Best broker for automated trading

[abattia]

I use NinjaTrader (which I'm very happy with) to do automated daytrades in stocks.

My broker's technology is letting me down on account of unacceptable unreliability and unavailability, and I want to find something better ...

The following brokers apparently integrate their technology with NinjaTrader:
- Interactive Brokers
- MB Trading
- Patsystems
- PFG (Peregrine Financial)
- TD Ameritrade
- Trading Technologies
- Vision Financial Markets
- Zen-Fire

I want to establish which broker technology is most RELIABLE from an automated trading standpoint.
- Is the technology always fully available during trading hours (04h15 - 20h00 EST, in my case) without downtime or server re-boots?
- Do technical issues with the broker's technology ever prevent your trading computer from taking trades, or cause it to miss set-ups?
- Do you find you are having to use "work arounds" to adapt your "ideal" trading scripts to what your broker's technology actually allows you to do in terms of order handling?
- Is your broker's technology good at dealing with multiple automated trade orders, all issued in a short time-frame? Or do orders regularly get "lost" ...?

If you also auto-trade, and execute these auto-trades through any of these brokers (with NinjaTrader), please share your views on the RELIABILITY of your broker's technology (from the standpoint of executing your auto-trades).

If you don't want to post your response to the forum, please feel free to message me directly in confidence ...

Thank you in advance.

[NinjaTrader_Bertrand]

abattia, welcome to our forums - hopefully you get the feedback you seek from our community here.

[abattia]

Poll on elitetrader.com

For those interested, I have also posted a poll in elitetrader.com's automated trading forum.

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=193588&perpage=6&pagenumber=2

[mustang8888]

It's too bad Abattia's post is not getting replies. This is a very good post with detailed questions that show experience and clarity on the poster's part.

As a trader looking at auto-trading with Ninja Trader, I would be very interested in users feedback regarding the best broker for auto-trades.

I wish Ninja Trader had a longer list of supported brokers, with some of them in Canada.

Bottom line: I want to auto-trade with Ninja Trader
Question: What broker will make the cut?

In Forex even more than in any other market, the broker seems to be the weakest link in the trader's setup.

[Showa50]

I recently made the switch to PFG and thought I'd share this link with you.
http://www.ninjatrader.com/webnew/support_PFG.htm
Of particular interest might be the historical data and OCO disclaimers. So far I haven't had any problems with PFG servers during trading hours for me (0730-1500CST).

However, I do not use NT to execute orders. I use it simply as a charting platform with custom indicators.

[Trevor.Richter]

I can only speak about my experience with IB, who I selected because they met my requirements for a discount broker able to function inline with NT to autotrade.

- Is the technology always fully available during trading hours (04h15 - 20h00 EST, in my case) without downtime or server re-boots?.

Depends on what yoyu define as trading hours (e.g. FX is 24/7), but yes, IB is available consistently during regular hours (I trade between 09h00 and 16h00).
I have not experienced unexpected downtime in 10+ months of trading.

- Do technical issues with the broker's technology ever prevent your trading computer from taking trades, or cause it to miss set-ups?.

Rarely - I can think of one inexplicable problem but can't attribute it to IB or NT (more likely due to NT).

- Do you find you are having to use "work arounds" to adapt your "ideal" trading scripts to what your broker's technology actually allows you to do in terms of order handling?.

Not in my experience.

- Is your broker's technology good at dealing with multiple automated trade orders, all issued in a short time-frame? Or do orders regularly get "lost" ...?.

Again, what do you define as a "short time frame"? I trade 5 min bars and IB has not had issues at that resolution.

If you also auto-trade, and execute these auto-trades through any of these brokers (with NinjaTrader), please share your views on the RELIABILITY of your broker's technology (from the standpoint of executing your auto-trades). .

To date, IB has been extremely reliable.

My one issue with IB is the fact that you need to log in every 24 h. The easiest workaround is to reset the logout time, but this still needs to be done at least once a day, which is a pain in the butt. If you DO get logged out, you have to restart all your strategies from scratch, a real pain (because this is where errors happen most frequently -- human errors...).

Hope that helps

[Mirko]

I have good experience with Zen-Fire but I am looking for an broker with a master account structure function (like IAB has). But IAB client is not running stable on my servers and I think IAB does not support an open API solution and it is impossible to connect direct from NT.
Can somebody recommend a broker to me with a master account structure where I can trade a number of accounts at once and connect directly from NT?