securities and futures brokerage ; trading analysis software founded 1982 formed as omega research inc. 1 headquarters plantation florida united states key people john bartleman president 2 products stocks & etfs options & futures for investment and trading parent monex group inc. website www.tradestation.com tradestation group inc. is the parent company of online securities & futures brokerage firms and trading technology companies . it is headquartered in plantation florida and has offices in new york chicago richardson tx london sydney and costa rica . tradestation is best known for the analysis software and electronic trading platform it provides to the active trader and certain institutional trader markets that enable clients to design test optimize monitor and automate their own custom equities options & futures trading strategies . 3 4 tradestation group was a nasdaq gs listed company from 1997 2011 until acquired by monex group a tokyo stock exchange listed parent company of one of japan s leading online securities brokerage firms . contents 1 history 2 tradestation analysis and trading platform 3 corporate structure 4 add on products 5 tradestation webapi 6 industry awards and rankings 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit tradestation was founded by cuban born brothers william bill and rafael ralph cruz who sought to create a way to design test optimize and automate their own custom trading strategies . bill started studying trading at the age of 16 and two years later the brothers pooled 2 400 to open a futures trading account . they gathered trading data to create charts which were used to test trading ideas . bill began to test strategies himself without the benefit of formal coding knowledge a process that resulted in the development of easylanguage the company s proprietary coding language for non specialists . bill and ralph decided to start their own company then known as omega research . the brothers focused on selling tools that would give clients without a technical or computer programming background the ability to program and test their own trading strategies . in 1987 they released system writer a software product that enabled users to develop and back test their own trading ideas using historical market data . in 1989 system writer plus was released with new and innovative charting features which the publication commodity trader consumer reports likened to the system trading software equivalent of putting a man on the moon . 5 in 1991 omega research released tradestation and three years later struck a licensing deal with dow jones telerate to offer tradestation as a premium service to telerate s institutional clients worldwide . in 1997 omega research conducted an ipo and became listed on the nasdaq national market . the company launched an online version of its product in 1999 . in 2001 the company converted itself from a trading software company to an online securities brokerage and renamed itself tradestation . the software s back testing order generation and trade execution capabilities were fully integrated for both securities and futures markets in 2003 and forex was added soon thereafter . in 2004 and 2005 tradestation became a self clearing equities and options firm . an entire industry eventually grew up around tradestation s software including seminars publications and user networks . 6 1982 company is formed under the name omega research inc. 1989 system writer a trading strategy software application is launched . 1991 tradestation the company s flagship product is launched . 1992 supercharts a charting and analytics software application is launched . 1994 telerate agrees to offer tradestation as a premium service to its institutional customers worldwide and launches the service in 1996 . 1996 optionstation an options trading analytics product that enables traders to explore complex options trading strategies is launched . 1997 the company launches an initial public offering ipo and is listed on the nasdaq national market . 1999 radarscreen a software application that enables traders to scan hundreds of symbols to identify buy and sell opportunities based on the user s custom criteria is launched ; the company also acquires window on wallstreet and in 2000 launches windowonwallstreet.com the company s first internet based charting and analytics service . 2000 tradestation 6 the internet based trading platform that serves as the foundation of the company s direct access brokerage service is launched ; the also company acquires a direct access securities brokerage onlinetrading.com which is subsequently renamed tradestation securities inc. 2001 tradestation group replaces omega research as publicly traded nasdaq company as parent of two operating subsidiaries tradestation securities inc. formerly onlinetrading.com and tradestation technologies inc. formerly omega research ; trading symbol on nasdaq is changed from omga to trad ; launches tradestation 6 for institutional and active traders which for the first time combines custom strategy design and testing automated trading and direct access execution of stock trades . 2003 company launches tradestation 7 which includes execution of futures trades ; tradestation securities launches forex analytics and execution services . 2004 company commences self clearing of equities markets and launches tradestation 8 which includes execution of options trades . 2005 tcompany commences self clearing of options markets . 2006 tradestation europe limited receives approval from the united kingdom s financial conduct authority fca as an introducing broker . 2007 fundamental data is incorporated in the software s historical database for strategy testing . integrated forex execution is launched . 2009 launch of tradestation prime services a division of tradestation securities based in new york offering prime brokerage services for small to mid sized buy side institutional firms including hedge funds . 2010 the company launches tradestation 9.0 and eurex execution . 2011 tradestation group is acquired by japan s monex group ; 7 newly formed subsidiary tradestation forex inc. later renamed ibfx inc. becomes self clearing retail foreign exchange dealer ; 8 tradestation securities is ranked best online broker by barron s for third time . 