February 2004 TRADE NEWS
News Releases & Products

or return to February 2004 Contents


TRADE NEWS & PRODUCTS

Nasdaq TotalView Streamlines ViewSuite Products

Nasdaq has streamlined its data products to provide nonprofessional traders with easier access to the information available to professionals. Nasdaq's ViewSuite group of data offerings, renamed TotalView, has consolidated its offerings into one product and decreased the service's cost.

TotalView allows investors, market participants, and issuers to view the full depth of the Nasdaq market and see all of the order depth provided by each Nasdaq market participant within the top five price levels. Nonprofessionals pay $5 a month, professional users $40 a month.

www.nasdaq.com

BACK

CBOE Expands Rollout Of Hybrid Trading System, Lists Options

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) said that the second phase of the rollout of its Hybrid trading system, Hybrid 2.0, would include four major components. First, it would include a new class of CBOE members, remote market makers, who will stream quotes into the CBOE to enhance the liquidity base provided by market makers. Second is the expansion of the CBOE designated primary market maker community through the creation of electronic designated primary market makers, who will stream quotes into the CBOE to enhance the liquidity base provided by CBOE's on-floor designated primary market makers. Third would be streamlined procedures to allow firms to participate in trades with their customers' orders, and the fourth component would be revisions to CBOE's transaction fee structure. These enhancements are scheduled to be ready in the first quarter of 2004, the CBOE said.

In other news, the CBOE is now listing options on Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings. CME options will trade on the March expiration cycle, with introductory expirations in December, January, March and June. Initial strike prices have been set at 60, 65, 70, and 75, with position limits of 22,500 contracts.

www.cboe.com

BACK

TradeStation Launches TradeStation 7.2

TradeStation Group has launched TradeStation 7.2, its third update to the trading platform this year. Version 7.2 offers forex analytics and execution capabilities, order entry through its matrix window, and direct exchange market data connectivity for Nasdaq, NYSE, AMEX, and OPRA.

www.tradestation.com

BACK

Ensign Windows Offers Two Versions

Ensign Software has released two new versions of its Ensign Windows software. The software is now compatible with Quote.com and Interactive Brokers.

www.ensignsoftware.com

BACK

Harrisdirect Introduces Integrated Platform

Harrisdirect has introduced MarketPort, an integrated direct-access platform tailored to meet the needs of those who trade more than 20 times a month. MarketPort offers trading capabilities through leading electronic communications networks (ECNs), and its clients receive a more favorable commission and fee schedule. Individuals trading more than 20 times per month pay $9.99 a trade, while those trading fewer pay $12.99 a trade. Minimum opening balance is $50,000.

MarketPort clients receive Nasdaq Level II quotes, ISLD, ARCA, and INCA order books, with integrated one-click order input, streaming real-time market data and technical charting, a fully customizable trading platform features, and more.

www.harrisdirect.com/marketport-launch.htm

BACK

Statistics Add-In To Excel Is Offered

Palisade Corp. has released a statistics add-in for Microsoft Excel, the company said. StatTools combines intuitive data management with analytical powers and replaces Excel's built-in statistics, but users do not have to leave their spreadsheet, Palisade added. The add-in also gives users the ability to create their own customized statistical procedures. Standard is available for $295, the professional version for $495.

www.Palisade.com

BACK

Online Trading Tool Provides Streaming, Statistical Analysis

"Trade-Ideas" technology provides real-time streaming and statistical analysis of thousands of stocks, indexes, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), RushTrade said. If a particular stock hits a new high or low the software user will know instantly. The user can also monitor channel breaks, volume spikes, and more. Trade-Ideas can be tailored to the trader's own personal style and can be added to his or her current RushTrade service for $45 a month.

www.rushtrade.com

BACK

Online Innovation Provides Group And Fund Service And Support

Optivest has launched an online service and support division for investment clubs, micro hedge funds, trading partnerships, and other trading and investment groups that pool funds together to participate in the financial markets. The pooling features result in the lowest commission costs available to this industry segment. Groups that use Optivest can have an investment account, a trading account or both. Optivest clubs and funds range from ultraconservative to extremely aggressive speculation. Each account can use trading strategies and models that are statistically tracked so members can monitor their individual performance.

