Can someone critique Tradestation for me?

[dmoo]

Hey all,

I'm looking at moving all my activity over to Tradestation, and I'm hoping someone can give me a critical view of why (or why not) I should do this.The OTF archive doesn't offer much recent commentary.

At present, I have accounts with a handful of brokerages but generally use TDA, mostly because of the benefits they offer their Apex customers. On top of what they offer I also use a handful of kludged-together analysis tools.

In general I have three strategies I follow: a fundamentals-based smallcap midterm buy and hold strategy; a volatility-focused complex equity option strategy, generally with widely traded US equities; and a leveraged trending strategy that strictly uses technical indicators on various underlying markets (equities, index, metal and ag futures, and rarely a little forex).

My motivation to move to Tradestation is about simplicity (ie, having just one place to watch everything I'm doing) and taking better advantage of their tools, esp the backtesting. I'm also trying to do more automated trading as I continue to refine my strategy. Claims that their OptionStationSuite is superior to optionsXpress' platform got my interest peaked.

In any case, the only knock I can come up with is their $100/mo platform fee; I find myself sometimes having a real active month (where their regular discount commissions cover the minimum) then a month or two of real light activity where the minimum would kick in. In the scheme of things it's not a ton of money, but I hate to waste it if its not justified.

So - any critical commentary on Tradestation, or an alternate suggestion? Is this platform truly being used by hedgefunds and serious traders?

[wallstreetsedge]

ive used it and both love and hate it... theres a bunch of diff pros and cons..

pros..
one of the best platforms
low rates
among the best for building positions

cons..
indicators are limited
must always have $2k available to perform an option trade or to keep it open
they close out option positions if you dont have at least $2k sitting in cash, even if its a covered call
customer service sucks
long hold times one the phone if there are issues
always have bugs with platform
kicked off platform sometimes

i perform most option trades but recently closed out my acct there.. thinkorswim.com has a pretty good platform which isnt too different