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I/RT would be more attractive to me, if it had a chart trader. If it already has trade execution ability, then adding a chart trading user interface is extremely simple, just convert a click location on the screen to the price on the screen's scale, and you have a chart trader. Now, if they add some auto trade management like NT, which is also not very difficult, then I'm pretty much sold.
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
As long as it stays fast and stable, it doesn't really matter to me. But I think there are a lot of others like you out there. IMHO, IRT is far superior to NT. Adding full trading capabilities would probably increase their business.
case in point, MC... they are now focused on their "active trader" features and they have completely disregarded making improvements to their automation... or even adding new indicators or functionality...
if IRT/MD was my business to run, I would focus on what I do best (charting) and not try to be everything to everyone.. I can guarantee you that IRT/MD is a lot more profitable than NT7 and from my own experience I know their support is 1000 times superior to NinjaTrader. The community supports NT7, not the vendor.
think about this...
when was the last time that NinjaTrader had anything new to innovate? GomiCD is not produced by them, and they took well over 2 years in beta with delay after delay to produce NT7 and their ATM features have not really advanced at all since 6.X code tree....
that they support 64b or that they dont crash as much or that they finally added the ability to have multiple timeseries is not innovation, but rather features that had existed on other platforms that they were behind on for a very, very long time.
by contrast; IRT/MD innovates at a pace that at times can be mind blowing... new features (useful ones) are implemented at a rate that can only be achieved because their resources are focusing on 10 things related to charting and looking at new novel ways to analyze trade data and represent it meaninfully; not 100 things related to charting, trade management and automated trading... and not doing any of them any better than before.
anyhow, let me get down from my soapbox.. all this is just how I see things..
I think what you are saying is that I/RT just has more innovative talent. That being the case, I think whatever they decide to do, they are going to do it better. If they decide to do chart trader, they will probably do it better; if they decide to do ATM's they will probably do it better. And, since they would just be implementing features that have already been designed and proven in the industry, they don't even have to go back to the drawing board, just write the code to implemented the features. And, it they come with any innovative improvements in the process, the better.
You seem to be making a (false) correlation between the fact that NT has order entry and that their software and support is otherwise pretty crappy. I think that IRT has more functionality than NT--the VB indicator in and of itself provides more usable functionality than all the NT indicators combined. It's just that they don't have a DOM and real order entry. IRT is better because Chad and whoever else (sorry, I have only corresponded with Chad and Dr. Linn) are better at what they do than the NT guys. Bottom line. If you think adding a DOM would dilute the quality, you're missing the fact that IRT is quality software because of the people who make it happen.
As an aside, does the trading community really need MORE new indicators that don't do anything useful?
actually, not making a false correlation, not sure where you get that from..
it is a matter of truth that the only good thing about NT7 is ATM... they have one of the best trade management features available to retail... well, they had for the longest time given that though it is good, it is still rather limited and has not changed in years so they are behind the curve now... no innovation has taken place from Ninjatrader perspective... and to be clear, I own a multibroker license, so it is not like I have not made an investment on Ninjatrader..
the correlation I am making is simple and true... and not just restricted to ninjatrader.
when a company spreads their resources thin, and their revenue stream is extremely limited, they do not produce good software... or any product ... there are 100's of company failures that are due to not focusing on what gave them a competitive advantage on the market place and trying to address or enter too many markets... some recognize it quick, others are absorved after their failure... think CSCO and SUNW...
please note that I am not saying that a company cant address all needs of a given user base... CQG is one of those few companies that does and that is mainly because they count with significant resources behind them, so they are not spreading their resources thing and have multiple revenue streams within their business model... I personally laugh every single time someone on this forum complains about how expensive CQG is given that in the context of reliability and feature set for trading (assuming you are trading for a living) it is not, it is actually quite cost effective if your account and trading style supports it..
anyhow, I have stated my points of views and I have provided supportive arguments for those points of views, I am yet to see a supportive argument as to how NT7 is better because they do everything (charting/trading/algo)... and I am yet to see a supportive argument that would show that IRT/MD would benefit from trying to satisfy the whole market place...
and please dont go with they would increase their user base... do you realize that their current revenue model assuming a subscriber averages $2500/yr represents to them about 2.5MM/yr per 1K subscribers? and I can assure you they do not have just 1K subscribers... by contrast, the same 1K users represents $600K/yr to NinjaTrader assuming a monthly revenue stream, or $1MM one time sales of 1K licenses... oh, dont forget that they are stuck supports thousands of non-paying users...
I can tell you which company I rather own or be a part of... and it is certainly not Ninjatrader..
funny that you selected the "new indicators" and left out "or functionality'... the whole point, which I still believe and stand by, is that Ninjatrader has not produced anything innovative within their platform in about 2 years.. they are just playing catch up..
You used multicharts as an example of a company who recently is "slacking" on their base produce because they added new features.
You also said this:
You implied that adding features will lead to "ruin."
I'm simply saying that while adding new features will always necessarily take away from work on existing features, that it's the quality of the programmers who will determine the outcome. And IMO, IRT has good programmers.
Agree--I think the guys at the NT forum have posted my posts on the wall and use them for dartboards, they're not fans of me that's for sure.
And I agree that Linnsoft probably makes more money, certainly from retail users that's for sure, and thus they support their product well because there are no leechers as with NT. If you look at my first post, I said it would make ME happy, I didn't say it would bring more users to IRT. Check it out. I did say that people would take advantage of a lifetime license, however, though I don't know if the math would work for them to make it profitable.
NT is NOT better. I don't think anyone said it was. But if you want to place live orders, it's the obvious choice of the two. And I don't want to pay for and run two programs. Running these two side-by-side eat up more resources and require more work to keep things flowing smoothly (like switching instruments for example) that it's easier for me to just use one program.
I'd be happy if NT would just do things intelligently that they already do (no CTRL+ for vertical scrolling, no CTRL+arrow for zoom in-out, etc.). I'm not really needing innovative, though I suppose it would be a nice bonus--if you're a good trader I think that a simple chart setup will work for most people... I just need things to work well.
I never said that they were slacking because they added new features, please read what I wrote..
MC is forgoing their roots (system trading) and diverting their resources to address discretionary trading features... yes, those are new features to them, but they are being executed at the expense of their system trading features advancing... so they are slacking on their core business to expand their user base..
IMO they are going to end up no different than NT, and given that TRAD finally has woken up from their long slumber with TS9 and their acquisition of GRAIL, it is a matter of time before they are not as relevant which IMO is the main driver behind their diversification effort..
but then again, who would want to use TS9 as long as TRAD is the only broker? luckily for us, there are pleny of ELD's that will allow the orders to be submitted to alternative clearing brokers vs. using TRAD network, and still be faster than TRAD... but now I digress.. so back to the original topic..