Trading Platforms - CMC Markets, IG Index or Etrade?

This week I noted that CMCMarkets have again upgraded their software so I decided to write down my thoughts on their Market Maker trading platform.

The CMC Markets Market Maker seems to be a great piece of software when it comes to system resources.  As I use Linux, I run MarketMaker (the most recent version, 5-something) in a VMWare emulator* on a virtual Windows 2000 which is allowed access to a mere 256MB of my laptop RAM and 512MB of my desktop. On the laptop, it runs by itself, and on the desktop when I use CMCMarkets MarketMaker it has to compete with the resource hungry NinjaTrader platform (it is great by the way - give it a try!).  The Win2K image I use is a stock SP4 with updates and no other software except MM and NT.  I've never had a single problem.

On the other hand, I fire up the web platform of E*Trade or IG Index with charts with a recent firefox with standard compile time options and flags, and it is slow, eats memory like it is going out of fashion, and on the slower laptop especially pegs the CPU. These are both recent machines, and I am generally running nothing but fluxbox (a very light window manager - doesn't use more than about 60MB of my 512MB with the system fully booted) on the laptop, and KDE with a few programs on the desktop.

Note that  some of this is Linux specific, but an emulator is always slower than a native operating system. Therefore, I would expect the performance of Win2K under VMWare under KDE under Linux to be a lot worse than native Win2K, except I find MM more responsive with orders and charting than any java based web platform. I've even tried Internet Explorer under the VM and it is equally resource hungry.

This is just my opinion, but even though it isn't Linux compatible (and it should be because it is java based), we need to applaud CMCMarkets for their MarketMaker software. In my experience the actual resource footprint it trivial compared to having to run a whole browser, an inefficient java plugin, and then some really bloated java apps. It does have its shortcomings, which are too many to go into here, but suffice to say I took part in a recent CMC spread betting client survey regarding their platform, and I would hope to see more order types such as If Done...etc in the near future.

I have to say I was spoiled by MarketMaker after coming to them from ETX Capital though. I use quite a few platforms now, including the standard interfaces for ETX Capital, E*Trade, CMC Market Maker, IG Index (just to check prices mostly), NinjaTrader (great for simulated trading), and a nice simulation forex package from Oanda (check that out for paper trading the forex).

A last note  about CMCMarkets customer service - I can't really comment much here as I've never had any problems.  All spread betting firms quote their products and spreads on the web.  If you have a spread betting account, it is perhaps better to give your details when talking to staff who deal with clients.  A sales enquiry is something different I suppose, but still...