ZeroPro (TradeZero) vs Takion: How to choose the best trading platform for active trading?
All trading platforms serve only as a tool for communication between market participants. From this, it follows that the better a trader understands different trading platforms, the better he understands how other market participants implement their trading. This means that the functionality and capabilities of the trading platform determine the capabilities of the trader and his ability to implement a particular trading strategy.
Just like owning a shovel, the most you can do is dig one small hole, while owning an excavator will not only be able to perform the same task many times easier and faster but will also be able to perform a much wider range of tasks. Therefore, choosing a platform just because it has limited functionality and it seems simple is often a path to degradation and loss.
The primary source of all information that enters the platform is the exchange and the companies that are traded on it. Therefore, all platforms have the same information. But then what is the difference between trading platforms and how to choose the best trading platform for yourself?
All trading platforms can be distinguished by only 4 criteria:
- In what form do the platforms display market information?
- What opportunities does the platform provide for processing incoming information?
- How fast do platforms work with incoming information?
- How much information can the platform process per unit of time?
Using the example of a comparison of 2 platforms, Takion and ZeroPro from Tradezero, we will consider each of these criteria in more detail.
Below will be 2 comparative tables that will show a superficial and deeper look when choosing a trading platform, and under the tables, there will be a detailed conclusion about their comparison.
In what form do the platforms display market information?
The first step is enough just to evaluate what kind of windows and with what information are there in the trading platforms.
Table 1. Comparison of user-accessible windows with information
| Window | Window description | ZeroPro | Takion |
| Positions | In this window, the trader sees open and closed positions, as well as information on them, such as P/L, position price, volume, etc. | ✅ | ✅ |
| Orders | In this window, the trader sees all orders, active, executed, canceled, etc. | ✅ | ✅ |
| Watch Lists | Here, a trader can create his own list of shares of companies and get different market information about prices, volumes for each of them, or display the values of indicators in order to sort the sheet by these values. | ✅ | ✅ |
| Charts | Stock price charts (can be candlestick, bars, line, etc.) | ✅ | ✅ |
| Account Info | Account information such as total P/L for all positions per day, Buying Power involved in positions or available for opening new positions, etc. | ✅ | ✅ |
| Log / PosMan / System Message | An event log that displays system messages, errors and records all of the trader's actions. | ✅ | ✅ |
| Locate Monitor / Short Locates | A window for tracking the availability and value of locates, necessary for traders who trade Pump & Dump, or who just need to order a locate to open a short sale. | ✅ | ✅ |
| Level II / Market Maker / Market Depth | Window with Level 2 quotes, where you can see the depth of the order book, in which there is usually a built-in feed of transactions and from which you can also send orders. | ✅ | ✅ |
| Time&Sales | A separate window with a ribbon of all transactions that take place on the selected promotion. | ✅ | ✅ |
| Order Entry | Separate window for entering order settings and sending orders | ✅ | ✅ |
| News | This is where the news for the selected company is displayed | ✅ | ✅ |
| Top Lists | List of top stocks for the current day, such as Top Gainers/Losers ($/%), Top Volume, etc. | ✅ | ✅ |
| Hi Low Ticker / Scroller | When the price of a stock in the market breaks through its daily high or low, the ticker symbol of the stock is displayed by a line in this window. Thus, as such shares appear, they are recorded, shifting the previously recorded shares down line by line. | ✅ | ✅ |
| Option Chain | Options board where you can track and analyze the prices of all option strikes | ✅ | ✅ |
| Conditional Orders | Here the trader can set the automatic sending of orders when the first order is executed. | ✅ | ✅ |
| Alerts | The trader can receive signals from the platform when the shares reach the prices specified by the trader. Usually a pop-up window with an audible notification. | ✅ | ✅ |
| Basketball Varieties | Here, a trader can create entire portfolios and baskets of stocks or different assets in order to track them and trade as a whole. | ❌ | ✅ |
| Screener / Market Sorter | A window with filters for automatic selection of shares from more than 12000 companies on the market Best for trading and under the trader's strategy. It can combine both a set of filters and the ability to sort the stock list by different indicators to get the best at the top of the list. | ❌ | ✅ |
| Index Sorter | Here, the trader can track market indices such as the Nasdaq 100, Russel 2000, S&P500 or his own customizable indices. | ❌ | ✅ |
| ECN Books | Order book of specific ECNs or exchanges. For example, NYSE Open Book or Nasdaq TotalView | ❌ | ✅ |
| Multi Account Management | Windows by which a trader can manage multiple accounts or a group of accounts | ❌ | ✅ |
| Extensions | Window for connecting extensions to the trading platform. | ❌ | ✅ |
