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Introduce TradeStation

Posted by Satuki On April - 25 - 2009

I have been using TradeStation for a while. Overall, it is a great trading platform. It has been rated 4.5 out of 5 by Barrons’ a few years in a row.  This is the highest score.  ThinkorSwim and Interactive Brokers also have 4.5.  A few people asked me to write a review about it. I will start with the software.

 

TradeStation Platform

Pros

  1. I believe TradeStation has the best charting, which is very accurate and smooth.  
  2. It has a very deep database to provide you with up to 20+ years of historical data, which is very important for back testing.
  3. The platform is pretty stable.   There were only a few short outages last year as far as I remember.
  4. There are a lot of convenient features to aid you in rapid order executions such as “exit all”.   For example, it takes me 2-3 seconds to exit all my open positions because I do not have to fill out an order form.   This is very useful for day traders so we can easily close all our positions at 3:59 PM
  5. You can automate your trades if you like.
  6. The software is written in C++.  So it is slightly faster than ThinkorSwim and Interactive Brokers. 
     
      

Cons: 

  1. The learning curve is kind of steep when you need to automate your trades because you need to have some programming skills.  TradeStation does come with some strategies ready for use. But they are useless 
  2. Because it is written in C++, I believe the only operating system they support is Windows. Sorry for Mac and Linux users.    ThinkorSwim and Interactive Brokers are written in Java. So they can run on anything.
  3. TradeStation does not have a browser based Platform.   So you can not sneak in a few trades at work.   This is one of the reasons that many retail traders do not use TradeStation.  This is where Interactive Brokers and ThinkorSwim shine

Fee structures 

Pros:

  1. It has  flexible fee structures.    One is 6.99 per trade regardless how many shares you have, which is what I have.    It is very good for penny stock traders. 
  2. The other is 0.01 per share for the first 500 shares and then 0.006 per share for the remaining.  For example, if I have 1000 shares, I pay $5 for the first 500 shares and then pay $3(0.006 X 500).  Therefore, the total is 8.    It is not hard to see if you are a scalper that trades high priced stocks like Bidu,GS or GOOG, this fee structure is in your favor.  For example, you pay only 4 dollars for a round trip of 200 shares of Bidu.  Interactive Brokers is even slightly cheaper.    Of course, if you are a high flyer scalper that trades north of 700 shares of GOOG,GS or anything like that each time, you can always choose option 1

Cons:
 
You need to pay fees for real time data like NASDAQ level2, total views and other stuff.  It can cost 50-60 dollars a month for data subscriptions.  This is the same with Interactive Brokers.   This is another reason why most retail users do not use them.   They go to ThinkorSwim.
 
Customer Service

I am overall happy with TradeStation.  Each time I call them, it takes only 2-3 minutes to reach a customer service rep.   I met one rude person who perhaps did not have enough sleep the night before. However, It does not affect my overall experience with TradeStation.
 
 
In conclusion, TradeStation is a very solid platform for full time traders.  I highly recommend it.   We will talk about ThinkorSwim next time.

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  • EasyE

    Does tradestation charge a monthly fee? I have taken a look at it numerious times in the past, however, I do not trade full-time…………. yet… and I find it hard to justify spending the 100 monthly fee.

    Althought I am sure that would make the money back in one trade a month. As I typically have 40-50 days a month………. with roughly 2/3s being profitiable….

    Also, being that I do not trade full time, I typically spend a couple of hours every evening setting up my trades for the following day and do not spend my day looking at intraday charts…. In your opinion, would this system be benefital for someone that does not spend the day looking at intradays????

    • http://www.momdaytrader.com/blog/ Satuki (Trader Mom)

      If you trade 5000 shares every month, you do not have to pay the monthly fee. You can easily meet that requirement. They have all kinds of optional data fees. I pay around 30 dollars every month for some data.

      I think it should be fine for you. In fact, I would highly recommend ThinkorSwim for traders like you that take 40-50 trades a month. If you have 400-500 trades a month, I would go with either TradeStation or Interactive Brokers.

      I have been taking it easy on trading lately. When I get back into the scalping mode, I will take 800-1000 trades a month. So it is vital for me to stick with TradeStation or better Yet Interactive Brokers.

      • http://www.optionsboy.com/ shodson

        I’m sorry, but I have IB now and I hate their trading software. Are you using IB’s TWS software, or are you tying into it via eSignal or something else like that? I am increasingly impressed with TradeStation. I like thinkorswim too, but their commissions are too high (helps pay for the free data feed, but they will give discounts for active traders) and they don’t cover very many futures contracts, just indexes, but they are great for options.

        shodson’s last blog post..Day Trading Obsession with FAZ

        • http://www.momdaytrader.com/blog/ Satuki (Trader Mom)

          I know IB’s charting is horrible. I use TradeStation most of the time and IB as a back-up.

  • EasyE

    Does tradestation charge a monthly fee? I have taken a look at it numerious times in the past, however, I do not trade full-time…………. yet… and I find it hard to justify spending the 100 monthly fee.

    Althought I am sure that would make the money back in one trade a month. As I typically have 40-50 days a month………. with roughly 2/3s being profitiable….

    Also, being that I do not trade full time, I typically spend a couple of hours every evening setting up my trades for the following day and do not spend my day looking at intraday charts…. In your opinion, would this system be benefital for someone that does not spend the day looking at intradays????

    • http://www.momdaytrader.com Trader Mom

      If you trade 5000 shares every month, you do not have to pay the monthly fee. You can easily meet that requirement. They have all kinds of optional data fees. I pay around 30 dollars every month for some data.

