TradeStation

TradeStation
Corporation (TradeStation Group. Inc)
Industry Securities and Futures Brokerage; Trading Analysis Software
Founded 1982 (formed as Omega Research, Inc.)[1]
Headquarters Plantation, Florida, United States
Key people
 John Bartleman,
President[2]
Products Stocks & ETFs, Options, & Futures (for investment and trading)
Parent Monex Group, Inc.
Website www.tradestation.com

TradeStation Group, Inc. is the parent company of online securities & futures brokerage firms and trading technology companies. It is headquartered in Plantation, Florida, and has offices in New York, Chicago, Richardson, TX, London, Sydney and Costa Rica. TradeStation is best known for the analysis software and electronic trading platform it provides to the active trader and certain institutional trader markets that enable clients to design, test, optimize, monitor, and automate their own custom equities, options & futures trading strategies.[3][4] TradeStation Group was a Nasdaq GS-listed company from 1997-2011, until acquired by Monex Group, a Tokyo Stock Exchange listed parent company of one of Japan’s leading online securities brokerage firms.

History

TradeStation was founded by Cuban-born brothers William (Bill) and Rafael (Ralph) Cruz, who sought to create a way to design, test, optimize, and automate their own custom trading strategies. Bill started studying trading at the age of 16, and two years later, the brothers pooled $2,400 to open a futures trading account. They gathered trading data to create charts, which were used to test trading ideas. Bill began to test strategies himself without the benefit of formal coding knowledge, a process that resulted in the development of EasyLanguage®, the company’s proprietary coding language for non-specialists.

Bill and Ralph decided to start their own company, then known as Omega Research. The brothers focused on selling tools that would give clients without a technical or computer programming background the ability to program and test their own trading strategies. In 1987, they released System Writer, a software product that enabled users to develop and “back-test” their own trading ideas using historical market data. In 1989, System Writer Plus was released with new and innovative charting features, which the publication Commodity Trader Consumer Reports likened to “the system trading software equivalent of putting a man on the moon.”[5]

In 1991, Omega Research released TradeStation and, three years later, struck a licensing deal with Dow Jones Telerate to offer TradeStation as a premium service to Telerate’s institutional clients worldwide. In 1997, Omega Research conducted an IPO and became listed on the Nasdaq National Market. The company launched an online version of its product in 1999. In 2001, the company converted itself from a trading software company to an online securities brokerage, and renamed itself “TradeStation.” The software’s back-testing, order-generation and trade execution capabilities were fully integrated for both securities and futures markets in 2003, and forex was added soon thereafter. In 2004 and 2005, TradeStation became a self-clearing equities and options firm. An entire industry eventually grew up around TradeStation’s software, including seminars, publications, and user networks.[6]

TradeStation Analysis and Trading Platform

The TradeStation analysis and trading platform is a professional electronic trading platform for financial market traders. It provides extensive functionality for receiving real-time data, displaying charts, entering orders, and managing outstanding orders and market positions.[21]

Although it comes with a large number of pre-defined indicators, strategy components, and analysis tools, individuals can modify and customize existing indicators and strategies, as well as create their own indicators and strategies, using TradeStation’s proprietary object-oriented EasyLanguage programming language. Traders can also access hundreds of TradeStation-compatible products created by independent third-party developers through the TradeStation TradingApp® Store, as well as access strategy trading ideas submitted by the TradeStation community in the EasyLanguage Library.

TradeStation supports the development, testing, optimizing, and automation of all aspects of trading. Trading strategies can be back-tested and refined against historical data[22] in simulated trading before being traded "live." TradeStation can be used either as a research and testing tool or as a trading platform with TradeStation Securities or IBFX acting as the broker.[3][4]

Corporate Structure

TradeStation Group, Inc.’s principal operating subsidiaries are TradeStation Securities, Inc., IBFX, Inc. and TradeStation Technologies, Inc. TradeStation Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of Monex Group, Inc., one of Japan’s largest online financial services providers.

TradeStation Securities, Inc. is a member of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) and the National Futures Association (NFA). It is a licensed securities broker-dealer and a registered futures commission merchant, and is also a member of the Boston Options Exchange, Chicago Board Options Exchange, Chicago Stock Exchange, International Securities Exchange and NASDAQ OMX. Its TradeStation Prime Services division, based in New York, seeks to provide prime brokerage services to small and mid-sized hedge funds and other firms. The company’s technology subsidiary, TradeStation Technologies, Inc., develops and offers strategy trading software tools and subscription services. Its London-based subsidiary, TradeStation Europe Limited, an Financial Services Authority authorized brokerage firm, introduces UK and other European accounts to TradeStation Securities and TradeStation Forex, Inc.

