Connenction Speed

[safetrading]

I recently started using Ninja Trader with Zen Fire to day trade the ES. I really like this platform. I currently use cable for my internet connection, but am considering moving to a rural area where only satellite internet is available.

I was wondering if anyone has experience using this type of connection which is slower than cable and has some latency issues and if it would have a noticible effect on my order execution or updating of live data?

Thanks for anyone taking the time to answer.

Safetrading

[NinjaTrader_Ray]

Satelite by definition has some latency compared to landline based carriers indpendant of any feed you may be connected to.

[safetrading]

From your reply, it sounds like I didn't state my question clearly. As I previously stated, I understand there are latency issues with satelite, so it will definetely be slower than cable. So I guess my appropriate question should be, if I were using a satelite connection instead of my current cable, would the difference in order execution speed be noticable to me (ie, 2 to 3 seconds which from my view point would at times cause performance issues with my trading), or are we talking fractions of a second which I would not notice?

Thanks,

Safetrading

Satelite by definition has some latency compared to landline based carriers indpendant of any feed you may be connected to.

[NinjaTrader_Josh]

Sorry, we are not ISP experts and cannot provide you a quote for this. There are too many variables ranging from where you actually live to how good the satellite ISP is. You will need to contact customers of the particular ISP and see what they think.

[safetrading]

Thanks Josh, I understand. I'll see what I can find out via some user forums.

Safetrading

Sorry, we are not ISP experts and cannot provide you a quote for this. There are too many variables ranging from where you actually live to how good the satellite ISP is. You will need to contact customers of the particular ISP and see what they think.

[NinjaTrader_Ray]

I do beleive reading something at some time that satelite could have latency of at least 800 ms, don't quote me on this though, as Josh stated, we are not experts.

[safetrading]

Thanks for the info. Don't worry, I won't quote you. I figure with all of the variables, it will be close to impossible to get a concrete answer, so I planned to gather as many opinions as possible before considering the move.

Thanks,

Safetrading

I do beleive reading something at some time that satelite could have latency of at least 800 ms, don't quote me on this though, as Josh stated, we are not experts.

[cclsys]

Safetrading, I am in EXACTLY the same boat. I have spent time on quite a few forums but cannot find anyone with recent experience especially given their 'fair use' policies which monitor bandwidth usage and drop you down to dial-up speeds in some cases when you exceed them.

Thus far I have not been able to get a clear answer from my potential supplier but if I do get hooked up I will be sure to post report on experience.

It is strange that Ninja and no-one else has answers for this.

If you have satellite (or broadband) you can go into DOS command and get a ping. I can't remember exactly how but a neighbour did it on his satellite and it was around .6 seconds which is fairly typical.

That means it is about 1.2 seconds R/T meaning you get the data about half a second late then your order takes another half a second to transmit. Even for scalpers one second is not all THAT long!

The real issue is the fair use business and companies keep changing how they configure this all the time so there is no definitive answer.

However, I have picked up on recent forum contributions about Blue Wave and Hughes satellite systems that Hughes' latest policy is to drop you down to about 14 kps for up to a day until you are back inside your quota. The Blue Wave (telestat) method usually drops you down for an hour and then to about 50 kps or higher which is far more workable, so for now the Hughes approach seems unworkable totally for traders.

I also learned something interesting: dial-up modems have less delay than even broadband /DSL. they have far less bandwidth however. If your local providers can give ISDN support - the old way in which two modems are relayed together which doubles the speed -, then in many areas you can get 70-100kps which is more than fine for most streaming market data provided you are not following 50 things at once. And if you do get set up that way, your orders will be routed in faster than those using broadband, believe it or not. None of my ISP providers give ISDN support without which, I gather, you can't do it. But I am not sure about that and suspect a good programmer could work around the problem with two dialup connections.

Anyway, I really wish some people who are using satellites for trading would contribute their experience.