Comparison of Futures Trading Platforms for Emini Trade– the “must-have” important criteria.
- It must handle technical chart analysis quickly and with infinite flexibility. This means that graphs depicting real time, streaming-data for stocks, options, futures and forex prices should be quick and easy to display for short and long time periods.
- Charts must be fully editable with the ability to insert trend and resistance lines, other indicators as required
- Charts must be supported with popular indicators such as Volume, MACD, RSI, Moving Averages, Bollinger Bands, Stochastics etc
- Prices should be shown in candle and /or bar chart form, and be possible to track by bytes of time (5 min bytes, or 15 min bytes etc) or by the number of “ticks”. (A tick represents the minimum price fluctuation price action can make. In the S&P 500 Eminis the minimum movement is $12.50. So each “tick” is $12.50.)
- Stop orders for entry and exit should be easily configured and should preferably display potential profit on the transaction.
- Intuitive and easy to use
- Multiple Markets information should be easily accessible (futures, stocks, options, forex, commodities, US, international)
- Level 2 screens should be available
- Broker revenue should be based on commission only and not on the markup and sale of orders to its customers
- Competitive commission structure
- Easy to follow education, both general and platform specific.
Best of Breed – TradeStation - All Round Best Futures Trading Platform for Day Traders (and other traders)
The TradeStation trading platform combines the ability to create, test and automate or manually execute custom trading strategies with the speed of direct-access execution to major ECNs, exchanges and electronic markets. Long recognized as the Leader in Rule-Based Futures Trading Platforms, TradeStation believes that every trade you make should be based on a tested, informed analysis. TradeStation’s award-winning combination of advanced technology and brokerage services provides serious, self-directed online traders with a complete, seamlessly integrated trading solution.
TradeStation is competitively priced on a monthly subscription basis and is highly recommended for the type of disciplined, systematic emini futures day trading that you are interested in. It is arguably the most popular trading platform of all for professional traders, for all types of trading.
eSignal - Customizable Futures Trading Platform with raw data feeds for the more sophisticated user
Based on its very reliable data feeds of market data, some sophisticated traders choose eSignal because, using its eSignal Formula Script (EFT – java based) the software can be customized to cater for special requirements.
The charting software is very respectable and contains all the required functionality, but it is not as intuitive to learn and use. Familiarity after extended use solves this problem.
The monthly subscription cost is a little higher than TradeStation and highly variable dependent upon which functionality and services you use.
ThinkorSwim – For the budget conscious trader.
This is the only “free” day trading platform that I would recommend. ThinkorSwim, (now part of Ameritrade) is the most advanced “free” trading broker in the market. By signing up for an account with Thinkorswim, the account holder has access to a wide range of impressive charting and market analysis tools, and the ability to trade in stocks, options, futures, forex and commodities. There is no monthly charge. Thinkorswim makes its income from commissions (which are very competitive) mainly, and regrettably, from margins on some resale of securities to its customers.
Thinkorswim does not have true level 2 screen access, and the set up of orders is relatively manual without the benefit of “on-chart” display of a trade’s main characteristics and profit target. Most of the info you want can be accessed by moving to another screen. The screens can be detached and displayed simultaneously as “tiled” windows, but this process is a little clunky compared to TradeStation.
Thinkorswim’s analysis and research tools are among the best around, so it is worth having a Thinkorswim account just to be able to use these tools.
Sign up for the almost free Day Trader Starter Package, and you will be able to try out one of these Trading Platforms for real. You can paper trade as if you are trading live and test the system. See if it works for you. Move to live trading as soon as you are comfortable. Apply the trading principles and strategies taught in detail in the emini trader “Day Trading Home Study Course”. For more details on what the Home Study Course covers, check out our post Emini education – Day Trading Class and Day Trading Seminars.
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