I understand from your post that you are looking for a new broker and are considering Watley. They, like MB trading and others offer Real Tick software from Townsend in Chicago, and unlike MB Trading, Watley are the brokerage as opposed MB Trading which are a sales and marketing branch of a third party broker, Terra Nova.
When speaking to Watley, be advised that their representitves may make the following statements regarding another brokerage choice, namely CyBerBroker, who offer CyBerTrader, designed and developed in house for traders, by traders, for active professional traders
"CyBerBroker requires a dedicated connection (no internet)"
This is not correct. CyBerBroker offers a number of connectivity choices including
- Internet
- GTE/BBN: a private or direct commercial Internet-based connection offering superior reliability and speed
- Frame Relay - a high speed, reliable direct and private Intranet
"CyBerBroker charges for training"
This is not correct. CyBerCorp, CyBerBroker's parent company has been running FREE Two Day Seminars in Austin, TX and is about to announce the FREE Interactive Learning Sources and Resources for professional active traders
"CyBerBroker's primary business is to support Block trading, and are now just beginning to offer remote."
This is not correct. Block was the first of around 20 day trading firms throughout the US with a total of over 40 day trading rooms and over 300 day traders to select CyBerTrader as the premier day trading technology.
CyBerBroker was formed last year and the first remote CyBerTrader to trade live and remotely in the "Virtual Trading Room" was in February this year.
The above three comments are based on telephone conversations with Watley representitives
When seeking a broker you may also want to consider the technology being offered. For your inforamtion allow me to summarize some of the functions and features that are included in CyBerTrader Version 1.6 beta which has recently started being used, in beta, by CyBerBroker clients
LISTED STOCKS
Over the past year or so CyBerTrader has evolved from being a SOES-style traders tool to a far broader trading platform. For some time now we have been preparing to evolve the technology from a SOES/OTC platform, to a true US stock markets technology. CyBerTrader 1.6 Beta is just that - with the addition of NYSE and AMEX stocks. It provides a SuperDOT execution platform, integrated seamlessly within the CyBerTrader. With 1.6 Beta, all of CyBerTrader's decision support, risk management, P&L, charting and other tools have all of the listed stocks running through them.
INSTADOT
CyBerTrader already allows traders to send orders directly to the leading day trading ECNs, such as Island and TNTO with ATTAIN planned next. Yet much of the institutional volume is executed through Instinet. We have created a proprietary and unique technology, called InstaDOT, which provides an electronic order routing mechanism to Instinet. With 1.6 Beta, simply hit F1 - F4, holding down the Alt key, and you will have directed an order for execution on Instinet. When the order is filled, it will automatically appear in your Account Manager, Open Trades and Position Manager. Further Instinet related developments are currently being designed.
FASTER ISLAND DATA AND EXECUTIONS
Island remains the key ECN for many day traders. CyBerTrader already provides "quantitative order flow" by way of the Island Open Orders and Executions windows. With 1.6 Beta, and as a result of our new ITCH/OUCH server technology, we have taken it one step further - faster Island data display and consequently faster Island executions.
Simply put, we are now able to display Island data directly from Island and up to three seconds faster that is currently displayed through third party data feeds. This speed advantage allows you to see Island first - and to execute off that data, sometimes before others have even seen the data!
SEE THE ISLAND "BOOK"
CyBerTrader now allows traders to bring up the new "Island Book" window, which looks similar to a Stock Box. This feature is dedicated to showing all of the Island bids and offers, and the size associated with each, for any stock selected. Prior to this you were restricted to seeing the inside quote only - now you can really see how many orders are out there on Island, bids and offers, and see how much size is associated with each. And since 1.6 Beta is using the new ITCH/OUTCH server technology, the Island Book contains the most direct and fastest Island data display. You can link the Island Book to any Stock Box so that you can always see, at a glance, the depth and pricing of the Island book.
MARKETVIEW
Want to see a broad range of market data on selected stocks in one window? Now you can. MarketView allows you to selected from up to 14 criteria such as Last Trade, Today's Open, Yesterday's Close, Change from the Close, Bid, Ask, Volume at the Bid and Ask, Volume etc. You simply pick which stocks and which criteria you want to track - and be able to see it all at a glance anytime during the day.