9 2012 tradestation releases online web app for trading u.s. equities by japanese customers ; is named best in six categories in technical analysis of stocks & commodities readers choice awards ; earns the highest overall ranking 4 stars in barron s annual review of online brokers . 10 2013 tradestation is ranked a top five online broker by investor s business daily for the second year in a row ; 11 is rated best for frequent traders for a third consecutive year by barron s ; 12 and is rated best trading system stocks and best trading system futures for the 9th year in a row by technical analysis of stocks & commodities magazine . 13 2014 tradestation enters the korean and chinese markets through license arrangements with shinhan investment corp. korea 14 and guosen securities company limited china ; 15 is rated best trading system stocks and best trading system futures for 10th year in a row by technical analysis of stocks & commodities magazine ; 16 launches new online tradestation tradingapp store featuring hundreds of custom products offered by third parties which reside on the tradestation platform . 17 2015 tradestation is ranked best for frequent traders and best for international traders by barron s 18 a top five online broker and 1 for equity trading tools by investor s business daily 19 and is rated best trading system stocks and best trading system futures for the 11th consecutive year by technical analysis of stocks & commodities magazine . 20 tradestation analysis and trading platform edit the tradestation analysis and trading platform is a professional electronic trading platform for financial market traders . it provides extensive functionality for receiving real time data displaying charts entering orders and managing outstanding orders and market positions . 21 although it comes with a large number of pre defined indicators strategy components and analysis tools individuals can modify and customize existing indicators and strategies as well as create their own indicators and strategies using tradestation s proprietary object oriented easylanguage programming language . traders can also access hundreds of tradestation compatible products created by independent third party developers through the tradestation tradingapp store as well as access strategy trading ideas submitted by the tradestation community in the easylanguage library . tradestation supports the development testing optimizing and automation of all aspects of trading . trading strategies can be back tested and refined against historical data 22 in simulated trading before being traded live . tradestation can be used either as a research and testing tool or as a trading platform with tradestation securities or ibfx acting as the broker . 3 4 corporate structure edit tradestation group inc. s principal operating subsidiaries are tradestation securities inc. ibfx inc. and tradestation technologies inc. tradestation group is a wholly owned subsidiary of monex group inc. one of japan s largest online financial services providers . tradestation securities inc. is a member of the new york stock exchange nyse financial industry regulatory authority finra securities investor protection corporation sipc depository trust & clearing corporation dtcc options clearing corporation occ and the national futures association nfa . it is a licensed securities broker dealer and a registered futures commission merchant and is also a member of the boston options exchange chicago board options exchange chicago stock exchange international securities exchange and nasdaq omx . its tradestation prime services division based in new york seeks to provide prime brokerage services to small and mid sized hedge funds and other firms . the company s technology subsidiary tradestation technologies inc. develops and offers strategy trading software tools and subscription services . its london based subsidiary tradestation europe limited an financial services authority authorized brokerage firm introduces uk and other european accounts to tradestation securities and tradestation forex inc. monex group inc. provides online investment and trading services for retail and institutional customers around the world through its subsidiaries including monex inc. in japan tradestation in the u.s. and europe and monex boom in hong kong . monex group is pursuing its global vision strategy to establish a truly global online financial institution that creates positive synergies for all stakeholders . its main subsidiary monex inc. one of japan s largest online securities brokerages provides advanced and unique financial services to its nearly 1 million individual investors . monex group s services also cover m & a advisory debt and equity underwriting asset management focusing on alternative investments investment education and other investment banking functions in japan . add on products edit a large number of third party developers develop tradestation compatible products . since tradestation is a development platform a custom trading program can be developed called a trading system or trading strategy . if any trader has an analysis technique or potentially profitable strategy he would like to have developed he can either write his own strategy in easylanguage or have his trading system developed by third party developers . traders can also take advantage of the tradestation tradingapp store an online marketplace of ready to use add on products built to run on the tradestation platform by independent developers . tradestation webapi edit the tradestation webapi is an application programming interface that is used to power applications like web trading tradestation mobile and products available through the tradestation tradingapp store . with tradestation webapi third party developers can also build stand alone applications or integrate key benefits from tradestation into their existing systems using any programming language that can make http requests and receive http responses . industry awards and rankings edit year in and year out leading financial publications have recognized tradestation s trading software and brokerage services . see also edit list of foreign exchange companies comparison of online brokerages algorithmic traders association references edit tradestation about us . tradestation executive officers . a b test your trading strategies at these web sites mark ingebretsen august 5 2000 thestreet.com . accessed on line november 28 2007 . a b where the day trading money is tom taulli the motley fool october 15 2004 . accessed