| Risk Management and Account Constraints | Windows for risk managers. For example, one risk manager can monitor a group of traders or one trader, setting him limits and monitoring the risks of traders in real time. | ❌ | ✅ |
| Data Monitor | Monitoring the flow of data into the platform to track the load on the platform and communication channels when receiving data from servers. | ❌ | ✅ |
| Thread Monitor | Monitor communications with servers to see any delays in the data and not make erroneous trades due to glitches and communication errors. | ❌ | ✅ |
| Historical Prints | A window where you can download the history of the trade feed for any ticker symbol for a detailed study of the flow of orders. | ❌ | ✅ |
| External Link | Embedded in the platform linking with third-party platforms and applications such as TradingView, ThinkOrSwim (TOS), Bloomberg, eSignal, RealTick, TC2000, TradeStation, MultiCharts, Advanced GET, Nasdaq and others. | ❌ | ✅ |
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At first glance, it may seem that the platforms differ slightly, because they have many identical windows and Takion differs from Zero Pro (TradeZERO) slightly, a wider set of windows. But this is a false idea because we have already noted above - the source of information is one - the exchange. Consequently, the main windows of all platforms will be the same, for displaying basic information from exchanges, which is standardized. Let's try now to figure out what the real difference is by evaluating the remaining 3 evaluation criteria.
What opportunities does the platform provide for processing incoming information?
In the second step we can already get acquainted in more detail with the functions that are in the platforms. The table below notes only a small part of the functions that one platform has and is completely absent in the second, but this will already be enough to understand which platform professional traders use and why these traders on it have many times more chances to earn steadily in contrast to those who use something too simple.
Table 2. Comparison of functionality (how we can process information)
| Function | Function Description | ZeroPro | Takion |
| Account Constraints | Set up restrictions for your account, such as: Buying Power, Close & Cancel Only mode, Max Order Size, etc. | ❌ | ✅ |
| Position and Execution Cost | Setting up the size of the commission with reference to the ticker, price, account, etc. | ❌ | ✅ |
| Full Text Customization | Flexible font configuration for any area and windows, including title bars. | ❌ | ✅ |
| Full Graphics Customization | Adjust the color gamut for any displayed information/text in any window in any field. | ❌ | ✅ |
| Conditional Actions | Configure related actions in the platform. For example: after sending an order, if the trader starts clicking the numbers on the keyboard, then enter them in the limit field for the price, not Stop. | ❌ | ✅ |
| Increment / Decrement Universal Commands | Detailed configuration of commands to increase / decrease values (price or order volume) with hot buttons. | ❌ | ✅ |
| Email Commands | Sending information on the account, positions and orders to email or a group of emails directly from the platform. | ❌ | ✅ |
| Custom Index Calculation | Create your own index from various assets or stocks of companies and calculate the final price of the entire basket of assets. | ❌ | ✅ |
| Separate Server Settings | Separate configuration of the servers with which the platform works. Separate servers for receiving market data, for sending orders, for downloading and storing historical data, for options, etc. | ❌ | ✅ |
| Memory Usage Settings | Set the amount of memory that the platform can use | ❌ | ✅ |
| Takion Priority | Prioritize the platform over other programs to allocate system resources to the computer. | ❌ | ✅ |
| Custom Hot Buttons | Creating and Configuring Custom Buttons in the Platform Interface | ❌ | ✅ |
| Detailed Command Settings to Cancel Orders | Detailed configuration of commands for canceling orders with reference to the direction of the order, checking the presence of an open position, order type, etc. etc. | ❌ | ✅ |
| Trigger Commands | Orders and commands with a condition. For example: after executing a Sell-Stop order and opening a position, get a position of 100 shares every 10 cents of price movement and copy the values of the Unrealized P/L column to the clipboard | ❌ | ✅ |
| Detailed Command Settings to Borrow Stocks | Detailed setting up of the stock locking process for short sales. For example: automatically if there is a locate, or at the time of sending an order to open a position with reference to the price of the locate, etc. | ❌ | ✅ |
| Swipe Orders | Modified orders are necessary for the best liquidity collection. For example: Buy Limit order, which will expect the Ask price to decrease to the order price and will take only the volume that is visible in the order book at the Ask price and no more. | ❌ | ✅ |
| Detailed Command Settings for Tier Size | Detailed setting of input or volume selection in sent orders based on already open positions, from hot buttons or with reference to the ticker | ❌ | ✅ |
| Detailed Command Settings for Navigation | Instant navigation between windows, tickers in the list of stocks or fields for entering order parameters. | ❌ | ✅ |
| Detailed Hot Key Settings for any Actions | Detailed settings of all actions in the platform with reference to hot buttons for instant execution of any tasks, sending orders and data analysis. | ❌ | ✅ |
| Entering any settings with hot keys | For example: open the window with the settings of ECN filters for Market Depth with a hot button. | ❌ | ✅ |
