Update: 5-Dec-2011 I’m using version 1.10.28 now, which runs well enough on my Vista machine, but horribly slow on my powerful Windows 7 based computer. I went to SSE support a while back and they did the usual—reinstall / blame my modem/router, but no improvements in performance. I’ve been swamped with other things, but recent commenters seem to be seeing the same things (e.g., high CPU usage on Windows 7). I’ve also noticed on the Windows Task Manger that SSE is page faulting like mad, sometimes several thousand a second when it is sitting there doing nothing.
The comments below relate to version 1.8.7.0 (as of 18-Aug-11). Steetsmart Edge is available for download for qualified users on the Schwab website.
Before I get to my complaints there are some nice changes and additions:
- Trading is smooth. It feels natural and fast. My only complaint so far is that it doesn’t default to buy or sell-you have to choose which one you want. That’s probably good for novices, but annoying to an experienced user
- Accessing / trading options is very nicely done. Option chains come up collapsed down to expiration dates, which you can then easily open up. Copying options to a watch list is conveniently accomplished with copy and paste commands. Current positions are shown in the option chains—a pleasant surprise.
- I like the availability of midprice quote, halfway between the ask / bid price—useful for options and lower volume securities.
- The scrolling / time windowing capabilities located at the bottom of charts are excellent
- There is a copy chart functionality and some global color theme controls–hopefully these improvements will address most of my setup difficulties.
Some complaints:
- Getting default setups the way I want them has been very painful. The differences between restoring from files and templates is not at all clear, and there appear to be a lot of bugs in this area.
- The charts have a lot of nice features, but they have a “frequency centric” approach. You must pick the frequency (e.g., 1 minute or daily) and then the chart then picks the duration (e.g., 5 days or 254 days). This is bass ackwards—I want to pick the duration and then have the package provide the maximum frequency it will deign to provide—the higher the better.
- Slow initial startup time. Even with a brand new fast quad core computer the package takes a long time to startup. Switching layouts, or loading the layout from the central Schwab server extracts additional time.
- The colored “link” symbol in the upper right of many tools locks all tools to the same ticker if the link symbol is the same (see on right of picture below). Generally if I open multiple tools I”m comparing things so having them all sync’d to the same symbol is counterproductive. So far I haven’t found a good use for this link.
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Some tips:
- Typically I’m using multiple computers in the course of a day so I use the save as / load from Schwab server capability located under “file” on the main window. This keeps my layout consistent between computers. This should be a default choice for the user—local or server based layout at startup.
- If you find yourself flipping between different tools (e.g., watch lists and charts) a lot, consider putting them on different tabs. This avoids a lot of tool finding and you can flip contexts with a single mouse click.
- If you are running an older version than 1.8.7.0 I recommend you upgrade. You don’t have to remove your current version of Street Smart Edge, you can download the new version from the Schwab site and install the updated version. Your current settings may be lost, so be sure to save all your layouts, chart settings, watch lists, etc., before you upgrade. Your current version shows up in the upper right hand corner of the application.
