Desktop Trader

Desktop Trader is a live share monitoring system, originally designed by Interactive Investor International before it was acquired by Ample. Desktop Trader is a subscription service costing £15 + VAT p.m.



To sign up, simply click on Desktop Trader pad on the Ample homepage (www.ample.com) and follow the instructions. Once you have signed up, Desktop Trader becomes accessible from the Ample homepage, by clicking on Portfolio along the overhead navigation bar.



The Terminal

The heart of the Desktop Trader system is The Terminal which allows you to split your screen into several windows carrying streaming trade data, portfolio tracking and news and discussions. You can enlarge/reduce the size of any window by dragging.



The Terminal can accommodate four windows at a time. If you want to change the content of any window, click on its Show Menu button and then click in the Select Content box and select one of Streaming Discussion, Streaming News, FTSE100 or World Markets.



You can load a summary sheet relating to any share in your portfolio into the window from its Select Investment box. Alternatively, you can enter the name of any share or its epic symbol in the Investment box and add it to your portfolio or watchlist.



Company announcements (interim/final dividends, interim/final results, directors' dealings, holdings etc.) and broker forecasts and estimates are available by clicking through to the summary page relating to the share, and scrolling down the left-hand navigation panel.



You don't actually need to launch The Terminal to get at the data. Your real-time portfolio is launched by default when you click on Portfolio, and you can access Live News, Live Discussion and RNS Alerts from the overhead bar in the Portfolio section.



Content

(a) Live Streaming


· Portfolio: Desktop Trader works in conjunction with Ample's portfolio tracker. The first thing to do is to enter your portfolio or create and name a watchlist. This is pretty intuitive. The difference is that Desktop Trader shows the live real-time value of your holdings whereas the Ample portfolio tracker shows delayed prices.


The Portfolio is the gateway to stock-specific news, charts, discussions, broker forecasts and streaming trade data. You can also buy or sell the share in question from the portfolio spreadsheet.


You can set e-mail alerts from this area. Simply click on Alerts adjacent to the stock in your portfolio or watchlist and choose your parameters (one of bid, ask, mid, previous close, last, volume; greater/less than). You can also ask for a daily summary report to be sent by e-mail.


· News: You can receive live streaming news from AFX Focus and the LSE's Regulatory News Service (RNS). Use the filter to choose between All News and Portfolio News, which is limited to shares in your portfolio. Your News window will display real-time streaming headlines. Simply click on the headline to get to the full story.


You can get the latest stock-specific news by clicking on the Show Menu button and selecting a specific share from the Select Investment (your portfolio) or entering the name of any other share in the Investment Search box.


Select News from the intra-window left-hand navigation panel.


· Discussions: Filter your live discussions by All Discussions, All Portfolio Discussions and Favourite Investors which you set in your Profile on the Ample home page. Click on the subject to read the full message.


As with News, you can use the intra-window filters to extract stock-specific portfolio news or to search for discussions on any other stocks.


· FTSE100: Bid/ask prices for all FTSE100 constituents.



(b) Delayed


· Indices & Sectors: 15-minute delayed 30-second snapshots of FTSE100/250/360//SmallCap/ All Share/techMark100; FTSE Eurotop 100/300 and sectoral indices.


· World Markets: 15-minute delayed indices (FTSE100, techMark, DJIA, Nasdaq, Hang Seng).



The Fundamental Data section has been withdrawn for a complete overhaul. No date has been set for its return but it should be within a matter of weeks.



Navigation is generally good but there seems to be no way out of The Terminal. The main grouse, however, is speed, or lack of it. The system works best with the Internet Explorer 5.1 browser and with a broadband connection. Anything less is a little sticky to say the least. The problem seems to be that the system is trying to do a lot of things simultaneously and continuously and is therefore a victim of its own ambition. On a conventional dial-up connection you can expect a delay of more than 30 seconds (and vigorous clicking) to load the full story after clicking on a share name, news headline or discussion item. With broadband, a delay of about 10 seconds is normal.



Desktop Trader will appeal to the day-trader and needs an accompanying dealing service to be fully effective. The resident stockbroker is IWeb (formerly IMIWeb and now part of the Halifax Group). Deals can be placed at £10 per trade.



The question is whether it is worthwhile shelling out £17.65 p.m. on top of dealing costs for a live version of Ample's free, delayed Portfolio service. Desktop Trader's natural competitor would appear to be myBroker which has no standing charges for delivering live streaming quotations, portfolio tracking, news and a host of advanced technical tools and research, but whose dealing commission ranges from £12.50 to £25.00 for larger trades. myBroker is perhaps better integrated in this respect with dealing at live streaming prices, whereas Desktop Trade quotes live, streaming prices but deals (through IWeb) at real-time snapshot prices.



You can familiarise yourself with Desktop Trader's strengths and idiosyncrasies at leisure by taking advantage of a two-week free trial.