| A full-fledged Online Stock Screener | A full-fledged online stock screener with customizable filters to find the best stocks to trade. | ❌ | ✅ |
| Simple Creation of Stock Baskets for Basket Trading with Hot Keys | Quick creation of baskets of assets and trading the entire basket with hot buttons or in 1 click, regardless of the number of companies in the basket. | ❌ | ✅ |
| The most Complete Order Routing Settings | The most complete set of order routing settings. For example, for trading through dark pools. | ❌ | ✅ |
| Output any Information to Columns | Output any information on positions or specific shares of companies in any column followed by sorting the list if necessary | ❌ | ✅ |
| Full functionality for imbalance trading on the opening and closing auction | Full functionality for analyzing and trading imbalances at the opening and closing of trades. (includes a screener for finding imbalances and the corresponding types of orders) | ❌ | ✅ |
| And many others... | ❌ | ✅ | |
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As can be seen from the comparison, the difference between platforms with almost identical windows is simply enormous. Takion includes everything ZeroPro (TradeZero) has to offer and can be fully configured in the same way as ZeroPro, performing the same functions. At the same time, Takion allows you to work with a much larger range of different tasks. And simple tasks, Takion allows you to do even easier and faster, because it already has built-in filters and screeners for searching stocks in real-time, it professionally implements work with hot buttons, which saves a lot of time for the trader, and there is the monitoring of the load on the computer and communication channels, which sometimes plays a cruel joke with novice traders who do not have this information. Such traders often lose money simply due to the fact that the trading platform hangs, sends orders with a delay or belatedly displays the execution of the order because of which the trader can start sending more orders to the market and make even more mistakes. This is only a small part of the examples, but in our case, they will be enough.
How fast do platforms work with incoming information?
We at Fondexx carefully choose the software we provide to our traders and have had a very negative experience using ZeroPro due to its glitches and freezes during periods of active trading and during periods of great activity in the market, when there is a large flow of quotes and various data from all stocks.
Due to glitches, our traders lost money several times out of the blue when they could not fix a loss on open positions, because the platform did not accept orders. Therefore, we abandoned ZeroPro (TradeZero) completely despite the fact that TradeZero in every way attracts traders who trade the Pump & Dump strategy. There is nothing worse than hanging out in an open short position in a stock that is rushing up in gaps, without the ability to fix a loss that is growing before our eyes. Of course, no one will return the money in such a situation. The same reviews can be found about ZeroPro on the Internet from people who fell for advertising and were enticed by various bloggers and opened an account there.
Very revealing is the story in which one of these bloggers in the United States (Warrior Trader) was convicted and fined $ 3 million for luring people there and, as it turned out during the investigation, most of them completely lost their money. More information about this story can be found on the website of the US Federal Trade Commission
There you can also find detailed documents on the progress of the investigation and statistics from the trading accounts of clients whom Warrior Trader brought under the affiliate program.
We chose Takion because it is one of the fastest and most stable platforms for trading on the market.
How much information can the platform process per unit of time?
In addition to the speed of the platform itself, it is very important to understand how many tickers we can track and process at the same time. After all, if we want to use the platform in the same way for stock analysis, use filters and screeners, it is extremely important that all data processing is not on the client side, but on servers as close as possible to the exchange, otherwise simply because of the speed of communication channels, if we upload 4000 companies to watchList to the same ZeroPro , it will not be able to show information in real-time on all tickers, not to mention some processing. Some of the data will either arrive late or will be lost altogether. Takion has its own servers in the Equinix NY4 data center right next to the servers of all major US exchanges and all the processing of all filters and screeners takes place on these servers. The client receives ready-made processed data, which occupy a much smaller volume, due to which it achieves an unsurpassed speed of data exchange virtually without delays and glitches. According to this criterion, Takion has no equal and our choice is obvious.
Takion is the best trading platform for active traders.
Now you know by what criteria you should choose a trading platform and will be able to choose it for your tasks. If you do not know certain functions and you want to study them in more detail, you can take the free demo version of the platform on our website, ask us questions in our telegram chat, or attend our training courses, where we will tell you in detail about the various strategies and functionality of trading platforms.