Fidelity will soon be updating Wealth-Lab Pro to version 5.1 (the current version is 5.0), which lets you build trading systems based on a long list of technical indicators and fundamentals, creating "Buy" and "Sell" alerts.
THE NEW TOOLS and capabilities are well worth the drudgery of the download and installation process. They'll also be able to find historical options charts. They also can use a multi-leg pairing tool that displays bid/ask spreads. Options traders will be able to view the greeks, which measure a particular option's potential risk and reward over time from the option's chain displays. The options-order entry screen allows you to create strategies with as many as four legs, so that you can be selling and buying calls at four different strike prices. This system allows you to create multi-contingent orders, using three basic directions: "And At The Same Time," "Or," and "Then." By combining these directives in different ways, you can create a variety of contingent transactions. (ticker: INTC) when the Nasdaq index hits a certain level - as well as set up exit points for positions when you open them. You can make conditional trades - like, say, buying 100 shares of Placing pretty complex orders is possible in this upgrade. You can also use multiple monitors with ATP 8.0. ATP 8.0 offers the ability to undock a particular item, such as the trade ticket or the news alerts, from the main application, and place it wherever you want on your screen. Customization can include the location of your trade ticket, graphing applications, news alerts and portfolio management tools. Like most downloadable-trading applications, ATP lets you customize the layout to your heart's content. I got to the point where I had a dozen news tabs open to close one, you just have to right-click on it and pick "Close Tab" from the menu that pops open. If you've got several searches running simultaneously, you can tab back and forth using the folder labels, and ATP includes a quick link to a trade ticket from every headline. You can also get an options chain from the floating chart by clicking on a link. News stories include embedded quotes and charts that float up when you mouse over the ticker symbol. The custom searches you create can be saved so that you can pull them up and run them quickly in the future. You can search the streaming news by ticker symbol, market sector, or the company shares you're currently trading. When you get an alert, a small box pops up on top of your display, and a chime sounds. The focus on news includes tools such as pre-built and custom searches, tabbed navigation, and news alerts. ATP must be installed on every computer you use for your Fidelity account. You have to go through a security setup the first time you launch the application. A high-speed DSL (digital subscriber line), cable or T1 (fiberoptic) connection to the Internet is also recommended using dial-up or a satellite or cellular modem may result in data loss.
Fidelity recommends that you use one of the flavors of Windows XP (Home or Professional), or Vista, and have at least 1 gigabyte of random access memory (2GB is preferable). GETTING STARTED WITH ATP involves downloading and installing the 29-MB file to your Windows-based PC. "The enhancements we're announcing to our trading and research platforms deliver on our commitment to provide our brokerage customers with institutional-grade tools to help them become better investors and traders." Burton, senior vice president, Fidelity Personal and Workplace Investing. "Traders look for an edge in volatile markets, which lately have been news-driven," says James C. But more on that later.Ī major focus of the updated ATP platform is streaming news from various sources. Those who trade 120 times or more over 12 months are eligible for Fidelity's back-testing tool, Wealth-Lab Pro. As you trade more, ATP tosses more tools your way, all usable within the app, including Dow Jones news services (an affiliate of Barron's), Level II quotes and interactive charting. Transactions can include options as well as stocks and exchange-traded funds.
Commissions drop from as much as about $20 a trade to as little as $8 for active traders, and ATP itself is free to those who qualify.