Trading Software and Books Reviews

Sanford Pro Review

Beginner Level

Sanford Securities is an Australian online stock broker that offers client access to online equities, warrants, ETOs and managed funds. Sanford Pro is a live data/news service for clients who trade with Sanford or who wish to access a live service for a monthly fee.

The service is accessed via the Sanford web site. After a number of software downloads the Pro service appears as a single floating window under the browser. I had no trouble with the install or with accessing the Pro application.

The service is feature-rich and provides all the necessary information to assist in trade analysis. The interface is pleasant to the eye, easy to use and configurable to any view or pattern within the one window.

Sanford Pro offers watch lists, market reports, trade ticker, course of trades (last 20), alerts, company information (via InvestorWeb), charting (plus indicators), news (ASX/Dow Jones/Reuters), news ticker, derivative pricing (ASX ETOs), trade management, and portfolio management.

Support is provided by a comprehensive online Help function. Each window has an online Help button that provides help for that window. I found this feature helpful. Further help is available from a Help Desk (1300 access) and email.

A number of separate desktop configurations may be saved to your PC. The different views can be accessed depending upon need and market. A nice option is the linking capability where any number of open windows within the Pro application can be set to update when a new stock/option is being viewed. For example, I had market depth, course of trades, news and chart windows configured to update when I typed a new code in any one of the four windows.

Each window has the ability to be ‘undocked’, which allows an expanded view of that particular window, though it still stays within the Pro application window (that is, unable to free float). I used this facility for charting.

An added feature is the Dynamic Data Embedding (DDE) option, which is a Microsoft Excel option that allows a client to configure a spreadsheet to update with the live data stream from the Sanford Pro application. A sample spreadsheet can be downloaded. It provides live portfolio valuation, margin lending valuation, stop alerts and charts as examples.

Overall, I liked the application. It was easy to configure and use and throughout the trial the software worked well and I had no problems or difficulties. It is a helpful tool to access live data to assist with trade decision-making.

Michael Clancy is a private trader of ASX shares and ETOs.

Intermediate Level

Sanford Pro is a browser-based live charting and quote program offering dynamically updated data. It installed simply and quickly and ran immediately. However, I could not get it to work with the new Firefox browser.

It is set up initially with a default desktop, including windows for watch lists, options, charts, market depth, course of trades, news and global markets. Others, such as trade ticker, tabular history and market movers, are available. The market mover’s window provides the choice of looking at today’s top stocks using volume, value or number of trades as well as an advanced function to filter the list using many other parameters.

Sanford Pro was stable during the whole of the review process and responded to mouse clicks quickly. The program is easy to use. Intuitively, I could zoom the chart or sort watch lists by right-mouse clicking. I could also enter stocks into the ticker by dragging directly from the watch lists. It’s always a sign of quality when a program reacts in the expected way. Window layouts can be completely customised: they can be docked or floating; can be linked within a specified group; and you can save a number of view layouts.

The charting provides almost live intra-day charts with a minimum of 1 minute bars and time intervals being fixed to 1, 5, 15, 30 and 60 minutes. It has most of the common indicators but to call the charting ‘advanced’ is a bit of a stretch. For example, I could modify only one of the three preset moving averages. The other indicators all had customisable parameters. Charts cannot be scrolled, so you are restricted to looking at a specified time period from today’s date backwards.

With the ability to trade directly from within Sanford Pro soon to be available, Sanford will have an elegant all-round solution for those traders who feel they benefit from having a trading platform with instant access to market information. The recent price drop has made the product much more competitive, especially considering that frequent traders (15 trades per month or more) can get the access fee rebated.

Peter Dujmovich is a private options trader, focussing on commodities and stock indices.

Advanced Level

Sanford Pro is a fully interactive real time online dealing desk for traders of Australian equities and options. It is a web-based application that attracts a standard monthly fee of $89.90. It is subsequently free for frequent traders conducting 30 or more trades in a single month.

Its features include fully customisable watch lists, basic charting facilities, and news services from a variety of sources – all of which come as standard with most online broking services. As a generalisation, I would say the Sanford web site is easy to navigate and customise to suit each trader’s individual requirements. However, the pricing of its various features is a little confusing. Brokerage is dependent upon value of the order and frequency of trading and the platform fee has various components, some of which can be offset through frequent trading, whilst others carry a monthly fee regardless. This could be partially offset by interest received on accounts holding $5,000 or more in cash.

I spent some time perusing the platform considering what Sanford Pro really offers over and above any other online broker. After much deliberation I decided that the answer was simply personal preference. Most online brokers provide features such as market depth, course of sales, personal watch lists and the like. Sanford Pro offers the advantage that these features are dynamic and Sanford is one of the few brokers to offer online options pricing. One feature offered that may attract some traders is the availability, for a small additional fee, of SMS alerts.

Sanford Pro offers an excellent alternative to a full-service broker for option traders. However, I found its features to be very similar to those offered by its competitor, Commsec, in their Professional Trader 2 application. The pricing of both applications is within the same ballpark and from my perspective they offer very similar features. Sanford may well have a market edge by providing efficient service in account management, but I believe this to be a very individual decision based on personal experience. I have not investigated it in conducting this review.

Amanda Tonkin-Hill is a full-time private trader of Australian and International Equities and Foreign Exchange.

This article was originally published in the Sep/Oct 07 issue of YourTradingEdge magazine (www.YTEmagazine.com). All rights reserved. © Copyright 2009, MarketSource International Pty Ltd.

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