I bought my first eBook reader, the Sony PRS-505 digital ereaderin late 2008, about 2 years ago. The Amazon Kindle was already out back then was quite a different device from the new one Kindle 3.

I really enjoy using the Sony reader, I like having a ton of books with me whenever I want to carry something to read and I like the fact that I can read on it PDF’s instead of strain my eyes on the LCD. So I was thinking maybe I should upgrade. Looking at the specs it is difficult to determine if the Amazon Kindle is that much better than the Sony Reader. It has 3G connectivity which I really don’t need, at all. It slimmer than the older Kindles but the PRS-505 is very slim. Memory wise I already have an expanded 2GB card in which is plenty of space. I don’t read books on my mobile phone, even with Nexus One’s large screen it is just not convenient, so I don’t care about syncing books. So the only thing left which has any kind of significance is the screen.

Both devices have a 6″ display, but the PRS-505 has a Vizplex eInk and the Kindle 3 a newer version which is supposed to be crisper and better contrast due to a “whiter” grey screen. How discernible is it? I can’t tell, I haven’t seen the Kind in real life and I haven’t been able to find an online comparison of these 2 models.

Then there is also the Sony Reader Daily Edition, with 7″ screen and a bunch of other features which are nice like landscape split page, but it is a bit more pricey. And there’s the Barnes & Noble Nook but I read that the color navigation section is slow and buggy.

If I can find somewhere a comparison or review of the new Kindle vs. the Vizplex Sony devices that shows any real difference I might go for it.

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Big Mike who has had very extensive experience with NinjaTrader came to the same conclusion I have: the myriad of problems and hassles surrounding NinjaTrader – all versions: 6.5 beta and 7 alpha – are just not worth the effort and investment of time. Check out his blog post: Big Mike’s Trading Blog: Tired of NinjaTrader?. There are several good reads in his forum about alternatives for anyone trading with a DOM.

One good solution I haven’t seen mentioned is a combination of InteractiveBrokers and ZeroLineTrader. I like this combo for a number of reasons:

1. IB’s TWS is rock solid, excellent stability and the broker itself is one of the more reliable ones (most of the time).

2. IB’s commissions are very reasonable, at $2 they might not be the cheapest around but not that far off for a small retail trader either. For a nice comparison of commissions see HPT’s post here.

3. IB’s universal account means I don’t need to split my account, I can trade stocks and futures in the same place. Including most futures contracts around the world.

4. ZeroLine Trader platform itself has been rock solid with a lot of very nice options for a very reasonable price. There are other alternatives like the cheaper BracketTrader but it’s bare bones, and ButtonTrader which is too complicated and expensive to my taste.

Anyways, this topic of IB TWS+DOM (ZLT or others) probably merits a proper separate post of its own. But the main point is that there are many alternatives and options available that one should spend some time to find what works for them, which is a better approach then trying to force their trading on something that doesn’t work too well.

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Livermoreghost has asked in a comment to a previous post about the difference between the results I get from InteractiveBrokers’ Trader WorkStation built-in scanner and the Trade-Ideas scanner so I thought others might be interested in the same and I put my response in this post. This isn’t an all out comparison of the two scanners but just how they fit into my own trading.

Hi livermoresghost, IB’s TWS scanner is great but it requires more manual work out of me since it’s less granular. So when I got Trade-Ideas I was able to build the manual eyeballing and filtering I do on the TWS scanner results into the TI filter. The TI filter then gives me the most interesting subset of results. You can do with just TWS but it’s a bit more tricky, requires closer watching of the scanner and more experience on the trader’s part. I like to use both since it helps reduce the clutter and makes the decision making on trade candidates easier. Anything that takes decision making load off of me during the trading day is blessed since there’s enough information overload as it is.
It’s quite easy to take the Trade-Ideas tool for a test drive as there’s a 7 day free trial in which you get full functionality. I don’t use most of the functions in the tool but the wide selection means that people should be able to squeeze the best out of the few functions they focus on. And that’s all you really need to select profitable trade candidates.

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