or return to April 2001 Contents
Ameritrade |
Ameritrade Holding Corporation announced an agreement to acquire
TradeCast Ltd., which, through its subsidiaries, is a provider of
direct-access trade execution and software designed for the active trader.
The advanced trading capabilities of TradeCast will combine with Ameritrade's
operational efficiencies and technology engine to provide customers with
order management and decision support tools.
Ameritrade will integrate certain parts of its systems with TradeCast's platform to benefit Ameritrade and TradeCast's growing base of broker/dealer business partners and active and professional investors. Ameritrade's tools include the advanced analysis features that make up the BigEasy Investor client software and website. The BigEasy Investor package includes strong technical and fundamental analysis tools that provide decision support to the active investor. A comprehensive broker/dealer offering an integrated direct access/active and professional investor platform is scheduled to launch spring 2001. Ameritrade Holding Corporation (www.amtd.com) |
TradeSignals.com |
TradeSignals.com unveiled a new real-time, on-demand quote service,
which is available on the company's own website and for deployment on other
financial websites. The unique feature and key advantage of MyRealTime
is that it entirely circumvents the retail investor having to pay monthly
fees to the exchanges to access real-time quote data. In the past, retail
investors often had to pay from $5 to $70 per month per exchange for real-time
quote data. The new service is available free to existing subscribers of
TradeSignals.com
TradeSignals.com |
Watcher Technologies, a provider of professional daytrading
systems, announced that Trinix Securities has begun using Watcher's
Application Programming Interface (API to connect to the US equity markets.
The Watcher Api provides ultra-fast connectivity to Nasdaq, the New York Stock Exchange, and various electronic communications networks (ECNs), including The Island ECN; Redibook; Archipelago; Instinet; and Brut. Using the Watcher API, Trinix can access the markets through the same advanced execution software utilized by the WatcherPlus's trading system. Trades placed using the WatcherPlus trading system account for approximately 10% of Nasdaq's trading volume. Traders using the WatcherPlus trading system are highly active and typically execute more than 300 trades per day. Watcher Technologies develops trading systems for the professional trading industry. On average, approximately 350,000 trades per day, roughly 10% of Nasdaq's total daily trades, are executed via the WatcherPlus trading platform. Watcher Technologies licenses its trading systems to broker-dealers and other financial services institutions. Datek Online Holdings Corp. provides direct access to financial services. Primary businesses are Datek Online Brokerage Services; iClearing, a securities clearing operation; and Watcher Technologies, a software development company for the financial services industry. Trinix Securities is a professional direct-access trading firm formed in August 2000. Watcher Technologies, LLC, https://www.watchertech.com. Trinix Securities |
DecisionPoint.com |
DecisionPoint.com is a website specializing in stock market
indicators. A new feature on the site, called Straight Shots, presents
a series of indicator charts for a specific market index. You can click
on the starting link for, say, the Nasdaq 100 index, to bring up a one-year
bar chart of the NDX. Click on the chart to get a price momentum analysis
chart. Keep clicking on the charts until you have reviewed 17 indicator
charts specific to the NDX. This feature offers a convenient way for the
trader to focus on a specific index to trade.
Decision Point |
Track Data Corporation offers its myTrack online trading members
the ability to route orders directly to SuperDot and SOES. New versions
of myTrack offer a new method of choosing routing sources. myTrack members
can access SuperDot and SOES directly two ways: by selecting them as their
default routing sources or on a trade-by-trade basis. Members who have
downloaded myTrack version 4.3.22 can select SuperDot or Soes on a trade-by-trade
basis.
SuperDot, which stands for Super Designated Order Turnaround, is a New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) computer system that provides swift executions of market and marketable limit orders, up to specified sizes, in virtually all listed stocks. SuperDot bypasses the floor brokers by transmitting market and day limit orders directly to the specialists. SOES, an acronym for Small Order Entry System, is basically the Nasdaq version of the SuperDot system. SOES accepts orders less than 1,000 shares, aggregates them, and executes them against firm quotes from marketmakers. myTrack offers access through PCs, browser phones, and PDAs. myTrack is offering the first week of trading commission-free to new customers. Track Data Corporation |
eSignal has launched eSignal 6.0. The enhancements are designed
to put the service on par with services used by professional traders.
