Pros and cons of using TradeStation

bobcat

Pros
1. Very easy to start. You don't need to have a computer programming ability to
code your own strategies.You may have your first strategy coded within a few
minutes following many of the samples TS provides.

2. You may setup program trading as soon as you have a strategy coded.

3. You can back test your strategy.

4. Charts are great. You can have any of your own sophisticated indicators.
For example, you may even use P/L of a strategy as an indicator.

5. It has been the oldest in the industry. TS  uses what is called the EASY LANGUAGE.
Many strategies available are written in this language.

Cons
1. It is very slow because it uses a script language.
A well written program through a generic language  such as C could be
10~100 times faster, especially when the program is very loopy.
It is probably good enough for futures trading.
For stocks, if you need to work on thousands of them, TS won't work.

2. TS doesn't perform a portfolio level back testing. You may use
a third party add-on, but it would be too slow to perform anyway.

atrader

is it expensive? what else can overcome the Cons of tradestation?  thanks

bobcat

is it expensive? what else can overcome the Cons of tradestation?  thanks
atrader 发表于 2010-2-18 21:32

The platform is free if you do, for instance, more than 10 ES contracts a month (very easy).

The data fee is really just the exchange fee (so no charge on delayed data). For stocks, it is just a few dollars a month.
For futures, you pay $50~200 a month depending on what you want.