Commsec ProTrader1 - FAQ and Tips

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

I have no objection to this thread being forwarded to Comsec. I am sure they wouldn't have a problem with addressing customer concerns in a public forum.

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

PT2 acting funny again today. I put a trade through normal COMSEC and it got hit but not displayed in the Market Depth or in Course of Sales for a couple minutes. Although it closed at the right time today.

MIT

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

That is bloody rediculous. You cannot trade that way.

We better start a new thread on alternatives to pro-trader.

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

I also sent them an e-mail, to tell them to keep PT1 and they sent a reply back saying " thank you for contacting us. PT1 will only be available for a short time and recommend you familiarise yourself with version 2." :swear:

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

I also have stayed with PT1, in my opinion it is far superior.

Sent them an E-mail about my thoughts and concerns and received a reply stating that they have received only a few complaints, and that the majority of people are more than happy with PT2. Personally, I have not heard any one praise PT2.

Looks as if we are doomed, or change brokers.

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

mikeg said:

I also have stayed with PT1, in my opinion it is far superior.

Sent them an E-mail about my thoughts and concerns and received a reply stating that they have received only a few complaints, and that the majority of people are more than happy with PT2. Personally, I have not heard any one praise PT2.

Looks as if we are doomed, or change brokers.

Click to expand...

I tried PT2 again this week after receiving the disk in the mail- same issues. can't get the charting templates to work either and they take forever to load, data missing sometimes too- none of these issues with PT1 so it's not my computer or ISP either. I really think we need to keep complaining (different people) to add up the numbers. Again, if someone has experience with websites maybe we can start an online campaign, or better still if there are any financial journos out there perhaps a piece on our complaints or comparing new trading platforms will be good- we need publicity imo to get some real 'service'.

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

FYI: Comsec appears to run on the WebIRESS platform but uses Paritech as well (I assume they use different platforms for different categories of clients), fundamental co data appears to be from AspectHuntley. I'm not a techy so I may be wrong.

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

Hi RichKid,

Just a bit of background info that explains WebIress and Commsec. We were with AOTonline prior to Commsec buying them out at the beginning of the year, and it was part of the deal that we would be able to continue trading with WebIress after Commsec's takeover date. At the time, there were rumours that Commsec would do away with WebIress and AOT customers would have to change Commsec's software, but it sounds like they have retained it at this stage (we didn't stick around to find out!)

Margaret.

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

sails said:

Hi RichKid,

Just a bit of background info that explains WebIress and Commsec. We were with AOTonline prior to Commsec buying them out at the beginning of the year, and it was part of the deal that we would be able to continue trading with WebIress after Commsec's takeover date. At the time, there were rumours that Commsec would do away with WebIress and AOT customers would have to change Commsec's software, but it sounds like they have retained it at this stage (we didn't stick around to find out!)

Margaret.

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Thanks Sails, I'm waiting for Comsec to offer CFD's. The comsec technical help page refers to Webiress so they must still use that for the old protrader1. Who do you trade with now and did you get a chance to compare webiress to the protrader platform before you quit?

All these changes in the market must be good for us consumers as choice increases.

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

Thought I'd wake this thread up as I recently installed protrader 2 and am also not that impressed. The PT 1 on the machine I installed 2 on seems to have stopped working as well.

Things missing form PT2 - no condition codes on option course of sales data. I can't seem to figure out the windowing/layout (its not intuitive and the help is wrong - it talks about a menu option that isn't there). Also in the charting all the lines and notes I added dissappeared when I closed the application even though I'd saved the workspace.

The reason I tried PT2 is that PT1 seemed to not always give real time data on options prices - I'd place an order but not see the change for a long time, or an order would be filled but not show up as filled for quite a while on the options monitoring screen.

