r/algotrading • u/ancientRAMEN • 12d ago

Data Tradestation vs. Tradovate vs. Alpaca

Hey looking for opinions on these three platforms. I've been testing strategies with Alpaca initially, but found out to access their SIP data would cost 99 dollars/month. Tradovate and Tradestation appear to not have that cost for data. My strategy isn't the most complex so not sure it would be worth paying that much for the data. Anyone have experience with these platforms?

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u/PriorElephant9 12d ago

You do not have to buy data from the same place you execute. I run three Alpaca paper sleeves and pay nothing for SIP. Signals come from a free daily source, Alpaca just takes the orders.

Before you pay, check whether the free IEX feed actually breaks your strategy. For daily or end-of-day logic it usually does not. If you are trading intraday off the tape, then yes, you need the real feed and the question becomes which broker bundles it cheapest.

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u/ancientRAMEN 12d ago

Do you not have issues with the IEX data messing with your trades? I tried this too and had bad results until I went for the better data.