Monex Group, Inc. provides online investment and trading services for retail and institutional customers around the world through its subsidiaries, including Monex, Inc. in Japan, TradeStation in the U.S. and Europe and Monex Boom in Hong Kong. Monex Group is pursuing its “Global Vision” strategy to establish a truly global online financial institution that creates positive synergies for all stakeholders.

Its main subsidiary, Monex Inc., one of Japan’s largest online securities brokerages, provides advanced and unique financial services to its nearly 1 million individual investors. Monex Group’s services also cover M&A advisory, debt and equity underwriting, asset management focusing on alternative investments, investment education, and other investment banking functions in Japan.

Add-on Products

A large number of third-party developers develop TradeStation-compatible products. Since Tradestation is a development platform, a custom trading program can be developed called a trading system or trading strategy. If any trader has an analysis technique or potentially profitable strategy he would like to have developed, he can either write his own strategy in EasyLanguage or have his trading system developed by third-party developers. Traders can also take advantage of the TradeStation TradingApp® Store, an online marketplace of ready-to-use add-on products built to run on the TradeStation platform by independent developers.

TradeStation WebAPI

The TradeStation WebAPI is an application programming interface that is used to power applications like Web trading, TradeStation Mobile, and products available through the TradeStation TradingApp® Store. With TradeStation WebAPI, third-party developers can also build stand-alone applications or integrate key benefits from TradeStation into their existing systems using any programming language that can make HTTP requests and receive HTTP responses.

Industry Awards and Rankings

Year in and year out, leading financial publications have recognized TradeStation’s trading software and brokerage services.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "TradeStation About Us".
  2. ↑ "TradeStation Executive Officers".
  3. 1 2 Test Your Trading Strategies at These Web Sites, Mark Ingebretsen, August 5, 2000, thestreet.com. Accessed on line November 28, 2007.
  4. 1 2 Where the Day Trading Money Is, Tom Taulli, The Motley Fool, October 15, 2004. Accessed on line November 28, 2007.
  5. ↑ "A history of SystemWriter and TradeStation , by Murray Ruggiero UsingEasyLanguage.com"
  6. ↑ "Murray Ruggiero 11/25/2013 , Futures Magazine, Trading systems analysis then and now"
  7. ↑ "TradeStation to be acquired by Japanese Monex Group". Finance Magnates. April 21, 2011.
  8. ↑ TradeStation Acquires Leading Forex Brokerage – Acquisition Adds to TradeStation’s Rapidly Growing Global Forex Business
  9. ↑ TRADESTATION RANKED #1 ONLINE BROKERAGE FIRM IN THE U.S.
  10. ↑ TradeStation Tops the Charts Again, Winning Six Major Awards; Rated Best Trading System for Stocks and Futures for the Eighth Consecutive Year
  11. ↑ TradeStation Ranked Among Top Five Online Brokers Overall and Tops for Equity Trading Tools in Major New Investor’s Business Daily Study of Active Investors
  12. ↑ TradeStation Rated "Best for Frequent Traders" for Third Consecutive Year in Barron's Magazine's Annual Ranking of Online Brokerage Firms Also Rated "Best Trading Experience and Technology" and Given Highest Star Rating for "International Traders"
  13. ↑ TradeStation Once Again Declared “Best” in Six Major Categories by TASC Readers; Rated Best Trading System for Stocks and Futures for the Ninth Consecutive Year
  14. ↑ TradeStation Enters Korean Market Through Alliance with Shinhan Investment Corp.
  15. ↑ TradeStation Enters Chinese Market through Alliance with Guosen Securities Company Limited
  16. ↑ TradeStation Rated Best Trading System for Stocks and Futures for the Tenth Consecutive Year; Declared “Best” in Five Major Categories by TASC Readers
  17. ↑ TradeStation Launches New Online TradingApp™ Store
  18. ↑ TradeStation Receives Highest Rating of 4 ½ Stars for “Best for Frequent Traders” and “Best for International Traders” in Barron’s Magazine’s Annual Ranking of Online Brokerage Firms
  19. ↑ TradeStation Ranked One of America’s “Top Five” Online Brokers for Third Year in a Row and #1 for Equity Trading Tools for Second Year in a Row in Annual Investor’s Business Daily Survey of Active Investors
  20. ↑ TradeStation Rated Best Trading System for Stocks and Futures for the Eleventh Consecutive Year; Declared “Best” in Six Major Categories by TASC Readers
  21. ↑ “Online Investors Cut the Cord”|
  22. ↑ TradeStation Market Data
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