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I've been trading a few years now in different markets and have been focused on futures for the last half a year. I was trading through AMP using tradingview as the platform but hated how they integrated with eachother and eventually stopped using it. I switched back to thinkorswim as I started getting into tick charts more and have been paper trading on there with A LOT more success for a couple of months but they won't approve me for live trading so I'm looking for another broker.
So I'm on the hunt for a decent broker/platorm that won't break the bank. I figured I'd put out a feeler with people who are way more experienced in all of this and see if I could possibly get some recommendations instead of wondering around from demo to demo. I like to keep things simple so my requirements are pretty simple:
-tick charts(this is more the data feed side, correct?)
-indicator programming(I made a couple of indicators in thinkscript that I'd like to duplicate)
-OCO orders
-decently cheap(right now I'd rather have the cost hidden in the fees instead of upfront for the time being)
-decent platform interface(tradingview's is extremely good at this)
-sim trading if possible
I tried ninjatrader 7 the other day and it was just horrible so I'm just trying to avoid having to waste a ton of time searching. Honestly, my ideal setup would be if tradingview had tick chart abilities and a better way to track trades but that is not possible. Any recommendations or help would be greatly appreciated.
If I were you, I would give Ninja a chance. To be honest, in my opinion I think Ninja Trader is the most user friendly platform out there that doesn't look like it's from the 1980's. Some of these other platforms are pretty ugly, but the platform is not going to make you money, you are.
I started with Ninja Trader and Kinetick for data so I might have a bias, correction I started with TOS and then went to Ninja. I don't think you can come into trading being cheap. I mean you can, but TOS' commissions are pretty expensive. I would go with Ninja Trader, Kinetick, Ninja as an introducing broker "Dorman."
Keep in mind cheap is not always good. The questions you're asking about "cheap “you might have to really look inward on your money mindset. It's all a business expense.
NinjaTrader 8 is the current version and the one you should try as a new user.
Disclosure: This communication is sent to you by NinjaTrader, LLC, a software development company which owns and supports all proprietary technology relating to and including the NinjaTrader trading platform.
I've been trading for more years than many have been alive.
I've tried almost all platforms.
Nothing fits my needs better than NT.
I use both NT7 and NT8.
NT8 is a decent platform. I suggest you try it if the only NT version you know is NT7 (you can get a demo from the NT site, I believe).
Unfortunately, with NT you are restricted to NT Brokerage and a few other brokers. Again, check the NT site.
A very good platform, the one I use in fact, is Sierra Chart. It is available from a pretty wide range of brokers; since you mentioned AMP, believe AMP offers a free copy of SC (you mentioned cheap), although you should check with them. I believe that AMP offers a large variety of other platforms, generally free if I'm not mistaken; again, check with them. This is not terribly unusual, as many brokers do this. The platform and the broker are usually separate, unlike ThinkOrSwim, for example. I'm not saying anything about AMP one way or another, but if you already have an account there, you might as well try out what's available. Other brokers generally will have similar offerings as well.
Sierra Chart is extremely full-featured and highly configurable. Unfortunately, the downside is that it is complex and somewhat hard to learn, and the documentation, although very complete, is also very hard to use. The general consensus on this forum among SC users is that it is hard to get used to, and also that it's worth it. (This probably reflects the fact that potential users who didn't want to go up the learning curve just said to hell with it, so only those who stuck it out are left. ) My experience has been that, once you have gone up that curve, it is actually very simple to use. But there is a curve to go up.
I would say that Sierra Chart checks all the boxes you listed. Since I'm not sure what issues you had with NT7, I can't address them, except to repeat the advice to try NT8. I do believe you have to pay an ongoing platform license fee for NT, however.
Personally, I would use Sierra Chart in preference to TOS and TradingView (I have used both and found them limited), and above NT (I have used NT7 and NT8 also and liked both, but prefer SC for its speed and small memory footprint.)
You actually can trade very well with any platform that is stable and has the basics. I agree with you about tick charts in TradingView, but then I regard tick and volume bar charts as among the basics, which is part of why I found it limiting.
You'll probably will want (or need) to try a number of demo versions of different platforms until you find something that suits you. Although you can get suggestions from other traders, in the end it will be what appeals to you that matters, which means trying some out.
Good luck. I know this kind of search can be aggravating, but you may just have to do it.
Bob.
When one door closes, another opens.
-- Cervantes, Don Quixote
As @bobwest mentioned, Sierra would fit your needs from a functionality perspective, and it is very light on resources. Consider also Multicharts if you like modern visual display, and recently even motive wave made some significant changes to their platform that would allow you to have an excellent visual presentation of charts and dom. Not to overwhelm you, but one of the recent customers we brought from TD, loves CQG Desktop, which is web-based and has a phone application.
One thing I want you to be aware of is that you can separate between charts and execution. Let's say you use CQG or Rithmic as your source of execution and data; you can have one of those data for display, and another execution on separate platforms. For example, If you like TradingView for the display of charts, we can use that over CQG data and find another platform that would serve side by side for execution while all tie to the same account.
I hope this helps.
Matt Z
Optimus Futures
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Thank you all for the inputs. I noticed NT has been recommended quite a bit. Since I posted the thread I gave NT another try with the newest version of NT 8 and I still just despise the charting. For instance: I Googled it and it does not seem possible to change how far you can zoom out so you are stuck with an incredibly small view so drawing/spotting price action stuff is aggravating.
Plus they've been spamming me with phonecalls and emails since I signed up which REALLY put a bad taste it my mouth. Since making the OP I have tried a bunch of demos and pretty much settled on multicharts.net. It too seems to limit how far you can zoom out but I love the rest of the program. The whole program is pretty intuitive and I've already setup my order templates which was pretty easy. For the time being I'm simply going to use it for order execution like @mattz suggested and leave the charting for ToS.
) My experience has been that, once you have gone up that curve, it is actually very simple to use. But there is a curve to go up.
