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Higher resolution chart screens. Also higher resolution tables and fonts. i.e. half the size of what they have now. ATM strategies on their DOM like NT has. Also higher res DOM and fonts. Small font thinkscript editor. Everything adjustable smaller font and row size if possible!
Ability to overlay indicators on an oscillator sub window without having to combine thinkscripts in one indicator to do so. (or is that already possible?)
I would love to see the "ruler" function in TOS - I know that esignal has one and the MT4 platforms have one as well. I am referring the the ability to measure the distance between two points in ticks, pips etc (as well as number of bars).
thanks
Better Time & Sales. Presently it colors prints which represent downticks red, and green for upticks. No change prints are the same as previous.
I don't know if anyone uses T&S that way, and cant fathom why anyone would.
In reality, prints at offer and above should be by default green (with user customizable colors if people want to switch it), prints at bid and below should be red, and prints between the bid and offer should be some other color altogether. All these things should be easy to add, but they told me they don't have plans to fix it
Also, an option to highlight prints above the best offer, and below the best bid would be nice. A really cool (I bet they will never do this for sure) power option would to let the user define whether they want consecutive prints which are at the same bid price, the same ask price, or the same between price (all contiguous only) added up in the same print. Also, a below threshold for this consolidation of continuous prints at the same bid, ask, or between price as another power option would rule.
I've been working very closely with TOS support since the New Year on not so much feature requests, but issues I've found, including this major one regarding volume.
From my email:
Hello,
I see some strange depictions of volume that I'd like to share and receive some type of explanation.
1. Total volume for the NYSE and NASDAQ ($TVOL &TVOL/Q) both have a huge drop-off in what looks like early Sep 2012. I checked and the market's volume has not fallen that much, so something is wrong. Please see the attached.
2. I just looked at the NYSE advancing issue volume ($UVOL), and it too has the same weirdness during this time. Please see attached.
3. The Cumulative Volume Indicator, which looks at volume of advancing and declining issues, is odd too, not surprisingly because of it generated from $UVOL, among others... Please see attached.
I found others too, but I hope this helps get the ball rolling. With the exception of stock price, most would feel that volume is the next most important data point when performing an analysis...
What is the explanation for what we see here?
Thank you,
Tony
++++++
Today I got this:
Hello,
Thank you for contacting us. There was a change in the way these volumes were reported in September of 2012. $TVOL and $UVOL is now only for the primary market. To get trades from all market, refer to the following.
$TVOL has been replaced with $TVOLC for the NYSE Composite Total Volume
$UVOL has been replaced with $UVOLC for the NYSE Composite Advanced Volume
For the NASDAQ, just add " /Q" to the end so it will be $TVOLC/Q and $UVOLC/Q.
++++++
The Cumulative Volume Index Indicator still uses the old indicators though. So, unless one is willing to wait for it to get fixed by TOS, I'd recommend simply creating an indicator with these new volume symbols.
I also worked with TOS on their McClellan Oscillator and related Summation Index. I'll try to share that next... There are some issues there too.
I've used TOS for about one year now and have previously used Ninja Trader, Metatrader and various proprietary broker platforms. There are lots of small functions and tweaks that could help the TOS platform match the best of other platforms but I'd have one general request: get some knowledgeable interface designers and run a usability test on the platform. In web design you can hook up viewers to eye tracking devices and video tape their attempts to navigate a newly designed website. All of their 'chasing down rabbit holes' is recorded as well as their 'comments'.
After this adjustments are made that incorporate what is the collective intuitive expectation for workflow and navigation. TOS is like an old European city; full of quaint nooks and crannies but crazy-making if you know what you want and where you want to go!! Instead of adding ten more whiz-bang tools, they need to streamline the functionality tools and navigation of the current platform.
For me, I'd like to see significant improvement in strategy testing capabilities within TOS. Compared to other platforms (e.g., TradeStation), it is sorely lacking!
As a a followup to my previous post I've thought of some specific feedback and suggestions. I certainly haven't explored or mastered all of the tools present in the TOS platform but from my experience I'd mention the following;
Pros:
1.) Excellent Options Graphic View Analyze section. This has been the primary area I've used and from what I've seen and heard TOS is the best free location for visualizing and managing option spreads. The free platform use and data is a plus in contrast to most other competitors such as Tradestation, or NinjaTrader or Sierra charts with paid monthly fees for platform use and data. The TOS Support has been excellent and I've always been able to get a tech person to help by phone or live chat.
Cons and Areas that Need Improvement:
2.) The Active Trader DOM works fairly well although they should copy NinjaTrader to clarify the trade SL/TP bracket setups, and add NT's on-the-chart trade management. The Accounting section of TOS could provide additional options for viewing account P/L's and past trades. An example; have a function that matches up by trade number, the open and close trades. This would be helpful for all trade types but particularly for option spread combos which are put on and taken off as a group. This would save a lot of scrolling and assist with end of year tax preparation.
Fix the chart display of price bars. Neither the Auto or Manual adjustments plus saving the current layout in 'Studies' and 'Styles' preserves the zoom in-out of price display or indicators. Every time you exit charts and return, the price chart has been scrunched into a horizontal line and you have to manually re-adjust. Take a hint from Metatrader charts. The scrolling and zoom in/out always adjusts the price bar view to display with an optimal view for the chart space.
TOS suffers from design bloat that layers too many version updates. The basic functions are lost in a hodge-podge of tools and tabs. As I mentioned in the previous post, navigating the platform is like visiting a medieval city that still has the same street layout as in the 1200's but now has skyscrapers and freeways crammed into the original city layout! I'd suggest they face the challenging task of rebuilding the platform so that the interface and navigation is intuitive relative to current norms of charting layout. Clients who open an account with TD Ameritrade and TOS will likely be familiar with the workflow layout of competing platforms and the intuitive navigation learned in surfing the web.
Perhaps they could first build a simplified, stripped down 'child' version of the TOS platform but that has a layout and functions in keeping with current norms. This could be provided to new clients who don't want to wade through layers of options just to complete basic trades, and to old clients who want to run a lightweight platform with only the the basic functions. Meanwhile the current bloated version could still be available, as they begin to rebuild the whole platform behind the scenes using a new cleaner style as implemented in the prototype child version.
Platform: colocated proprietary, IB for LFT, TOS and TS for options and scripted strategies
Trading: ES, NQ, GC, SI, CL
Posts: 22 since Aug 2013
Thanks Given: 2
Thanks Received: 7
I would like to see charts that are volume based i.e. consider a candle chart where each candle will update not based on time frequency but rather based on a predefined volume activity (update every 20,000 traded shares). The bottom axis will still show the time. This will give another dimension of analysis which I think can more accurately describe price activity.
Hey - first post for me here at futures.io (formerly BMT). I would love to see TOS provide automated trading based on specific alerts. TDA has StrategyDesk and used to have Prodigio, but right now TOS is the platform where they are spending all of the their development resources. Rightly so, as it is a very nice piece of software with lots of potential.
I have only recently been playing with TOS, and have had discussions with their support staff on getting alerts to trigger based on intraday crossover events - so far no luck, so that would need to be on the wish list as well.
1. Fix intraday alerts (e.g., alert when the price crosses above the upper BB(20,2)).
Then,
2. Automated trade execution based on the triggered alert.