Hello Tanner,
You and Bill Dwyer and others have raised some excellent points, and your comparison of the two systems is very fair indeed.
I wanted to take the opportunity to address some of the points that have been made, in order to give everyone an idea into the direction of current and planned development.
I have inserted the text of the points from your post, and made comments where appropriate.
1) The overall look and feel of CT is less cumbersome than RT3. The Market Maker Windows take up less room, the command center bar at the top of the screen and the account manager are both very slick.
2) At first glance CT's Market View window is much more attractive and easier to read than RT3's... However, CT doesn't allow you to customize it as much as RT... And more importantly, you can't customize a sort in CT like you can in RT...For instance, I have a list of 130 stocks that I monitor... I like to sort them in order of the stocks with the greatest Bid/Ask spread so that I can capitalize on any scalps... In CT, the stocks can only be sorted in alphabetical order.
I am glad you like the look and feel of the Market View module, and you are correct in your assessment of the sorting capabilities. To that end the next release of Market View will include the capability to sort on a variety of criteria, including spread size.
3) One thing that RT3 has are audible alerts. You can set an alarm to go off if a stock hits a certain price, or hits a certain level of volume. One thing that CT does have is an alert that tells you if your loss on a stock is greater than a certain amount, but I feel as though it doesn't really get your attention right away, the way an alarm should.. After all, we are dealing in a business where a few seconds may mean the difference of several hundreds of dollars, an alarm should get your attention right away.
The next release will contain the CyBerTrader Stop Loss Manager. This tool will enable users to set audio and/or visual alerts for any stock, and use an array of user-selectable parameters for the alert trigger. This module will also allow the user to send a Stop-order using these same parameters, in order to more proactively manage their activity.
4) I do like the proximity alerts in CT... It alerts you if a stock hits its 52 week low... intraday low... etc.... It makes it a little easier to scan for trading opportunities.
This has been a very popular addition. Several customers have told me that the ability to see potential breakouts well before they happen has been critical to their success.
5) One thing that I would really like to see CT address, is multiple trading accounts. I have one account for daytrading, one IRA account, another account setup for short hedge positions, and another account that I have for long-term positions. RT has a drop down box in the order entry screen that allows you to select the account that you would like to use. In CT, I must actually log off, and log on as a different user if I want to execute a trade in a different account.
The issue of multiple trading accounts has come up often, and you are right that the current method is a bit cumbersome. Speaking as a former trader in a shop that initially used RealTick, the RealTick software changed accounts using a pull-down menu from order entry box. This led to many, many instances of orders being placed form the wrong account, simply because the user was concentrating on trading. Currently we are working on a solution which will be easy to use and seamless from the user's point of view, and which will also provide a degree of safety for the customer to help insure that orders are placed as intended. This upgrade should be ready for the release of CyBerTrader 1.7 Beta.
6) I like the graphs in CT much better... I think that they're easier to read and take less customization to make them useful.
The development staff continues to work heavily on the graphs to insure users get the highest functionality and utility possible. The graphs in the next release will show a large increase in display speed.
7) The Position manager in CT looks nicer than RT3, and I know Mr Berber thinks that its a HUGE selling point... But I personally don't think there is much difference between the two programs. For the most part, they both give the same information.
I would bring up two items regarding this point. You are correct in that the Positions tab in the CyBerTrader Account Manager and a RealTick feature called "Position Minder" display similar information. What I did not see in RealTick was the in depth information available regarding ALL orders, cancels, closed positions, and long-term positions available in the CyBerTrader Account Manager. Additionally, the next release will contain statistical and account-related tools so that users will be able see and evaluate their performance, and know where they stand. In combination with the Stop-Loss Manager from point 3 users will have a truly powerful suite of tools for tracking and managing their performance.
The second point regards the Position Manager module in CyBerTrader. This module shows every change in what we refer to here as "The 12 States of the Market Maker" for every stock in which you currently hold a posiion. So for each position this will show every change in quotation made by every Market Maker or ECN. For me this was very useful when a stock (or stocks) would approach what I had set for its exit point, and I wanted to see everything that was happening.
8) I can't comment on the dynamic ticker in CT since I don't really use it (like I have said before, I mainly use CyberTrader for trade executions and have used RealTick for stock scanning and analysis), so if someone has any feedback on this feature, I wouldn't mind learning what you think about it and why.
It sounds as though you are a very graphically-oriented trader, as was I, and that you may not rely too heavily on ticker-style tools. The Dynamic Ticker in CyBerTrader is designed to allow the user to add or subtract a stocks from the list of those being followed on the ticker using only the ALT+Spacebar keys. I integrated this in to my trading by setting up a list stocks I was interested in the morning, and then subtracting ones that did not pan out and adding potential opportunities as I spotted them throughout the day. Another nice feature to the current Dynamic Ticker is the Velocity Indicator. This tool uses an algorithm developed by CyBerTrader, Inc. to graphically indicate the intensity of the current upside or dowsed momentum in stocks followed on the Dynamic Ticker.
9) I think CT's order executions are the best. Although I personally don't use their smart order entry system, I do like a feature they have called a delta sell/buy, which places an order at 1/16 above the current inside bid/ask, so that it is easier for you to get filled, especially in a fast moving market.
This is very good to hear, indeed. You can expect to see continued improvement on this technology in coming releases.
10) Oh, I almost forgot. I like the CT Communicator. I talk to the back office people right from a window in CT, and never have to pick up the phone and take time away from trading. You can ask about shorting a stock, request wire transfers or checks, or just ask questions. I think its great.
Glad to be of service! We have had a very positive response to The Communicator. In times of trouble (i.e. if SOES or SelectNet go down) this is an especially invaluable tool for keeping customers informed and confident in their activities.
11) In RealTick you can view company profiles. It displays information about what the company does, earnings reports, officers and the number of shares they hold, profit projections. However, although its nice to have for research, it is possible to daytrade without it.
With the next CyBerTrader release there will be a vast improvement in the fundamental company information provided. With the many different trading styles present in our current customer base this has been an item of high request.
12) CT allows you to view all buy and sell orders for any given stock in the ISLD book. This is a very useful tool in trading, because it allows you to judge the depth of the market... The only version of RealTick that I have seen with this feature, is All-Tech's version which they call ATTAIN. The only thing that CyberTrader could improve on, is allowing you to open up more than one ISLD Book window at a time, so that you could view all the buy and sell orders for multiple stocks.
Currently there will be an expansion of the information contained in the Order Book module. It will soon evolve from the Island Order Book to the ECN Order Book, and will display the Book information for all ECN's with whom we develop direct relationships. The capability to open more than one Book, and to then link that Book to a particular Stock Box is currently under consideration.
I hope that this information has helped to shed some light on the immediate future of CyBerTrader. As a CyBerBroker customer you will continue to see regular upgrades and enhancements over the coming days, and as a prelude to the next general Beta release.
As far as the long term evolution of the CyBerTrader technologies, we really can't say. The reason for this is not to be coy, it is simply that you haven't told us yet! Your post #1182 where, in referring to the addition of color-coded TOS information you said, "...I would think that its appropriate to assume that they did this in response to feedback from their users," is absolutely correct. The continued feedback and guidance of all CyBerTrader users will always be the driving force behind the evolution of the software, so please keep the suggestions coming!
Thanks for allowing me to pop in and post, and Happy Trading!
Mark K. Stryker
CEO
CyBerBroker, Inc. |
