's website shows that IBFX and Tradestation Forex are the same entity.
I can't comment on the specific issues that the poster raises, but the NFA website shows that the CFTC did fine this broker late in 2014.
well i hope so they are as good as others out there. lol i have a lot at stake. I have seen 3 odd very good traders use it without any complaints. i too do not have any.
you have posed many questions. I do not have answer to all of them. trying to answer a few if it helps.
Is Tradestation historical data reliable << never found any issues.
Do they stop hunt << not sure what you mean. Tradestation or the market?
Do they wait till price moves against you to execute your order? << its DA so a click and you have no recourse to change the order. Well I use only market in...market out...so dont care about limits unless its a hard stop.
I'm leaving Tradestation. This month they updated their futures platform on short notice and half the markets are gone including most grains, foods and softs and most mini contracts. They are actually forcing people to close out all positions in markets that they no longer offer.
They tried to raise my commissions with no notice and only lowered them when I threatened to leave. They screw up so much nowadays that I can longer deal with them. Upwards of 100 calls/emails to deal with the quagmire of chaos over there.
I trade about half the futures contracts so it would be too long to list - approx 25 markets. A bunch of them can no longer be traded including mini corn, mini wheat, mini natural gas, Canola, Coffee, Sugar, OJ, KC wheat, spring wheat, and many more.
You're welcome. I think it's important we share this stuff with each other. These markets were all possible to trade til this week. They are still listing them on the website though you can't trade them.
I am not sure where you are getting your information, but I have been talking to the Trade Desk, and they have told me that everything I am currently trading I will still be able to trade after platform conversion (from Futures 4.0 to Futures+). That includes products you list, including ICE products. It is true that ICE conversion is scheduled for early March, but there are ways to still trade it.
Plus, these items can be traded on the main Tradestation platform 9.x (although I am not sure about min corn, mini wheat, since I do not trade them).