      I think it should be fine for you. In fact, I would highly recommend ThinkorSwim for traders like you that take 40-50 trades a month. If you have 400-500 trades a month, I would go with either TradeStation or Interactive Brokers.

      I have been taking it easy on trading lately. When I get back into the scalping mode, I will take 800-1000 trades a month. So it is vital for me to stick with TradeStation or better Yet Interactive Brokers.

      • http://www.optionsboy.com shodson

        I’m sorry, but I have IB now and I hate their trading software. Are you using IB’s TWS software, or are you tying into it via eSignal or something else like that? I am increasingly impressed with TradeStation. I like thinkorswim too, but their commissions are too high (helps pay for the free data feed, but they will give discounts for active traders) and they don’t cover very many futures contracts, just indexes, but they are great for options.

        shodson’s last blog post..Day Trading Obsession with FAZ

        • http://www.momdaytrader.com Trader Mom

          I know IB’s charting is horrible. I use TradeStation most of the time and IB as a back-up.

  • Edward

    Hi Trader Mom,

    The 5000 shares a month to waive the platform fee, is it round trip? let’s say if I buy 200 shares of aapl and sell it, does it count 400 shares or 200 shares? Also the 0.01 per share for the first 500 shares and then 0.006 per share for the remaining, is it for one round trip only, or does it accumulate?
    thanks for you help in advances.

    Ed.

    • http://www.momdaytrader.com/blog/ Satuki (Trader Mom)

      The 5000 shares a month to waive the platform fee, is it round trip?
      >> Yes. For example, if you buy 2500 shares and sell them, you meet the required. It is 5k shares traded. The commission for buying 200 shares of appl is 2 dollars and then you sell them. It is another 2 dollars. so it is 4 dollars for the round trip.

      >>Also the 0.01 per share for the first 500 shares and then 0.006 per share for the remaining, is it for one round trip only, or does it accumulate?

      It is for one round trip only

  • Edward

    Hi Trader Mom,

    The 5000 shares a month to waive the platform fee, is it round trip? let’s say if I buy 200 shares of aapl and sell it, does it count 400 shares or 200 shares? Also the 0.01 per share for the first 500 shares and then 0.006 per share for the remaining, is it for one round trip only, or does it accumulate?
    thanks for you help in advances.

    Ed.

    • http://www.momdaytrader.com Trader Mom

      The 5000 shares a month to waive the platform fee, is it round trip?
      >> Yes. For example, if you buy 2500 shares and sell them, you meet the required. It is 5k shares traded. The commission for buying 200 shares of appl is 2 dollars and then you sell them. It is another 2 dollars. so it is 4 dollars for the round trip.

      >>Also the 0.01 per share for the first 500 shares and then 0.006 per share for the remaining, is it for one round trip only, or does it accumulate?

      It is for one round trip only

  • Drew Mogridge

    I’m just starting to look at systems and brokers. I like the presentations TradeStation offers. However; are you locked into using TradeStation Brokerage or will the system integrate directly with other Direct Access Brokers? If so, how do I find out who else uses TadeStation?

  • Drew Mogridge

    I’m just starting to look at systems and brokers. I like the presentations TradeStation offers. However; are you locked into using TradeStation Brokerage or will the system integrate directly with other Direct Access Brokers? If so, how do I find out who else uses TadeStation?

  • Ram Hati

    Hi,
    Very confusing out there, until I came across ur site.
    Like to trade emini contracts for a supplement income (Part time)
    Plz advise
    1 any tutuorials on Emini trading
    2 platform of thinkorswim or tradestation{ $100 per month too pricey}
    3 data feed from?
    4 any other advise ?
    Thanks for your time,
    Ramesh

    • http://www.momdaytrader.com/blog/ Satuki (Trader Mom)

      I have no issues with IB as a broker. I do not like their customer services and charting. But I can live with those.

      I do like NinjaTrader. One day, I would like to outsource(auto-trading) at least a portion of my day to day trading to NinjaTrader.

      Outsourcing is a fashion. ^__^

  • Ram Hati

    Hi,
    Very confusing out there, until I came across ur site.
    Like to trade emini contracts for a supplement income (Part time)
    Plz advise
    1 any tutuorials on Emini trading
    2 platform of thinkorswim or tradestation{ $100 per month too pricey}
    3 data feed from?
    4 any other advise ?
    Thanks for your time,
    Ramesh

    • http://www.momdaytrader.com Trader Mom

      I have no issues with IB as a broker. I do not like their customer services and charting. But I can live with those.

      I do like NinjaTrader. One day, I would like to outsource(auto-trading) at least a portion of my day to day trading to NinjaTrader.

      Outsourcing is a fashion. ^__^

  • shodson

    As you can see from my earlier post I was using IB. I have since then switched to NinjaTrader and love it. It’s a little harder to put together because you have to get a separate data provider (I use ZenFire) and a brokerage account (I use Mirus Futures) that can connect to ninja trader but once you get it set up it’s good. The have lots of users that day-trade the S&P e-minis. Ninja only supports futures, forex and equities, no options. Most users seem to be futures day traders and auto-trading developers.

  • shodson

    As you can see from my earlier post I was using IB. I have since then switched to NinjaTrader and love it. It’s a little harder to put together because you have to get a separate data provider (I use ZenFire) and a brokerage account (I use Mirus Futures) that can connect to ninja trader but once you get it set up it’s good. The have lots of users that day-trade the S&P e-minis. Ninja only supports futures, forex and equities, no options. Most users seem to be futures day traders and auto-trading developers.

  • John

    Hello I have been looking for a new broker and read your reviews. Would you still recommend Tradestation over IB and Think or Swim?

  • John

    Hello I have been looking for a new broker and read your reviews. Would you still recommend Tradestation over IB and Think or Swim?

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