The new release fully supports decimalization, speeds up the retrieval time of options chains by 300%, and significantly improves options analytics and pricing. A customizable market-maker screen shows which marketmaker is active in and moving the stocks the user follows. It also includes regional stock prices, enhanced alerts, tailored news
services for individual ticker symbols, improved charting studies, and
a new summary quote window, all supported by the fastest-possible delivery
of market data acquired via direct connections with the exchanges.
Data Broadcasting Corp. |
eCharts.com |
eCharts.com is a new website that aims to help investors trade
smarter, not more - and to have fun while they are at it. All levels of
investors will benefit from the new site, which is sponsored in part by
Equis International, developers of MetaStock technical analysis and charting
software.
Visitors to eCharts.com can break into charting and analysis through the site's interactive Trade School, a new, high-tech way to learn the basics of trading, from what makes a chart to how to tell where those elusive highs and lows really are. Hosted by eCharts.com managing editor Thom Hartle, Trade School includes video clips, cartoons, charts, interactive quizzes, and more. Equis International, Inc. |
RealTimeFutures.com
RealTimeFutures.com squawk box chart |
Realtimefutures.com has launched a live, Internet-based, Nasdaq
squawk box product. The service is available by subscription and features
live, no-delay audio quotes and other important trading information broadcast
live over the Internet from the trading pit at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange
(CME). The Nasdaq 100 futures trading pit has recently been expanded by
the CME, as it has become very popular among day traders, large institutional
firms, and the public.
Realtimefutures.com is a joint venture between Traders Software Company of Boca Raton, FL, and A-Live Quotes, of Chicago, IL. www.realtimefutures.com |
GAIN Capital has partnered with several leading providers of
foreign exchange-related trading tools to provide its customers with the
kind of market information usually available at the institutional level.
The selected vendors include such established names as Thomson Financial's
IFR, Aspen Graphics, 4Cast, Prone Analytics, and MoneyLine. These services
are offered to GAIN clients at a discounted subscription rate.
GAIN Capital |
EquityTrader.com has launched a subscription-based professional
area to assist traders in stock picking. The new section includes lists
of stocks exhibiting pivots and Powershifts (trading signals) and stocks
currently depicting Bollinger Band patterns, such as The Squeeze and Walking
Up (Down) the Bands. Also available is a screening utility for selecting
stocks based on a variety of criteria. Lists with charts-at-a-click enable
traders to easily select trades.
The professional area offers a free one-month trial and thereafter is $25/month. Most areas of EquityTrader.com continue to be free to users. To go directly to the EquityTrader Pro, visit https://www.equitytrader.com/pro/default.asp. Acme Analytics Corp. was founded by John Bollinger, best known for his Bollinger Bands analysis technique. Acme Analytics Corp. |
www.jurikres.com |
Jurik Research has released version 2 of its price data smoother,
JMA. Unlike classical moving averages, JMA cleans up price action by removing
noise without adding significant lag. JMA can also jump across price gaps
and rapidly settle in new market levels. This permits using JMA as a proxy
for price data, producing all-around, higher-quality technical analysis.
JMA-2 has only half the lag of the original. Benefits include improved
accuracy, timing, and long-term trend analysis.
Jurik Research Software |
www.xpresstrade.com |
Xpresstrade has updated its website. Its redesign offers an
arsenal of online tools and resources geared toward self-directed, retail,
futures and options traders. Direct-access order-routing technology sends
customer orders directly and electronically -- without any human intervention
-- to their destinations. Fill confirmations are usually returned in seconds.
Customers enjoy 24-hour access to leading futures markets worldwide. Customers
also receive free, unlimited, real-time futures quotes and futures news
from leading sources around the world.
Xpresstrade, LLC |
Orbit is a real-time trading tool for investment analysis. Orbit's
features include quote grids, charting, time & sales, news, and more
for $75 per month (plus exchange fees). Orbit is a Windows-based software
application that is housed on user desktops and is powered by HyperFeed
market data, a datafeed used by many professional traders, brokers, and
portfolio managers. Orbit allows the user to create a real-time investment
station based on his or her own specifications.
PCQuote.com |