A few questions for people that use protrader for options trading:

* Firstly - are there better platforms around for options trading and if so what are they? Or do people use a combination of a live data platform for getting information but pro trader or something equivalent for placing trades
.
* I'm under the belief (which might be incorrect) that there is a separate options desk number for high value accounts where you can get your call answered immediately for placing trades - does anyone know what sort of criteria need to be met to reach this hallowed status?

* protrader often rejects orders with "price not accepted" if they are outside a reasonable spread for the current price of the underlying - but if you can't watch a screen all day you might want to place an order outside the normal range for the current underlying price in the event there is a move in your absence. To do this you need to go via the phone and the long wait.

* I've noticed on the etrade site in its documentation it talks about support for multi-leg trades - does anyone use etrade and if so what are their platforms like for options trading?

* can you use one broker to open an eto position but another to close it? (i.e. if I was in a hurry and didn't want to wait in the comsec call queue could I go to a full service broker and get them to close a position opened via comsec?).

* is there options trading software that lets you set up conditional orders. Other things that would be handy would be being able to right click on an option and get current theoretical prices and play around with implied volatilities etc. - I know protrader 2 has a theoretical pricing tool, and there's also the asx one and one on the comsec web site but being able to do it in a more dynamic fashion would be helpful - including graphs showing price ranges across volatility at a certain underlying etc.

* I guess what I'm asking is what is the ultimate platform for options trading software/data feeds/strategy planning etc.?

Any replies greatly appreciated

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

Hi Cuttlefish,

I use a combination of Morrison Securities and OptionsXpress. I like the Iress software for dynamic options and shares info which I get through Morrisons.

OptionsXpress are very reasonably priced on option fees and also they allow combination orders (only two legs at this stage) to be placed online. Both have their pros and cons, and a bit messy having two brokers - but find that's what works best at this stage.

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

thanks for the info Sails, I'll have a look into those.

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

Be interesting to see Etrades new platform when it arrives.
and hopefully with the ability to put multi legged spreads online the commission wil drop a little
John

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

What is going on???????

I couldn't get in to my PT tonight, it said I have to do a forced upgrade (I stuck with PT1) only thing is it won't let me do the upgrade

When I click upgrade now, a Net page opens up, which then closes like 2 seconds later, whats going on?

Does this mean PT1 is dead and I have no choice but to use PT2?????????

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

When they made PT2 what where they thinking?



Why didn't they just leave PT1?????????????????

If it ain't broke don't fix it morons!!!!!!!!!!!!

They took something that worked perfectly, was very userfriendly, was probably the best platform I have ever used and now what re-mixed into some piece of crap!

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

YT - I just fired PT1 up to see what you were talking about (I use PT1 as well even though I have both installed at home). It came up with the forced upgrade message, and when I clicked it a browser screen flashed up for a second, but then after that another web page fired up with a download for the protraderupdate.exe file.

Maybe try shutting your browsers down first and then trying it again. If that doesn't work, you can probably find the PT1 upgrade exe by navigating via the comsec site somehow. Its just an exe that gets downloaded and run to do the upgrade. Also when you run it for the first time you might get a message about your personal firewall needing to allow it.

It says price data won't be available in it till tomorrow morning. I hope the one I have at work upgrades as easily ... I've got a fair few positions I want to adjust tomorrow.

I agree PT2 has a long way to go before its a suitable replacement for PT1.

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

Yeah I had some issues with firewall etc etc,

I managed to write down the link of the page, it seriously would only be up for like 2 seconds before closing, tis all fixed I think, I'll find out tommorrow when prices are supposed to re-load, cheers

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

The new versions crashed on me twice tonight (both times when closing it) - I hope this isn't an indication of how stable it is.

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

Might be something to do with the ASX upgrades
ETrade has been offline over the last two weekends
John

Re: Commsec ProTrader - FAQ and Tips

I know it may sound silly but I don't like the colour scheme for course of sales or mkt movers, Grey is just such a dull colour


Also having trouble with the news/ann search previous function, its really wonky!