NEXTGEN GUI
NextGen GUI refers to Next Generation Graphical User Interface. Here we are talking about converting text and numbers relating to market data flows into a graphical, color display. The first version of this has been attached to the Dynamic Ticker in 1.6 Beta, which tracks all of the Bid, Ask, Uptick, Downtick, Refresh type activity for all market makers for any stock selected.
Using mathematical, engineering and computing concepts we have created a unique and proprietary "dynamic bar graph" that converts market data into a visual graphical representation. The concepts behind it are quite complicated so we have included a Help file that explains all. Once you see it in action, you'll be able to "perceive" market maker data flows and activity without looking at the text and numbers - by simply watching the bar graph. More of these types of next generation market display tools are on the way.
NEWS FILTERS
You can now "query" the news wire for stories on selected stocks. So if a stock appears in your decision support tools or you simply want to see what the latest stories are for a particular stock, and you want to see what might be behind the activity or move, simply query the News service for the Headlines. If the story came out that day, you can click on the headline and get the full story. You will need to have subscribed to Dow Jones News Service and set it up within CyBerTrader to avail of this.
PROXIMITY ALERTS
When we started showing traders those stocks that hit intra day and 52 week highs and lows we opened up a number of additional trading opportunities each day. What if we could tell you about such events prior to them happening? The Proximity Alerts allow you to do just that!
With 1.6 Beta, you can set up CyBerTrader to alert you to an intra day or 52 week high or low prior to and as it approaches that level. And each trader can pick how close or far away from that level the stock needs to be before you are alerted. So that you can act or prepared to act before others even know about it! Always trying to give CyBerTraders an edge!
NEW STOCK BOX
The new Stock Box is worth getting to know, and use fully. In the background we have re-written the code in C, which makes it faster and more efficient. In the foreground, you will see a number of important improvements in term of the tools and controls within the Stock Box. From Color and Font controls to Display Options to a much neater and faster mechanism for changing share size. Get to know the new tools, you'll like it!
NEW GRAPHS
The new Graphs have also been re-written in C with the same benefits. You'll see that the look and feel of the charting package has improved plus it's evolving into a Technical Analysis graphical package. Being able to overlay stock indices as well as see the intra day volume bar are just two of the new features, along with full Color and Font control. Plus Crosshair trend lines and the ability to draw in your own trendlines.
CONTROLS/OPTIONS/COLORS AND FONTS
Color and Font controls have been added extensively within the Workstation front end as well as many display and control functions and options. Best advice it to explore these new tools and get to know them so that you can tailor your Workstation, more than ever, to your particular needs and trading style.
NEW MOUSE DRIVEN FEATURES
You can now enter orders using the new (optional) Execution window using your mouse. Simply point and click. There are a number of simple yet clever features within the Execution window that makes this new feature easy and clear to use. Some of us will always be "hit the keys' types - other have been asking for point and click for a while - so here it is!
The other new mouse driven feature is the ability to "paste" stocks at the click of the mouse and touch of a button into a ticker, "on the fly". Simply enter the stock symbol into the Stock box, click the mouse in the Decision Support/Ticker window of your choice, and then press Ctrl+V - and the stock immediately appears in that window. Try it, you'll like it - it's powerful and fast.
I wish you sucess in finding the broker of your needs.
The key is your needs given your trading sytle, experience, level of activity, familarity with order handling rules, which system you are currently using et al
There are many WEB and browser based servcies that may suit some such as E Trade, E Schwab, Datek Online etc. Equally there are higher end trading and execution platforms such as Real Tick from MB Trading and AB Watley as well as CyBerTrader from CyBerBroker
CyBerBroker can offer you guidance and direction on training resources, free of charge, can provide you with Internet access and has been carefully and steadily growing the number of remote traders in the "Virtual Trading Room" since February, and has been serving traders in day trading rooms throughout the US since January 1997
There is a CyBerTrader thread on SI plus two web sites, one for CyBerCorp and the second, a new one, for CyBerBroker
PRB
CEO
CyBerCorp Inc
www.cyber-corp.com
www.cyber-brokerage.com |
