Looking for a charting package!

[bottomdollar]

Hi All,
I am looking for a decent charting package now.. I'm finally fed up using a combination of a few.. I am currently using MyBroker for my intraday charts as they are cheap, Etrade for charting, and Sharecast for comparing stocks with each other/indices!!
What I need is something which can do all this and is reasonably cheap (up to £40 a month).
The most important things I am looknig for are:
1. Intraday and EOD charts with the ability to scribble trend lines and annotate and being able to save my drawing.. a bit like Chartmans charts!
2. Good reasonably priced
3. A plethora of indicators and software developers who are committed to their software (I would like to see the TICK indicator!)
4. US and UK exchanges
5. Intuitive

Can anyone recommend anything? I have tried Updata Technical Analyst and that was not bad, however, not very intuitive in my opinion and expensive for Intraday!

Thanks guys 🙂

 

[Gary777]

Hi

Lots of people, including myself, use Sierra Charts with a data feed from MyTrack.

Sierra Charts is $42 for a 6 month licence

MyTrack will cost $45 a month plus exchange fees.

I don't think you can get anything as good for less money.

HTH

Gary

 

[ChartMan]

Sad bit about Sierra is ( correct me if I'm wrong) saving EOD charts does not save your trend lines. NOT a big issue for me as I don't do EOD. Strange how it manages to save my intraday lines for the last 30 odd days......

 

[zambuck]

try out link below...

http://www.paritech.co.uk/default-uk.asp

I am told that AIQ is also very good package

I have used Sharescope, Indexia and Updata TA...out of that in order of preference are metastock. Indexia, sharescope..

 

[mmillar]

eSignal can offer you everything except the 'reasonably cheap' bit. It's a fantastic application and allows you to concentrate on trading rather than, as you have found, messing around with various packages trying to get the technical side to work. Check out www.esignalcentral.com, under Bulletin Board and File Sharing to see how much effort goes in from developers and other users.

I have real time on all US stocks including the eminis, and delayed US and European futures for $142 per month. If I sort my life out and pay up front (rather than monthly) it would be $117.

And of course now that eSignal are sponsoring T2W no-one can argue with me. 😆

cheers

mmillar

 

[JonnyT]

Chartman,

Whats a trendline?

Ah, I've remembered now. It's those lines you draw after the event to make the picture look pretty.

Jonny doesn't beleive in trendlines T.

PS I do believe in trends...

 

[Henry]

I second mmillar on eSignal. Having previously used RealTick and then Sierra, I feel I have finally found something that just does the job properly and lets me get on with trading. Sierra is good, but having the data "built in" to the charting package makes life so much easier. Cheaper than Realtick, more expensive than Sierra, but worth every penny (or cent).

H.

 

[bottomdollar]

Thanks guys.. howe much do these packages cost exactly??

Thanks 🙂

 

[Henry]

Depends on exactly which exchanges you want data from, and how you want that data - ie real time, delayed, or EOD. eSignal has a pricing calculator on their site that lets you work it how much you'd need to spend (http://www.esignal.com). myTrack has a few different price plans, also on their site (http://www.mytrack.com). RealTick in the UK is supplied by IRD (http://www.ird.com) - again, various prices on their site.

HTH.

H.

 

[fltbear]

Have a look Quote Tracker at http://www.quotetracker.com

It's free, real time charting with free data and integrates as a trading front end with IB & others

 

[oatman]

Since you mentioned IB, I've been having a look. I was reading their disclaimers on orders, executions etc.
How reliable are they?

 

[Skimbleshanks]

Any brokerage has disclaimers and contracts for one reason only - to protect themselves. This is just good housekeeping from their point of view, so they cannot be blamed if they, you, or a third party makes a mistake or pulls a plug.

IB are the biggest retail brokerage in the US, I believe, and there is some public report which grades all the brokerages in terms of financial stability. I've glanced at the report, but do remember that IB was in pole position as having the best financial stability, or words to that effect. I'm sure Def from IB can point you to the right report, if needs be.

Anway, you wouldn't even dream of putting all your eggs in one basket ... would you? 😀

 

[oatman]

Hi Skim,

They don't need many eggs and I don't have many, so that's not a big problem. I wasn't so concerned about the security side of it more the speed and reliability of order placing, fills etc. Just don't leave too much £$ up there! They ask you to maintain alternative order placing facilities etc.,which I would anyway. I'm interested to know how popular it is with users here and how reliable, how users find the set up, any problems. I like the idea of having the facility to trade into more markets. Nice to switch into another trending market. More interesting. After all, it's only a number.

Cheers

 

[Skimbleshanks]

I've never had any problems with IB - their claim to fame is that they offer very low commissions, as you will realise. I've always had fast fills (one second, perhaps two on occasions of high momentum), the back office is superb and easy to operate, and they are very good at keeping you informed of changes by email, and the TWS trading platform has bulletins about exchange hitches and problems.

Of course, if you were the type of person who likes to have a relationship with their broker, then IB would not be the company for you. Talking costs money, and there are some brokerages who charge up to $100 commission I believe but you can whitter to your broker all day for that! :cheesy:

 

[Skimbleshanks]

Just looked up the report - it's called Weiss Rankings, and it ranks the financial stability of 600 brokerages. According to Weiss, IB is number one.

 

[oatman]

Thanks that,

Looks good. Agree the commissions are attractive.
For $100 commission I might take up broking again... Trouble is we used to find that the ones who like to hang on the fone don't trade much YAWN ZZZzzzz.

Cheers