www.optivest-inc.com

BACK

XpressTrade Has New site For Online FX Trading

Xpresstrade has launched a new website dedicated to currency trading. Visitors will learn about the structure of the FX market and the differences between forex, stocks, and futures. Traders will also be provided with free, real-time, streaming forex quotes and charts and will also have the opportunity to engage FX specialists in live, real-time chats via the Internet. Most important, every visitor can register for a free FX demo account that allows traders to paper trade a hypothetical $50,000 account in a live, real-time environment.

www.xtfx.com

BACK

Field Financial Offers A Pivot Point Calculator

Field Financial Group said it has introduced a free software tool to calculate the classical pivot points for any market on any time frame. This calculator and others are available upon request.

www.fieldfinancial.com

BACK

Bollinger Seminar On Systems And Timing

Well-known market analyst John Bollinger is holding a two-day seminar titled "Bollinger on Bollinger Bands: Advanced Topics." Day 1 will cover trading systems based on Bollinger Bands that work in a variety of markets. The seminar will cover four trading systems, volume indicators, when to enter the trades, and when to exit. Day 2 will focus on market timing and will examine some of the classic timing tools and techniques, as well as present modern tools that will allow investors to pick off the best part of the big swings. The conference will be held at the Sheraton Gateway near the Los Angeles International Airport on February 7 and 8, 2004. Cost is $1,195.

www.BollingerBands.com

BACK

Monte Carlo Simulation For Wealth-Lab Developer

Wealth-Lab released a companion product for Developer 3 (WLD3) trading software. After testing a portfolio of stocks or futures with WLD3, traders can use Monte Carlo-Lab (MCLab) to explore potential outcomes of their trading systems. After loading the historical simulation results from WLD3 directly into MCLab, users can execute randomized simulations based on historical results. The product offers a variety of choices to produce equity curves based on the historical equity curve or trade history.

www.wealth-lab.com

BACK

RINA Systems Develops Free Traders Site

Rina Systems has developed TradeStationZone (TSZ) (not part of TradeStation Group), a one-stop shopping center website for TradeStation users and the active trader community. Products and services include software, hardware, systems, signals, indicators, data, books, videos, newsletters, advisories, seminars, workshops, and custom software development.

TSZ also features news, articles, reports, EasyLanguage code, forum discussions, reviews, and more. Anyone can view TradeStationZone, become a member, use available resources, submit a publication, review a product/service, or join a discussion group. Participation and membership in TSZ activities is free.

www.tradestationzone.com

BACK

Global Forex Partners With Zaner Group

Global Forex Trading has announced a referral partnership with Zaner Group. Zaner will be utilizing GFT's liquidity, execution, and back-office services as well as online trading platform DealBook FX. Global Forex also announced partnerships with two other Chicago-based firms, R.J. O'Brien and Zap Futures.

www.gftforex.com, www.zaner.com

BACK

eSignal 7.5 Adds More Enhancements

eSignal announced eSignal 7.5 with extended intraday data, added market depth, news from Dow Jones NewsPlus and AFX News, more advanced charts, new add-on studies, and full integration with eSignal Market Scanners. Version 7.5 also supports a connection to the new eSignal Office Server that provides clients with a cost-effective and efficient way of managing bandwidth for all eSignal users within a single office.

www.esignal.com, www.interactivedatacorp.com

BACK

Platform Supports Flexible Compensation

Hotspot FX's Introducing Broker (IB) initiative supports flexible compensation structures, including traditional commission-based compensation or "commission-free" trading. It also supports one-click trading in which transaction sizes and account information are preloaded into the system. The platform continues to support a full suite of resting order types that traders can use to manage risk when they are not online.

www.hotspotfx.com/callout/ib/

BACK

StockAlerts.com Offers Alerts

StockAlerts.com watches the market and alerts its subscribers to certain events via email, pager, or cellphone, the developer explained. It will watch an individual tradable or portfolio and look for changes in price, price/earnings, earning per share announcements, volume or market capitalization, or analyst calls, as well as monitor margin equity. A trial subscription is available.

https://StockAlerts.com

BACK

Return to February 2004 Contents