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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I’ve been asked by JD to write about what tools I use for trading so here’s a quick run down of some trading resources fellow traders may find useful.  Since I started with trading in 2000 I’ve used dozens, if not more, of tools such as charting and graphs applications, intraday data feeds, indicators, stocks scanners and screeners with and without strategy automation, intraday market gauges and barometers, spreadsheets, brokers (both direct access and online web-based ones), you name it most likely I’ve used it as some point. So the following is a snapshot of what I’m actually using at the moment. I try to keep things simple and basic, the less clutter and the lower the costs the better.

1. Charting – primarily QuoteTracker with IQFeed but also TradeStation and Amibroker occastionally. I was a very avid user of QCharts, unfortunately with the move to eSignal the application got screwed and became unusable. The amount of problems reported on the eSignal QCharts forum would embarrass any self-respecting company.

2. Broker – Almost exclusively InteractiveBrokers. The execution is great, the platform is rock solid, the commissions are low, the issues are rare, order types variety is awesome, access to international markets, currencies, futures, you name it. What’s there not to like? No charting, a bit of a learning curve for newbies, customer service is a frequent complaint, I don’t have very memorable negative CS experience in the past 4+ years I’ve been with them (which is probably quite telling in itself).

3. Scanners – a must have for day traders – I used primarily IB’s TWS scanners and Trade-Ideas.

4. Position sizing – A simple excel spreadsheet I made which calculates for me how much I should buy/short based on my risk level, entry and exit.

5. Trading Journal – I use Stocktickr to record my trades, it’s a great tool and much better in terms of features and analysis capability than the limited functionality I had before this came about when I was using an excel spreadsheet.

6. I also use Stockfetcher for testing out news ideas as well as TradeStation and Amibroker for more systematic backtesting.

7. Everything runs on my MacBook Pro running Win XP over Bootcamp with just the 15″ screen. I used dual screens back in 2005 for a couple of months but never felt I really needed it. If I had a second internet connection I’d probably run a second computer with its own monitor just as backup + for other non-trading related internet usage and music. I also use the excellent Logitech Cordless Trackman which is a wrist saver (during the week I live inside the computer).

What I never used and don’t see myself using: Trading rooms subscription, alerts services, newsletters, paid indicators (I use just EMA5 for stocks), paid guru consultation / training services, anything costing more than a 2 digits US$ amount (except for must have data service). I did buy, and sometimes still do, many many books on trading, some were excellent but most not very useful.

What else? I think that’s about it. Those are the tools that work best for me, at this point in time, that doesn’t mean they’re the best for others or that I won’t change something. At the end of the day you have to make sure whatever you use supports your trading style and objectives.

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A nice new feature has just been included in the latest release of IB’s TWS. I’ve always wanted to find out how to backup my settings. So far I’ve just backedup the whole directory. There is now an option (not activated by default) to save your settings into IB’s server so it’s always available no matter where you run the application from. Cool.

TWS Notes for 874

Customers who log into TWS can now elect to save their settings to our IB server so that they are saved and accessible regardless of the computer you use to log in.. This feature can be used with both our browser version that you log into from the website, and from the standalone version which you download and start from your computer. These settings, such as new pages, font changes, modified columns added market data and other customizations, will then appear the next time you log into TWS even if you’re working from a different computer. To ensure that your settings are saved, make sure you check the Store settings on server checkbox on the File menu. This is NOT checked by default.

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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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Tags: clutter, comparison, free, free trial, information overload, interactivebrokers, Livermoreghost, profitable trade, Scanners, stock scanner, trade-ideas, Trader, trader workstation, TWS, WorkStation