|
PureBytes Links
Trading Reference Links
|
Fred,
It's always good to hear about a pending rise in the liquidity of options.
Of course I wish you well. I too have been evaluating option software and
have passed on the packages you've chosen as the final contenders. Here're
my comments, since you asked so nicely.
There isn't one application that addresses all needs, unless you're prepared
to spend at least $6,000 a year. The upper end seems to be around $25,000
for a single user. If you intend to speculate with just a handful of
positions at a time, as distinct from hedging through options, the best user
interface and a program from which you can learn a lot, particularly with
good documentation, is AIQ's Option Expert. It wins hands down.
However AIQ didn't work for me as I'm in the latter camp; i.e., hedging
portfolios with a variety of derivatives. The limitations of AIQ in my case
were the maximum number of legs per strategy being limited to five, I
couldn't consolidate several strategies or positions, there wasn't anyway to
interface it to AIQ's new portfolio manager, and last but not least, when I
created a strategy without using Option Experts trade finder, the math was
off too much for my tolerance. AIQ readily recognized the latter problem and
will soon release a service pack. The initial support person you reach is
shallow, but when it's a real problem you soon get to a knowledgeable
person. Overall it's a great program for small position traders.
OptionVue is another story. I found its interface very clunky. It seemed
like you're always fishing for "something" to do a small job. The eventual
reason I turned away from OptionVue was its obvious errors and the support
person's comments that "perhaps it's not for me if I'm so particular."
OptionVue offers a lot of features, but most of them are really poor in
terms of over priced, unintuitive and ill-connected to the job of options
trading. I think there should be much better value than OptionVue from which
to select.
I also tried MicroHedge. The license is $300 a month, and they claim it's
used by the majority of the "upstairs people" in Chicago. It's very
extensive, but a programmer with an academic background will immediately
notice that it's design is at odds with convention. The use of control keys
to do "things" quickly is good, but you have to get used to the shortcuts
doing other functions in most other software. But you can arrange several
matrices just about any way you can image and very quickly jump from one to
the other. But mainframe like risk graphics, yuk. It reminded me of a S/36 I
had to support a hundred years ago let alone the "beauty" of an AS/400.
MicroHedge could have worked for my application, but the graphics were just
unacceptable. The program is more suitable to market-makers I believe who
walk around with print-outs waiting to scalp off-floor day-traders.
Some time ago I looked Option Pro from Essex Trading. They have a new
version, which I installed on Friday. I'm having multi-screen issues with
the software, so I'll install it on another PC next week. I'm hooking it up
to eSignal rt. Reading the documentation of the latest version and recalling
my previous experience, I suspect Option Pro will functionally be very
capable, particularly with all the weird strikes that have developed over
recent years as result of splits, increased volatility, and so on. The
documentation says the program offers a way to consolidate several positions
and strategies. This might be the one for me. I'll let you in a week if
you're still looking for software.
I tried OptionStation 2000i when it first came out. As I recall it seemed
like yet another career to keep it running, and not much time left for
trading. Someone on the list mentioned a month or so ago that all the bugs
seemed to have been resolved, which immediately caused me to wonder if there
hadn't been some divine intervention in the Miami area. OptionStation Pro,
along the lines of TradeStation Pro, may turn out to dominate in terms of
the best bang for the buck and offering the most flexibility. I conferred
with a person at Omega, oops, Tradestation Technologies, who shall remain
anonymous, but I'm of the opinion that his opinion is strategically very
important inside the camp. After a few long conversations, if the
Tradestation Group can surmount the current challenges, when it's all said
and done, they'll have about the best offerings. But I'll wait and see
before getting into OptionStation, although I suspect that's where I'll end
up.
There is one other options package I've yet to evaluate. It's from
Optionnomics. Developed by a guy with many years of arb experience, but a
single-user license is around $12,000. More later if anyone is interested.
Hope this helps.
-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Finch [mailto:ffinch@xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Friday, April 06, 2001 5:32 PM
To: Omega List
Subject: Option Software
Hello List,
I have decided to add option trading to my many and varied ways of losing
money. No, just kidding ;o). I do have a serious question though. I am
looking at several different software packages to manage and trade options.
I have currently narrowed it down to OptionVue 5 and TS OptionStation. I am
aware of the cost difference and the additional capability as far as system
writing and the such goes of OptionStation. So those differences have been
discounted.
I would like to get a real world view of each package and how it and the
company's support and knowledge compare. I am a long time user of TS and on
and off lurker of this list so I am aware of the current state of Omega. I
guess that's why I'm even looking at other packages.
Any and all comments, advise, and other software suggestions would be
greatly appreciated.
Fred
|