 What you need for day-trading speed
Day-traders aren't much different from position traders in what they need to do their business well -- information on which to base a decision, price quotes to determine when to act, a way to analyze this data to turn it into a trading plan and a broker to put that plan into action.
Day-traders just need more of it; they need it faster; they need it more reliably. The magnitude of fluctuations in markets viable for day-trading requires that day-traders deal with changes quickly if they hope to survive.
Unless you're a floor trader, you will need at least a 486/66 MHz PC with 16MB of RAM running a Windows operating system, but most recommend a Pentium with 32MB of RAM and a one-gigabyte hard drive. Macintosh owners will find the field of real-time products to be pretty slim.
From there you have a number of choices for getting real-time prices, information and analysis. You can buy comprehensive turnkey packages or combine programs specializing in certain features. You also must decide which features you need, such as news, specific stock trading ideas or stocks and options data in addition to futures. At a minimum, you probably will pay for three things:
* Data feed -- Price quotes must be fast, accurate and reliable. Keep in mind you will make two payments for real-time data: exchange fees and vendor charges. Depending on your situation, delivery can be by dedicated phone line, satellite dish or cable. The number of exchanges or means of delivery will affect your data costs.
* Analysis -- Whether you want to analyze markets yourself or take trading recommendations from another, you will be paying someone who has programmed the analytical studies or the trading system or has made it possible for you to develop your own.
* Information -- News services are included in some real-time packages, or news or advisory services may be available as add-on features. While price data and some means to analyze it may be more essential for the day-trader, it's nice to have event news and insights, too, unless you have trading system software that does everything for you.
 Futures' 1997 SourceBook lists 154 firms as suppliers of electronic price quotes, 234 providers of charting or technical analysis software, nearly 300 trading system vendors, 45 news services and numerous advisory services or other information sources.
The following is a sample of what is available from a few major providers of real-time products and services for day-traders. Readers also should refer to Futures' 1996 Guide to Computerized Trading for more information about real-time products.
For a larger list of firms in these categories and hot links to those with Web sites, check Futures' Web site (http://www.futuresmag.com/aboutfm/fosites3.html).
Data sources Signal from Data Broadcasting Corp. (http://www.dbc.com, 800-826-0098) is one example of a data vendor that offers real-time quotes on all futures, stocks, options, cash and international markets for traders interested in investment areas beyond futures.
Signal does not offer analytical studies, although company officials say many are coming with the next release. It does include DBC Newsroom, which gives news, commentary and analysis. Among programs that use the Signal data stream are TradeStation, MetaStock, Aspen Graphics and OptionVue.
The initial cost ranges from $195 to $495, depending on the type of installation. The monthly cost for real-time quotes is $220.
Other major real-time quote providers include BMI (Bonneville Market Information at http://www.bmiquotes.com, 801-532-3400) and Standard & Poor's ComStock (914-381-7000). FutureSource (see below), which covers futures and options on futures but not stocks, also is a data source for TradeStation for $195 a month.
Delayed and end-of-day data also are available, and may be sufficient for some, but most active day-traders will find real-time quotes a necessity.
Turnkey packages The trading packages that have everything in one box run the gamut -- and price range -- from the sophisticated terminals, such as those from Bloomberg Financial Markets, found on the desks of institutional traders, to the units that deliver only basic quotes and analysis and offer other services as add-ons.
FutureSource (http://www.futuresource.com, 800-621-2628) offers two futures versions with more than 50 technical studies plus the ability to add services such as Futures World News, BTU, Platt's Commodity News, Natural Gas Intelligence Daily and Weekly, Pro Farmer and Hightower News. FutureSource Expert, compatible with Windows 95, is $420 a month; FutureSource Technical is $370 a month.
CQG for Windows from CQG Inc. (http://www.cqg.com, 800-525-7082) covers futures and options on futures and requires a Pentium 166 MHz and Windows 95 (24MB RAM) or Windows NT (32MB RAM). CQG pioneered the computerization of Tom DeMark indicators and offers more than 60 studies. A special feature is a link to Excel for custom portfolio management. The monthly cost averages around $585 plus exchange fees.
Other products in this category include Dow Jones Telerate (http://www.telerate.com, 800-334-3813); MarketPro from Market Communications Group and Reuters America (800-810-0111); and DTNstant/Knight-Ridder as well as several other products from Data Transmission Network (800-397-7000).
Analytical software You can break down this area into several general categories:
* Charting and analysis: Buy and analyze -- Stand-alone software programs can be purchased rather economically and used with live data feeds to produce charts and technical studies. Examples include ASCTrend Software from AbleSys Corp. (http://www.ablesys.com, 510-538-0926); LiveWire (805-646-0094); Candlestick Forecaster (real-time edition) from International Pacific Trading Co. (http://www.iptc.com, 800-444-9993); TradeWind from MarketSoft Research (800-495-7638); and one of the few products designed specifically for the Mac, Trendsetter (800-825-1852).
* Charting and analysis: Lease and analyze -- Rather than purchase analytical software that will work on real-time data, you can lease it. An example is Aspen Graphics from Aspen Research Group (http://www.aspenres.com, 800-359-1121), which can use seven data feeds (ADP, Bridge, BMI, S&P ComStock, CMA, BisNews, DBC Signal), offers more than 50 studies plus DeMark indicators and costs $195 a month. You also can write your own studies with canned or user-defined formulas.
* Charting and analysis plus: Buy, analyze, build and test systems -- A popular program in this area is TradeStation from Omega Research (http://www.omegaresearch.com, 800-497-8713). It not only has numerous built-in charting and technical analysis studies but allows day-traders to program and test almost any trading technique or concept they can express in words.
Real-time data formats supported include BMI, DBC Signal, FutureSource and S&P ComStock in addition to a number of end-of-day formats. TradeStation 4.0 currently is offered for about $2,400 (12 "easy" monthly payments of $199.95).
* Trading system software -- Real-time trading system software also is available on a purchase or lease basis. Sometimes the day-trader has the choice of either, although the purchase price tends to be expensive.
Rather than a one-time purchase of a pricey system that may not turn out to be what you want, the argument for leasing is you always have the latest upgrade and better support at a lower price; if you don't like the system, you can walk away at a minimal cost.
Examples of this type of real-time software include %C-DT Trading System from Creative Breakthrough Inc. (http://www.futures-cbi.com/~creative, 561-776-0895) and Recurrence IV from Avco Financial Corp. (203-661-7381).
* Options specialty products -- Options trading is becoming a mathematical game that is impossible for the day-trader to play without increasingly sophisticated and specialized computer assistance.
Examples of real-time software for the options trader include Option Station from Omega Research (see above); Orion from Optionomics (http://optionomics.com, 801-466-2111); OptionSource from The Options Co. (800-393-6442); and OptionVue IV from OptionVue Systems International (http://www.optionvue.com, 800-733-6610).
News services News services may be incorporated into packages such as those from Data Broadcasting Corp., FutureSource, Dow Jones, Reuters and others or may be an add-on feature. A broad range of advisory services, weather services and other specialized services are available.
This is an area where the day-trader has a great deal of flexibility in tailoring services to needs. If you have a blackbox real-time trading system, you may not need anything more. If your analysis is event-sensitive or if you are a trader who must have some explanation for why the market does what it does, you might find some type of information add-on service valuable.
Keep in mind a day-trader with a computer and access to the Internet already has access to a world of information. Government reports, exchange data and many other items are free, and the number of services offering data and information on a for-pay basis is growing. The Internet is a potential goldmine for traders -- if they can find the time to get the most out of it.
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