Hi Hook N. Sinker. One of the main benefits of designing your own system is that its YOUR SYSTEM. This means that you design it with the features you want. If psychologically you cannot handle a long losing streak then design a system that doesnt have long losing streaks. One way of doing this is to increase win%. To increase win% you can either have a more specific entry (additional filters) or trade a different universe. If neither works then maybe loosen the stop and give back a bit of profit in order to improve the tradeability. No good designing a system if you cant ride it out. So just as another example, Trend following systems make excellent money over the longer term but you wont make the money if you can't handle the flat or down periods associated with such systems. If this is a problem, then don't trade a trend following system OR trade one on an intraday timeframe. Hope that helps. Nizar.
Sincere thanks for your encouraging and kind words. Sincere thanks for your kind inputs and shall definitely visit your blog (http://thetrendfollower.blogspot.com/) as soon as I get the time. I am an end of day trader who simply wants a system to work on itsâ own with the inputs I feed in and give me the results as and when I require. The system should not require my intervention. I want to automate the systems using EasyLanguage code. Unfortunately, Tradestation is not able to do the above. I also want systems for the Stocks and Futures which can test the portfolios along with sector weighing and others. Please comment.
I shall be posting the review of AmiBroker very soon, there is a question regarding the programming languages used in the various Trading software. As, have realized that one should be able to automate the Trading software to do what you wish like the optimization of systems and the printing of their results. All this should be done without your intervention or else one is tied up with the whole day. This is especially true for the end-of-day traders who just wish to input their data before leaving for their work and then check out the result at evening. It makes sense and is valuable as you can make decisions and design the days of work which is waiting for you after the weekend. Thus, I would really like to know which of the products listed in the list really fulfils the above, as have learnt by experience that TradeStation and Trading Blox do not fulfil the same.
REVIEW OF AMIBROKER Firstly, I must say that it is a good product developed by a few people over the years. Actually, it looks like a single developer has developed it, as on researching, realized that the developer and the productsâ company are from the same place. It could do most of the things offered by other products at a lower cost. However, it requires a lot more programming skill; especially if you wish to do anything more than just back-testing. Their language being unique to them thus, the learning curve is steep (tough to learn). Although, you could use C# as reference, but that requires programming in .NET. However, I agree that like most products; you just can not use any existing Easy Language code without totally rewriting the same. However, the language is not easy to use for solving complex problems. Though, the custom back-tester is a powerful concept but not for the faint-hearted programmers. Their charts are not as good as the ones of TradeStation or Metastock charts. They are just on par with Trading Blox Charts except for the built-in indicators and some drawing tools. Besides this, they are of the same general quality. It is the same case with their Reports which are not complete or encompassing as the Trading Blox reportsâ capabilities. The interface does look a little disorganized like the features we need to add without making changes to the interface which would have made it clearer. The Support feature is a disappointing issue as there is no phone number to call for support or help. I do admit that I stay overseas, but this point might be of importance to some of you out there at Elite Trader Forum. Maybe, it is a small company so it is not possible for them to arrange live support. Moreover, their Yahoo Groups support response seems to be slow for only a few questions, were replied and had to seek the Elite Trader forums (please have a look at this Questions about Amibroker). Moreover, their replies are not very satisfactory, explanatory enough. Even their knowledgebase, is incomplete. Even, as an end-of-day trader, you need to own more than just AmiBroker to do your analysis. As an example, you shall need TradeStation and AmiBroker because of the charting just like that of Trading Blox. Thus, it is not a complete solution for your needs. It has been observed that the people already using this product basically use it due to the interest in the free data show. It seems to address the dream of the trading audience and is not for the actual real traders. It seems to have a number of issues regarding usage of data with the charting software (Open E Cry data feed) or using data from different sources simultaneously (IB and MetaStock), or plug-ins (opentick) among others. Some problems which I could not get resolved from both the Yahoo Groups and the Elite Trader Forum are the following: ⢠Regarding the futures, the product is basically designed for the Stock Traders, but it can also trade futures. Although, I was unable to figure as to how to set the minimum move, and minimum move value to trade futures, and also where to set the margins. ⢠I am unable to get a new High-New Low data into AmiBroker using AmiQuote or any other free source. The answer is No as far as Yahoo is concerned. Although, it seems that you can develop your own using the complete US-Stocks database (Hemscott). Hence, this is a problem of a data issue dealing with free data. ⢠Regarding its Trading Features, it has been suggested to use the help of coders to automate the system up to IB. However, it is not recommended as the coding has not been satisfactory or successful. It does not seem to be a trading program software for serious trading; as have noticed that many people try it out for back-testing purposes, to practice or refine their skills for handling and programming these programs. However, a point to note that if it was priced at $1000.00, I would not have gone for Trading Blox which is priced at $3000.00. However, it is the low price just $249.00 that makes it a worth-while purchase. It is an inexpensive product for people who wish to learn about back-testing and trading. However, it is tough for the same people to reach a more advanced level as to program the more complex things in the language of AmiBroker is real tough and complex. Moreover, the charts offered not as good as the usual charts they where using, so they still require the old charting program along with AMIBroker Thus, as a conclusion, its price is attractive enough to get people to start trading with it but it restricts the progress.
Not wishing to pour cold water on this interesting thread but for those starting out the thread below is a cautionary tale about super clever fellows making the latest whizz-bang automated gismos http://www.trade2win.com/boards/showthread.php?p=366662#post366662 The recent events in the markets have certainly impacted the big US banks and put a big dent in their profits. Technology is great but is often used to fool the unsuspecting and tech illiterate. That which resides between your ears is the best analyst for you imho.
Since, this thread has really become a walkthrough to finding out which product I would like to buy for a back-testing one. Hence, I have decided to move it over to a new thread discussing the reviews done so far and the final selection of a back-testing product. The new thread is as follows: Deciding on a Backtesting and Trading Platform