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I'm not sure if you all know this but I recently discovered that I can run both CTS T4 platform and Sierra Chart at the same time with the same login credentials, as long as I'm using the same computer. I had no idea that I could do this and even asked CTS about this and they said only one login was possible at any given time. See here for Sierra documentation CTS T4 Trading Platform Service - Sierra Chart
Why would anyone want to do this? here are a few reasons :
- CTS is an excellent feed/execution option both on it's own and with Sierra, very reliable, Server side OCO (at least on orders placed on CTS, maybe Sierra too) fast, it has never crapped out or locked an order or done anything remotely wrong in a couple of years of use
- CTS has terrible charting, and very limited studies capability, so if you are a chart monster it will be nowhere near enough for you, though their market profile addon is nice and simple to use
- CTS gives you the ability to trade options as well as futures, so you can trade and chart options strikes and even very easily launch a DOM for the options strike that you are interested in. Great stuff
- If you don't like CTS's DOM for futures, then you have a choice, very customisable from Sierra or CTS's DOM
- Use a hybrid layout for both futures and futures options using the same feed and one set of CME fees
- You get to use CTS's mobile trader on your phone/tablet in case you want to chill out/head out and still have a position on
Downside : you pay for 2 platforms, and CTS has it's own execution fees which add to the cost of trading, which I personally wish were a bit cheaper, in line with industry norms
That's it, hope this helps out someone
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
Japhro, sorry for the confusion but we did change permission for Sierra to allow a user to be logged in on the same pc with both applications. Also if you have the time I would like to discuss or have you reply here and let me know what studies we need to add to make our charting more attractive.
Thanks Brian
If you have any questions about the products or services provided by CTS, please send me a Private Message or use the BMT " Ask Me Anything" thread
Maybe you can list all the studies and drawing tools that you have available on the $25 per month version, and let users comment on whether they are sufficient for trading or not? my feeling is that one needs another charting platform if using CTS to trade with, because there are only (I can't remember exactly) 6-10 studies enabled on that version and you need to pay 500/mo to get more. I would say that the key issues with CTS and what prevents a lot of ppl trading with it are :
- outdated DOM (missing features that SIerra/Jigsaw/TT etc have)
- very few enabled studies
- no drawing tools to speak of
- expensive fees of 50c per side per contract to use outdated tools
There are other good things that I mentioned, things that I really liked about the platform such as how easy it is to launch an options dom and the reliable feed, I really like the way the dom keeps autocentering too. But given all the other issues, I have switched over to CQG which allows me to do everything I need with a much more modern and capable interface and at a lower overall cost.
Japhro, thanks for the feedback. Click this link to view our Studies. The word "Advanced" will appear after the study if it is only available on our Advanced charting which carries a $200 minimum. The $200 min is offset by the .50 trading transaction rate. So if you are executing 400 contracts a monrth you have met the minimum. Studies and Overlays Available - CTS Wiki
We did recently add Order Templates to the DOM which allows multi exit OCOs and Batch Orders. We also have MOC orders, order counts and a countdown timer to market closes. Please let me know what else is critical in the DOM.
Thanks Brian
If you have any questions about the products or services provided by CTS, please send me a Private Message or use the BMT " Ask Me Anything" thread
Thanks. Keep in mind that most of your competition has cheaper fees, and a more modern platform so to be a CTS user, you have to be willing to pay more to get less, in a sense. I think that is the main challenge. Also I cannot ever remember getting credited for a min number of trades as you advertised, I will have to look back through statements but I'm pretty sure that I never was.
Japhro, there would not be a credit given. We would calculate your total volume for the month multiple by .50 and only add in the minimum fee if your trading did not cover the $200 min for advanced charts. For example if you traded 200 contracts for the month that fee would be $100 but if you have advanced charts we would add another $100 to cover the minimum chart cost. But if you traded 600 contracts for the month at a fee of $300 there would be no additional fees added as you covered the minimum.
So do you use CQG Q Trade?
Thanks Brian
If you have any questions about the products or services provided by CTS, please send me a Private Message or use the BMT " Ask Me Anything" thread
Japhro, yes the 50 free trades are in the $25 min. So if you only trade 10 contracts you still get charged $25. Would you mind sharing a few examples of the DOM features you like?
Thanks Brian
If you have any questions about the products or services provided by CTS, please send me a Private Message or use the BMT " Ask Me Anything" thread
The best thing about the CTS DOM is the self centering feature, which is awesome. All DOMs should have that imo.
CQG and TT DOMs have cumulative last traded size at price as shown in the futures DOM pic, so that you can see accumulation of trade size and often thats a precursor to price moving. It won't reset until price moves.
I love the tabbed DOMs on CQG since I trade a few instruments, saves a ton of screen space SO I dont need 6 DOMs open all the time, I can just tab the instruments I want to trade and they are there waiting.
I can swap with 1 button click between OCO mode and bracket mode, and can set bracket mode for myraid different entry/exit levels, even different ones per instrument so it will save my presets for YM which are different to ES for example.
You can add and then link OCO orders after the fact on anything in CQG, ie you can take and ES long, add a stop, then later place a limit order to take profit, and make them linked OCO orders at any time.
On the options DOM you can set up a column for any of the options greeks, ie Implied Vol or Theta, Delta, mine set for Delta here.
You can also set bracket OCO orders to stop out/take profit on the options DOM, CQG hold these orders on their server since the exchange wont.
Tabbed DOm for options is amazing, I can have 4 tabs, so 2 call strikes and 2 put strikes, it takes up very little room and I can start a trade in s snap.
There are limitations too, as with everything but since they have a ton more studies and features than CTS and for less money (the platform is $40/mo and 25c per fill) I can save 50-100/mo and have more features.
DOn't get me wrong, I liked CTS but I needed Sierra to make it workable for me. Now, I ave Sierra just because I like it.
Autocentering like CTS
Tabs like CQG
A column that automatically adds daily OHLC and Overnight HL and settlement prices marked
Studies applied to DOM like Sierra (ie if you want hourly VWAP or upper and lower BBs marked on DOM)
Estimated position in the order queue like TT
Cumulative traded at bid/ask like TT/CQG
A pull/added order snapshot column like Jigsaw
clean button layout that you can hide to save space when you don't need to access some features (Multicharts)
Options Greeks in column like CQG
Multi layer OCO and Bracket orders can be initiated at time of trade or added easily later
If any software provider does all of these I think they will get a lot of business, just imo