|
PureBytes Links
Trading Reference Links
|
Hi Harley,
I've had PC Quotes for about a year now, and it's worked great during the
"bull" months (of course, it's not really need when everything's going
up)...The increasing market volume has really magnified it's bandwidth
weakness though, and although we've been given those little e-mail
assurances that the server farm is up and running, the times when you need
accurate quotes the most, finds the data feed sadly lacking.
(I'm going to explain a little more, because this is probably a topic of
interest to more than a few here, and I can probably save them money by
relating my missteps through the real-time data minefield. <g>)
As you know, the least risky time to enter a buy order on a big down day is
at the first big "trough" when the panic (read: volume) peaks as the price
gaps down at the open. This usually occurs during the first 30-45 minutes of
the trading day, and if you enable the S&P futures ($55 extra exchange fee)
it usually gives you the leading edge of market direction. (I don't like to
use the PREM or $sps (S&P futures premium to the cash market) alone, because
it only gives you the static picture, and doesn't show the "speed" of the
peaks and valleys like the chart does.) But at the bottom (heaviest volume)
the feed slows due the bandwidth, and you had better not depend on it for
timing buys.
If you enable Nasdaq Level 2 ($50 pc quote/$50 exchange fee) you can see the
size and depth of the inside market, as well as the identity of the
sellers/buyers. This is very useful too, IF it all works and you get the
information promptly and in the right order.
Now the problem.......PC Quote Nasdaq L2 is frequently *behind* the time and
sales list ! And as you've probably noticed, the PCQ version of the Dow,
S&P, and Nasdaq figures shown on CNBC are several seconds behind, even on a
LIGHT trading day.
I can't tell you how many times I've place limit orders on Philly exchange
options (i.e. Dell calls/puts) and not gotten filled, simply because the
darnnit PCQ turbo options ($50 extra) is dragging the market too. How do I
know ? The broker I used to use for options would put me hold while placing
the order, and they had a live mike on the floor (for on-hold customers
entertainment I guess <g>). Even though I'd place a limit at the "natural"
bid or ask, I still wouldn't get filled because the prices had moved so far
while the PCQ version of it was waaayyyyyyyy off, even on lighter days !
And the reason I mention the Philly exchange in particular, is that it's
suicide to place a market order on the Philly, unless you like paying the
highest price printed that DAY........guaranteed ! I eventually went to
placing RAES market orders on the other exchanges, but the turbo options
package is anything but "turbo".
I naturally have called PCQ tech support, and inquired what the problem
might be, and they told me it was my internet connection or
computer..........Soooooo, after a blindingly dull sampling of every ISP
available, I finally got cable modem, and after wondering if my Pentium 133
was the bottleneck, I finally bought a Pentium II 300 with AGP graphics and
128 meg (as discussed earlier this year)
Nope. That wasn't the problem. It's still slow to update.
(Just for reference, I downloaded the 13+ meg MS Internet Explorer 4 update
yesterday from the MS Redmond Washington high bandwith site, in
........ahem.......6 minutes ?) I don't think my ISP is the problem.
Sorry about the long post, but I think it's important to realize that a lot
of the up and down intraday swings in recent months are generated by
notoriously fickle momentum players and to be "late" is to be "dead", if you
catch my drift.
BTW, Datek executions are MUCH faster with cable modem.........like you
said, they seem to get real time quotes out faster than PCQ........I'm not
sure I can get DTN or BMI out here (because they strip data on local cable
channels) but I think I'm going to go without the Nasdaq L2 (which they
don't offer) and just get the fastest prices I can find.
Dick
PS. The Excel DDE linking is slower than the Real Tick III charting.....I
don't know if short-term matters to you, but I try to keep the saying in
mind, "Sell when you can, not when you have to."
On a down day, I can usually break even or even show a small profit by
buying at the right place on the troughs and being ready to sell at the
peaks. If it turns out to be a turnaround day (like yesterday) you can do
pretty well if you correctly judge the capitulation point (like -269 <g>)
and buy into the mess.
But for that, you need REAL real-time data.
From: Harley Meyer <meyer@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Dick <dick@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: metastock-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <metastock-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Friday, December 19, 1997 9:47 PM
Subject: Re: Downloader Question
>Hello Dick,
>
>I too have PCQuote and I have felt that they are actually getting
>better. Now that they have the server farm. I however in my infinite
>wisdom have chosen the $75/month service. I can do more in Excel than
>what I could do with the canned charting program they offer for
>$200+/month.
>As far as the quotes they do get backed up some times. If it gets real
>bad I'll check the quotes on Datek. Since Datek is very good when it
>comes to the big volume days I have a good free backup. But for the most
>part I have felt that they are making improvements in this area as well.
>
>Some areas that can add to this problem is how far off the internet back
>bone you are. The others are phone line quality, modem speed, memory and
>CPU.
>
>Not to turn this into a debate about PCQuote. My guess is that since you
>are paying for the top service you are expecting better service. While
>me paying for the $75/month service I am a little more tolerant. For
>$75/month it is probable the best service. And you know (I hope you
>know) that it is faster than Signal and a few other ones out in the
>market.
>
>Sorry to hear you are having trouble and I hope you get them worked out.
>
>Harley
>
>
>Dick wrote:
>
>> Richard, do you use the paid real-time version of quotes plus, or do
>> you
>> just use the free version on the web ? I've got PC Quote via the
>> internet
>> (because the satellite footprint doesn't extend out here, but it's NOT
>> real
>> time, even though it costs 3-400/month. In fact, I wouldn't recommend
>> PC
>> Quote internet to my worst enemy, even if I had one !<g>
>>
>> On heavy volume days like today, it is suicide to trade the PC Q
>> internet
>> version data (it literally stopped dead today at the bottom)
>>
>> Does anyone have a more robust real-time system that costs something
>> south
>> of a bloomberg machine ?
>>
>> Dick
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Richard Estes <restes@xxxxxxxxx>
>> To: vitaly@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <vitaly@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; chipa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>
>> <chipa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Cc: metastock-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <metastock-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Date: Friday, December 19, 1997 9:10 AM
>> Subject: Re: Downloader Question
>>
>> >Quote plus and TC2000 PRO
>> >Richard Estes
>> >-----Original Message-----
>> >From: Vitaly Larichev <vitaly@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> >To: chipa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <chipa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> >Cc: metastock-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <metastock-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> >Date: Friday, December 19, 1997 11:59 AM
>> >Subject: Re: Downloader Question
>> >
>> >
>> >>Chip Anderson wrote:
>> >>
>> >>> ... Does anyone else use a data provider that automatically
>> updates
>> >>> symbols for them? ...
>> >>
>> >>QPlus.
>> >> Cheers, Vitaly
>> >>
>> >
>
>
>
|