2 July 2010

Trading Software for Mac: Running TradeStation on an Apple Mac

This article plus video has been expanded and updated here: Trading Software for Mac.

Happy 4th of July to all the American readers of Emini-Watch.com. And happy Canada Day to all the Canadians!

OK, this video is only for the Mac-curious. It’s 20 minutes long but it’s jammed packed full of information about using TradeStation on a Mac. If you’ve ever wanted to get off the Microsoft treadmill but were a TradeStation die hard (like me) then this video might help you take the leap.

If you’re reading this article via email or RSS reader, then follow this link to view the Trading Software for Mac video on the website.

HIGH DEF VIDEO – MAY TAKE 15 SECONDS TO LOAD

Trading Software for Mac (20:39)

If you don’t have time to watch the video then here are some summary points.

Running TradeStation on a Mac relies on some very clever software – Parallels Desktop 5. This software allows you to run the Windows operating system within the Mac operating system. And it’s rock solid and fast.

Booting up and chart opening times are very reasonable:

  1. 40 seconds to start the Mac
  2. 3 seconds to start Parallels
  3. 60 seconds to start Windows 7
  4. 10 seconds to start and log into TradeStation, and
  5. 30 seconds to open one of my complex tick bar charts in TradeStation or
    1.5 seconds to open any other minute, hourly or daily chart.

Pros of running TradeStation on a Mac:

  1. It works. No crashes so far and fast.
  2. Able to open multiple tick bar charts simultaneously.
  3. Real-time chart updating is fast too.
  4. No fan noise and cool – to be honest I don’t even know if there is a fan!

Pros of running a Mac in general:

  1. It just works – networking, installing/uninstalling applications, etc.
  2. Beautifully engineered, no joins, no nooks and crannies to get dirty.
  3. Very quick start up at about 40 seconds.
  4. Seamless integration with iPhone, iPod, iPad, iTunes, etc.

Cons of running a Mac or adjustments I need to make:

  1. New keyboard layout means re-learning/re-assigning hotkeys.
  2. “Finder” for managing documents and files is not as easy as Windows – yet.
  3. Apple-native versions of applications need to be re-learned.

There you go. Just some initial thoughts on running TradeStation on a Mac. So far I’d rate it 9.5 out of 10. The only downside is the time it takes to adjust.

Enjoy your weekend and remember the Emini market is closed Monday.